Day 23

Whew. Another day down. Day 23 was a little crazy. We started early in Klagenfurt. Our hostel served a nice breakfast. And you guessed it, I had a ham sandwich, along with some yogurt and coffee. I don't know how much longer I'll be able to stand it. We left the hostel and walked the 2 miles into the city. We saw the Lindworm fountain, the Landhaus and the Rathaus (town hall) among other things. We finished early and made a stop at the grocery store to pick up some snacks for later. Our train was a few minutes late, but we didn't think anything of it. We hopped on and soon realized that if our train didn't hurry up we might miss our 6 minute transfer. By the time we got to our transfer station, we had about 15 seconds to get off the train, locate our new train and board. Thankfully we made it! It was a close call though. We settled into our new train only to realize that it was running behind as well. And we had another transfer to make. Only, at this next transfer we had to leave the train, locate the luggage lockers, store our bags, find our new train and board. Again, even though it was a close call, we made it! We were on our way to Feldbach where we would find Riegersburg. But, apparently it is common in Austria to have delayed and late trains. We had a 3 minute transfer once we arrived in Feldbach to catch a bus. If we didn't make that bus, we would have no public transportation to the castle. I guess our luck had run out by then. Because we didn't make the transfer. Luckily we were able to get a taxi. The cost wasn't too bad split between the both of us. The sun was shining and we were ready to start our climb. We found a good picture spot on one of the main roads and camped out for a bit over there. Then we started walking towards the castle. The climb to the castle wasn't bad, but the climb to the path to the castle was pretty steep. We didn't even have the cool weather to keep up refreshed. Instead, it was pleasantly warm outside, so the jackets were off and the sweat was pouring. We finally made it to the top and got an incredible view of the city. The tour of the castle was interesting and I learned all about the witch trials that went on in the Styria region. After our castle visit we walked back down to the city and spent a good two hours on a bench waiting for our bus. But don't worry, we had Burn Notice to keep us occupied. (To James: you should check this show out, it's pretty good!) Our bus finally came and took us back to the station. While we waited for our train, which I was sure was going to be late again, I decided that I really wanted a Sprite from the vending machine. Even though it was 1,50 euros, I couldn't help it. So I sucked it up and paid for my Sprite. But when I reached for my change, I was surprised to find the money that I paid for the Sprite, plus and extra 50 cents! I think that made my day. And I was even more surprised when our train was on time. We hopped on and ended up in Graz. And that is where the night ends. Hope everyone is keeping up with the baseball playoffs!!!