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Last time I posted I was still in Rome, and now, approximately 26 hours of train riding later, I am in my home town Neubeckum in north-west Germany!

Well, train riding :). To everybody who is tempted to use the Eurail pass like I do to get around cheaply in Europe, beware there's a couple of catches they don't advertise too much. First of all, if you're older than 25, you have to buy the 1st class version, which is a good chunk pricier. But, the real kicker is that for any fast train, you are obliged to buy a seat reservation upfront. Thoswe can range from 4 Euro (Vienna->Dortmund) to 30 Euro (Rome->Vienna), anf getting them is an art in itself. Because, you can't really get a reservation other than in the city that the train will leave from. For my reservation of Milan->Rome I talked to ticket counter people in Nice (France), Ventimiglia (Italy) and finally Milan. Only there they could sell it to me.

The night train ride from Rome to Vienna was also, well, a bit questionable. Imagine a train compartment that's so small that you have to interweave your opposing neighbor's knees in order not to bang into them. Then put 6 people into said compartment. Then try to get any sleep. And add 3 hours of delays to the already 13 hour train ride, partially because a train passenger had a bed fall on his head, and they had ambulance guys jump over the tracks in a tiny train station to stitch up the guy.
Well, at least the ride from Vienna to Neubeckum was pleasant (and picturesque, since you're riding straight past the Loreley on the Rhine), even though another 12 hours. But, at least this was 1st class with power plugs and stuff, and a good amount of Franziskaner beer :)

Vienna itself was, hmm, rained out, so I didn't see much and no pics for you guys. Well, I went there for the Dream Theater concert anyway, and that was really good! The new drummer kicks ass for sure.

Oh, one more comment. Sometimes people ask me how different the accents are in Germany and surrounding German-speaking countries. Well, Austria was at times so bad that I had to actually ask once whether the person in front of me was speaking German. Which was then met with the (joking) response of "Saupreiss, damischer!", which is better left untranslated :)
Other than that they often use rather antiquated terms for things. The hotel receptionist "ersuchte" (kinda like "beseeched") me to sign the bill in the end, which almost made me expect a horse carriage to pick me up outside (which they of course have in Vienna :)

Well, the next few days will be chilling mostly (with the exception of my dad's birthday), so the next post will probably be from Athens!