Here’s how my day in Vienna went.

Oh, there’s people on bikes. That would be cool.

What the heck? My credit card won’t work in this bike rental machine.

(Search for another bike rental machine) What the heck? My credit card won’t work in this bike machine either?

I proceeded to walk around the city of Vienna for hours trying to find out where I could rent a bike, and making calls to my bank back home trying to figure out why it wouldn’t work.

How hard is it to get a bike in this freaking city?

Hours later, I finally gave up on my bike dream. It wasn’t working. I decided to explore the city on foot. I found a cool big building, but couldn’t figure out what it was. I saw a couple people standing next to me, so I decided to go ask them what it was. They didn’t know, but as I talked to them their other 6 or 7 friends showed up. We started chatting, and they invited me to hang out with them the rest of the day. It turns out they were all my age and had been good friends in college back in New York City. They had planned this big friend trip together months ago. We all walked around together, talked about life, and ended up at ‘Einsteins Bar’ to watch the world cup together.

It really turned out to be an awesome day. What began out as very frustrating (trying and failing to rent a bike), ended up leading me to a new opportunity to make several friends, and do something unexpected. It was a good life lesson for me, and reminder that life is better when we let go of control and just enjoy the present moment.

I didn’t try to get their phone numbers, Facebook, Instagram, etc. I just wanted to be present. It wouldn’t have been a bad thing, but I really wanted to make sure I was present. I wanted to remember that I didn’t have to hang onto every past connection or opportunity. Instead, if I live in the present, new opportunities like this will continue to present themselves again.

Oh, I also forgot to mention that I had lunch in the middle of my bike searching frustrations, at a little outdoor cafe in the center of a busy Vienna street. I sat by myself, but at the table next to me was a 75 year old man that looked a lot like Michael Cain… a lot like him. He was hilarious, and as I later found out, happened to be the landlord for my 21 year old waiter. He had a super thick German accent, speaking broken, but decent English. We talked about life. I told him about my trip, and he told me about the time in his youth when he rented a vehicle and drove across a chunk of America.
He looked much younger than 75. In fact, I thought he was in his 50’s. At some point in the conversation that got brought up, and when he saw the surprise in my eyes to learn his age, he laughed heartily and responded ‘Ok, what kind of beer do you want?’… as if to say he’d repay me for the compliment with a beer. Even through the broken English and thick accent, we laughed a lot and enjoyed the conversation for the 15-20 minutes or so that it was.

The interactions made with strangers is by far the best part of travelling.

P.S. I did a sketch of Stephen’s Cathedral. It wasn’t until almost a full two years later when I was reading Phil Knight’s memoir (Founder of Nike) ‘Shoe Dog’ that I realized the historical significance of that very place. “ I walked the cobblestones Mozart walked crossed his grace Danube on the most beautiful stone bridge I ever saw, stopped before the towering spires of St. Stephen’s Church, where Beethoven discovered he was deaf. He looked up, saw birds fluttering from the bell tower, and to his horror… he did not hear the bells (Knight, 36).”

Source:

Phil Knight’s Book: ‘Shoe Dog’ (pg. 36)