the more i see
the more i want to see
i could spend weeks
exploring here on foot
reconnecting with tendrils
of family knowledge
learning the significance
of everyday things
i never knew
back in Melbourne.

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we hopped off the train
somehow it didn’t quite seem
as familiar as i’d hoped
my uncle
asked if we’d seen the footy fans
as we crossed the police line
fortunately
i hadn’t.

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i remembered very little
from previous visits
just the names of streets
and trafalgar square pigeons
you don’t often get the chance
to start with such a clean slate
somewhere like this
but i treated it
like any other new city
taking in what i could get
and leaving the rest
for next time.

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we steeled ourselves
for the much-warned
bad attitudes
and frosty behaviour
toward non-native speakers
but somehow
Parisians seemed to tolerate us
better than we expected.

thanks
everyone.

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somehow,
exiting the station
at night
looking for a taxi
while carnival revellers
wheeled happily and drunkenly
around us
in their clown suits
we failed to notice
the huge, looming cathedral
just next to the station
off to the left
until we returned
the very next day.

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the relentless confusion
of fashion continues

this time
purple is in
both here and in Wien
going by the contents
of shop windows
and occasional passers-by

when we look in the shops
ourselves
we wonder
“could I
really pull this off?”

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we haul suitcases
for half an hour
to a hotel
in the old part of town

“oh,
you’re in our sister hotel
it’s just 7 minutes walk
across the river”

thank heaven
for cool weather

so far it’s not so bad
looking down
on a tiny street
from a rickety window

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somewhere
on the way to Salzburg
not long before
we reach a station
i spy some familiar graffiti
on a railway wall:
BONEZ
just like home.

these guys
sure do get around.

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we hop off the U-bahn
to take a look at the Danube
or rather
the Donau
it turns out
that it’s right there
next to the platform
a few minutes later
while we take our photos
another train passes
a Japanese girl
asks me to take her photo
by the river, too

a few minutes later
heading across the bridge
towards town
we notice we’re really
crossing the river
this time
with big boats
and a church next to it
(the other one was just a diversion
with nothing but a few ducks)
and wonder if the other girl
will find out before it’s too late.

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we hit town just before sunrise
near-blinded by the lights of
some nearby industrial complex
i fumble with time zones
on my phone in the taxi
half an hour later
the hotel guy
runs up to us on the street
and says “hey,
you can have a twin room
right now if you don’t want
to wait until midday to checkin”
and so
our European Experience begins.

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