Journey to Iran: Day 2/3

My first impression of Vienna was wrong. Kind of.

On the 19^th of August, after going to the embassy, we decided to have a little rest and wait for the weather to cool down so we could go out in the evening and have a stroll. We firstly went to Schrönbrunn Palace. I thought it was going to be a quick look like how you would at Buckingham Palace, but no, this place was huge and beautiful. I’m not entirely sure what it was/is being used for, but my God. No amount of pictures will do this place justice. Probably spent a good couple of hours there until it was getting dark.

I am neither of the two people you see.

Not sure if you can make it out, but check the pose on the right.

Beautiful.

Jay Z totally should have used this for MCHG.

"Welcome to my humble abode. Oh, the woman's head in my hand? That's nothing to worry about."

GAH IT'S SO AMAZING.

Afterwards, we decided to go get desserts in the city centre. I would tell you what I had, but I don’t even know. I just asked the waiter what he thought was best and trusted him in bringing me a slice of a cake. Twas pretty damn good. Had a quick coffee to warm me up after and we headed back “home”.

I’ve got to say, people here are much more warm and friendly than they are in England. Not one dodgy look has been received. If I could learn German I would love to live here but someone said that it’s far too complicated which was rather demotivating. Although, I probably could get by with English.

On the 20^th of August we returned to the embassy to find out my passport had been produced! However, due to the fact that Iran requires a two year military service for all males within certain criteria, I need a stamp in my passport to allow me to exit the country within three months without having to take part in the service. It was just my luck that the two people who have the authority to sign the documents for the stamp, weren’t present, and so we were told to come back the following day.

Having left the embassy, we decided to walk around the area to see what we could find out of luck. We came across a place called Belvedere-Garten, where once again pictures will not do it justice, but I’ll try to give you a sense of the place with one picture I took with my phone because I stupidly forgot my SLR.

For now the waiting game must be continued.

P.S. I feel like the quality of my writing was slightly poor in this but I know that if I don’t upload this, I’ll procrastinate my next post to never. I do hope you’ll find some pleasure in reading this though.

Journey to Iran: Day 2

Before continuing to blog about this current journey, I should probably mention now that the sole driver of this journey is my father. What a lad.  

On the ferry from Dover, we were unsuccessful in finding a row of seats available to sleep on. In fact, the only free place left was a corner table, opposite the kids play area. Subsequently my father and I did not manage to get any sleep. Though to be fair, we weren't that tired.  

We got off the ferry at roughly 02:30 and started driving towards Vienna. We were only in France for about half an hour before we entered Belgium. From Belgium, we entered Germany at roughly 07:00. Never is the choice of music so important than when you’re in a car, driving at night, on a motorway with no speed limit. Classical Iranian music doesn’t really cut it. A bit of Foals here, a bit of Flux Pavilion there. Not what my parents would choose, but the iPod was in my hands.

Here's a generic image. And no, that isn't our car. 

After hours of driving now, a nap was calling. My father and mother don’t really tend to sleep more than a couple of hours when we’ve stopped at a service station. I on the other hand, can sleep to no end when sitting at the back of the car whilst moving. Which I did for most of Germany.

One thing that blew my mind when washing my hands at a service station was that the soap dispenser automatically dropped soap on your hand when you put them under it. Don’t get that in England, do you?

Yes, my mind is easily blown. Hehe. Blown.

[I've now been told there are such dispensers in England. Where have I been all my life? Not at a service station, evidently.]

The car rides generally aren’t that exciting seeing as they’re mostly on the motorway so I’ll skip ahead to where we get to Vienna. First impressions at around 22:00 were that the city looked like something out of the film District 13. 

There is a fair amount of graffiti around. 

Why have we come to Vienna in particular, I hear you so curiously ask? Well, first of all I currently do not have an Iranian passport. There’s no official embassy in London for Iran so we have to get it from another country in Europe. The reason for Vienna in particular is because my father has a cousin who lives here so we’ve hijacked the living room until we get my passport.

A building. Like you've never, ever seen before.

Today, the 19^th of August, we went to the embassy to see if we can get the passport by tomorrow morning. Different people said different things so the waiting game is what must be played. Hopefully we won’t have to wait too long, but while we do wait, we should be checking out the city. So pictures will inevitably follow. Unless my battery dies. Or my camera is stolen. Or if I just generally can’t be bothered.