Vacation - Day 1...

My first vacation day started off at 4 am. Apparently I was already anticipating the journey, otherwise I wouldn't have been awake 30 minutes before 4 am. Turned over one more time and got up 5 minutes before my alarm clock was supposed to go off. Took Gina for her morning walk. I decided not to have breakfast, still felt stuffed from last nights dinner. packed the rest of my stuff. And got ready for the cab to pick me up. I left at 5.30 am since I wanted to be at the train terminal Wien-West at 6 am. But my train wasn't scheduled to leave till 6.30 am. I got to the train terminal about 10 minutes before six. While there I checked and see if I could purchase Gina's ticket back, since for some reason I can't book that online. But there were way too many people in line. So I wanted to check on my phone. Guess what, I had no phone on me. At first I thought I might have lost it in the cab. But then I remembered putting my wallet and camera into my pockets, but not my phone. My guess is it is still sitting on my desk at home. I checked the time and there was no way that I would make it to my apartment and back to the train station in time to catch the train. So I was without phone, without a clock and without any means of communication. This really sucks. And these days there aren't many public phones around anymore. Being without a cell phone made me really feel somewhat odd and lost. Fortunately I was traveling First Class, therefore I had at least internet access. Good thing that I brought along my MacBook. As fun as it has to free WiFi on the train,  one thing has to be said. The WiFi is somewhat spotty. Especially in Austria's province Salzburg Wifi on the train is very unreliable. And as soon as you pass into Germany, you don't have any WiFi till you reach Munich.
I did have a layover in Munich of about 50 minutes. I had chosen that on purpose. This gave me the opportunity to take Gina for a walk, so that she could do her business. Munich today was rather hot, but Gina figured out very quickly what the idea of this particular walk was. She did do her business very quickly and that was good so. I knew that there was a store somewhere close to Munich Central Rail Station and so I went ahead and looked for it. Located the store easily. I was hoping for a cheap cellphone with a small data plan. But the prices therefore were just outrageous. 200 bucks and up. So I chose a basis cell phone that just could do calls and send SMS.
After that Gina and I walked back into the Train Terminal. Checked which platform our train was to leave from. Fortunately the train was already there, although it wasn't scheduled to leave for another 30 minutes. We found ourselves some seats and Gina find herself quickly a spot. Good thing the ICE we were traveling with had a good working air-condition. This was very good for Gina, since she was pretty hot. And this ICE was having a WiFi hotspot and this hotspot was working perfectly fine. That was something that did make me quite happy.
It took me quite a while to figure out that particular cell phone. I had sent my friend Udo an email but hadn't heard back from him. So I tried to send him a text message. But this particular is very odd indeed. With every other phone I know you enter first the number and then the text. This phone however requires you to enter the text first and then the number. For that reason I sent my friend Udo an empty text message. Once I realized the mistake I tried to correct. Was just in the middle of typing the tex when my friend called my German Cell. Gave him a short rundown of the story and we both had a good laugh.
With this train journey entering it's 10th hour poor Gina really didn't want to sit on the train anymore. She couldn't get really comfy. And those 2 noisy kids in front of us weren't helpful either. I really can understand my dog, since I wasn't too fond of that long train ride either. For a dog a long train ride has to be super boring, as there is really nothing to do for her. But all things considered she was doing just great.
We arrived at Leipzig Central Station about 7 minutes late. Took some time to finally get out of the train. As we were walking down the platform we finally saw my friend Udo and his dog Silly. The two dogs sniffed each other and were getting along just fine. I was very happy about that. We made our way to the tram and took a short ride to Udo's apartment. That way a very long travel day came finally to an end.

Laste minute preparations...

Today was my last at work. Finished up some things that were left over. Left word by noon. Went home right away to pick up Gina. We still had to go to Fressnapf to pick up a better muzzle for her. The muzzle I have for her is way to big for her and that's not really comfy. The muzzle I found for her is a way much better fit.
After getting back home I still had lots clothes to wash and had to pack my suitcase as well. And this did take way longer than I expected. And it was a somewhat exhausting process, especially considering that the temps are starting to pick up again in Vienna. Gina being all hectic with me moving around all the time and packing my suitcase. That was something that Gina hasn't experienced before. And of course she had to be exactly at that spot where I was. And that wasn't exactly helpful either. By the time I finally got to relax a little it was already 9 pm. I had ordered out food, and of course it did take way longer than usually to get here. How could it be any different. By midnight I finally went to bed knowing fully well, that I would only be getting about 4 hours sleep, since I had to get up by 4 am to take Gina for her walk, pack the rest of my suitcase and get ready for the cab to pick me up.

A summer party...

Today I was invited to a ex coworkers house for a summer party. Sad thing is that she has been fired recently. If it had been in Vienna it would have made my getting there so much easier. But she lives in the middle of nowhere somewhere in the countryside of Lower Austria. So the only way to get there was by renting a car.
Again I used Sixt to take care of the rental car. Had it reserved online. But this time I went for a BMW. After all, when renting a car you might as well go for a rental that you aren't very likely to buy yourself. And it should be a fun experience. I picked up the rental at Vienna's Hauptbahnhof. The process was a piece of cake. In under 10 Minutes I was on my way. And driving a BMW is definitely fun. The use of the GPS takes some getting used to. But I figured it out quickly. Went back home to spend a few hours with Gina before I had to leave. Gina wasn't exactly happy to see me go. She just turned her head an stayed under my desk.
But there was nothing I could do about it. Until I reached Vienna's Tangente traffic was no big deal. But who would have thought that there could be a traffic jam at Tangente on a Saturday at 2 pm. Certainly not I. It was really slow moving. But we finally made it past the construction zine. After that there was pretty much no traffic at all. And it turned out to be a very uneventful and fun drive. Apparently driving a car is like riding a bike. You never forget how to. After all it has been 3 years since I was last driving a car.
The party was fun. There were some of my current co-workers and some of Klarissa's friends. Of course we did talk a little about the craziness at work. But I really tried to steer the topic to something different. After all, for Klarissa just having been fired, this was not exactly a fun topic to talk about.
But the party turned out to be fun after all. Around Midnight I left since I was having a drive of about 1 hour. Made it home by about 1 am in the morning. Took a super excited Gina for her evening walk. And this was something she urgently needed. After all Gina had been by herself for over 10 hours and that's pushing it and I really don't like to do that. But I had to leave Gina again to drop off the car. I really didn't want to have to do that by 9 am in the morning. So I left again and dropped of the car at Haupbahnhof. Of course I had to walk back home since there is no public transportation at that time. But since that are only 10 minutes by foot it really didn't bother me at all. Got home to an even more excited Gina after that we enjoyed a very late evening together and relaxed to some Star Trek Voyager.

Prep Work for my Vacation...

Since my vacation to Germany will be there very soon, it was time to deal with some unfinished prep work. There still was the matter of a second pair of shoes that I was going to take with me. While I do love my Scarpa's, I definitely wanted a second pair of TrailRunners or Running Shoes. I really couldn't find the running shoes that I wanted to have. And I didn't have exactly the time to go from one sports goods store to the next in Vienna to find a suitable replacement. Ordering them from Amazon wasn't an option either. Since the wouldn't have been delivered in time.
So I went to Bergfuchs, a local hiking retailer. They usually have a good selection of everything that has to do with hiking. Of course TrailRunners aren't exactly there specialty. But I found 2 pairs that I liked. In the end I went with a model of the company LOWA. This is a very well know Austrian outfitter for hiking. And I have to say that I really like them. Definitely very comfy to wear and they make a good replacement for my worn out TrainRunners.
After that it was time to take finalize the details of the rental car. I knew I would be renting from Sixt. Had nailed it down to 2 models. Either VW Golf or VW Passat. I wasn't sure at first. After spending a couple of days in Leipzig I was going to travel by car to the Baltic Sea. So I was leaning more towards the bigger car. But it really doesn't matter since the backseat in the Golf isn't rally smaller than the back seat in the bigger car. And 2 dogs should fit on the backseat of the Golf. So I finalized the details. I could have saved about 120 bucks, by playing the field. But I just didn't want to deal with the hazzle if something should happen with the car. So I opted for full coverage, but did exclude damages to tries and windows. But of course I will have to option to add that when I'll be picking up the rental car in Leipzig. Still have to think about that. the total came in at about 400 bucks. That's not really bad at all.

Appointment with the Orthopedist...

My knee has been bothering me for over a week now. With the elastic bandage I can at least go to work, but walking down or up stairs is really bothersome. And I have to wear it to work, what isn't exactly my kind of fun especially in that heat.
So today had the appointment with the orthopedist. I was afraid that it could be something worse like some problem with the meniscus. Didn't take long for the orthopedist to figure out that there was no problem with the meniscus. But the thing that causes me pain is that I have slight misalignment of the patella. This causes excessive strain on the muscles and that in case causes so much pain that you are barely able to use your knee at all. There isn't a quick solution like an operation for that. The only solution to solve the problem is physical therapy. But I won't be starting therapy before my vacation starts by the end of August.
Stepping stairs is still somewhat bothersome, but walking on flat surfaces isn't that bad at all. But I do regret that for me the hiking season is pretty much over. This is not only my loss but Gina's loss as well. And I do feel sorry for her, since she was having so much fun on our hikes. But being in pain for 2 week after every single hike is just not really a smart idea.