Austria by www.born2travel.it

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09. 08. 2000 Bratislava (SLOVAKIA)

After leaving Rossho at the Ljubljana station we set off again for Willach, in Austria. We arrive at our destination around 23:00; the station is huge and populated only by drunks and petty thieves at that hour. All the ticket counters were closed and we were the only "tourists", as well as the only young people. We had to wait three hours there. I was a bit scared, and on top of that we didn't even have a ticket for the next train. At 1:21 we get on our train... But it's packed! We "camp out" along the corridor and stay there for about ten minutes when the inspectors arrive. They examine our interrail ticket in detail and immediately realise that Austria was not included in our itinerary... They order us to pay, we argue a bit but, shortly before they call the police, we pay the hefty fine of £77,000 each so that we're covered as far as Vienna.

Despite the high price of the ticket, our situation doesn't change. We're still sitting on our backpacks along the corridor and every two minutes we have to get up to let people going to the toilet pass... At 6:30 in the morning we're in the Austrian capital but only briefly, we set off at once for nearby Bratislava! Having arrived in Slovakia we wanted to continue to Prague to get closer to our final destination: the Baltic States, but we learn that perhaps another visa was needed for Lithuania. We need to find out more; we make a run on foot to the Italian embassy to learn more.... Nooooo! There's a mile-long queue of Slovaks asking for a visa for Italy, but fortunately there's a counter reserved just for us. They tell us that no visa is needed... but we don't trust them; anyway, we decide to try all the same... Meanwhile we head to Warsaw, in Poland.

10. 08. 2000 Warsaw (POLAND)

Yesterday, morally speaking, I had a terrible day due to a series of events that piled up: Rossho's departure, the drunks of Willach, the fine in Austria, the awful night on the train, the problems with the Lithuanian visa; all I know is that now I feel much better! This thanks to two Portuguese guys "picked up" last night at the Bratislava station, with whom we spent the night journey to Poland. After so long, tonight on the train I rested a bit, thanks above all to Pedro who kept watch for me! I'm very grateful to him. Warsaw is a nice city but nothing special, very industrialised; it reminded me a lot of Milan twenty years ago. We visited the centre, the residence of the President of the Republic, and strolled in the beautiful central square.

[Pedro Daniel Aguiar Lopes from Porto, Portugal]: "Shall we travel together as far as Warsaw?" That's how I met this "mafioso" during the interrail. I hope we'll meet again along this road... Tonight we'll go to Krakow. We'll stay there and early tomorrow morning we'll go to the impressive Auschwitz. I'm excited.

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