I'm never going to add anything to my prosecco again!

In my youth I was more of an Asti Spumante man, but it seems to have disappeared off the shelves and been replaced by said Prosecco.  I boarded the Nightjet sleeping car train just after 8pm for a departure at 2104.  This is an Austrian train which winds round the top of the Adriatic Sea before following Alpine Valleys to Salzburg, Linz, and eventually Wien.  I was lucky, and was the only person in my cabin.  The OBB (Austrian Railways) had drinks in a little net (2 bottles of water and a half bottle of prosecco) by the side of the bed, and a goody bag which contained fluffy white slippers.

As the train left Venice, and crossed the causeway, I toasted the many friends whom I had met in Italy.  Monica in Rome, and Eleanora in Firenze; Maarten who came to my rescue in Venezia, and finally Francesca and Philippo in Padova.  All in their own ways had gone the extra step to make my holiday in Italy the best ever.  If they are reading this,  "Grazie, grazie, mille grazie per tutti!"

I tried the prosecco.  It was dry.  Also in the net, was a "Squeezer" which when squeezed, exuded a sort of apple sauce which you ingested.  I put a little in the prosecco and it seemed to improve it a little.  I did up the screwtop bottle tightly, put it in the net, and fell asleep.  I was half awakened at Salzburg where the rain was sheeting down.  I thought the prosecco was still a bit dry, so I added more apple sauce, swirled it around a bit, and tightened the screw top before putting it in the net.

I must have dropped off as soon as the station lights disappeared, but I was suddenly awakened by the feeling of damp between the net and my left ribs.  I realised that the bottle had leaked, because the top was off.  I drank the rest, and moved the slightly wet bedclothes to one side, and had a glorious sleep.  I woke with the dawn at about St Polten to see that my jacket, on a hanger two metres away, had apple sauce on its shoulder.  At least prosecco dries quickly, and there was just a whitish powder left when I arrived in Wien.  When I found the bottle top, the thread was partly stripped.

The hotel was just across the road from the main Vienna station.

"Do you have a clothes brush?", I ventured.
"I'm sorry, we put out all our cleaning to a special service"

The wonders of modern hotels!  I eventually brushed it clean using a hairbrush!.

That's it for tonight.  Tomorrow is my last day in Wien, but first I must tell you all about Bratislava in Slovakia.