Fall Break | Vienna Pt. 1

We rush down the long set of metro steps, down from the cold air of St. Stephens Plaza above and into the warm tunnel below. It is our last metro ride in Vienna and the beginning of our return to Rome. Our cheeks are flushed, rosy and red, and I carefully remove my white gloves as we enter the train.

Melissa and I are sitting beside each other as the metro car whizzes from stop to stop. A man is playing an accordion on the other end of the train car and a large woman with earmuffs sits in the seat across from us. It is 0 degrees Celsius outside, above the metro tunnels. In st. Stephen's Plaza our breath clouded in the air. Down below, everyone’s cheeks are flushed.

I sit fingering the fingered mittens resting on my lap and with a sudden look, the large woman begins speaking, her long flow of German words making it impossible to interrupt and explain that I cannot understand what she is saying. I think that I must look like I can understand and I hope that what she is voicing does not require a response and I will be able to do enough nodding to satisfy her words.

But she keeps talking.

She does not stop and I am lost in the sea of German rushing from her mouth, unstoppable. Finally I interject an apology.

“I’m sorry, I do not speak German.” I give her a look filed with regret. I wish I spoke German.

“Oh my! And here I was talking, talking and you couldn’t understand me!” she smiles at us, “I was saying that every year I always have to buy two or three pairs of gloves because I always loose them. I can never buy just one pair, because soon it will be gone forever.” I return her smile.

“ Me too!” I reply, “Oh, I always misplace my gloves. In fact, I bought this pair today because I have forgotten where my old ones are.”

She understandably nods her head, and for a moment, we are kindred spirits in the fight again loosing our gloves. I wonder how she learned English so well.

The metro line pulls into Westbahnhof and we bid the woman adieu as we exit the car. She is the nicest Austrian we've encountered.