Manners, Manners, Manners!

I have never missed the South as much as I miss it now.
I have been traveling quite a bit since I arrived in Wroclaw, and the cities I've visited include Prague, Berlin, Kudowa Zdrój, Budapest, and Vienna. The photo is of the Chapel of Skulls in Kudowa Zdrój. The skulls and bones are from victims of the Silesian and 30 Years Wars. Pretty neat, huh?
Two weekends ago, I was in Vienna. Out of all the cities I have been to since I arrived in Europe, if I could pick any one to live in, I do believe it would be Vienna. The city is beautiful, and absolutely littered with parks. If you walk around, you will almost always pass at least three parks before you reach your destination. I thought everything about Vienna was beautiful.
Except for the other tourists.
Now I'm not one to go around saying "Bloody Tourists!;" after all, I am one myself when I'm traveling through these cities. But the tourists I came into contact with in Vienna were a bit of a nightmare. No one could say 'excuse me;' it was common to get body slammed on the street in passing. People were also frequently rudely asking you to move if they were trying to take the perfect photo. Even vendors were a bit rude. One particular incident sticks out in memory, though.
The traveling group consisted of myself and Danielle and one of our other friends from Olowek, and on one of our nights in the city, we decided to go see an opera. Tosca was playing in the opera house, and standing tickets only cost 3 euro, which definitely fit our budget. The next available ticket was 29 euro, so we opted that we could deal with standing for a few hours. When we informed the man trying to sell us the 29 euro tickets that we couldn't afford them, he shrugged his shoulders with a bit of a sneer and said that the cheaper tickets were no good. He called us cheap as politely as he could.
However, when we tried to purchase our cheap tickets, we were impolitely informed that two of us were dressed inappropriately (we were wearing shorts that were above the knee). Our plan was to purchase tickets and then run back to the hostel to change. This was still unacceptable, so we left to try to find a shop to quickly purchase something nicer to avoid returning to the hostel, which would take a considerable amount of time. Of course, all the shops had already closed. So we literally had to RUN to the metro, jump it to the closest stop to the hostel, jump off, sprint to the hostel, change, sprint back to the metro, and then run the rest of the way to the opera. Running through the streets in dresses will get you some pretty crazy looks.
So we made it to the opera, purchased our tickets (although receiving disapproving glances for being flushed and out of breath), and made it through the doors right as they were shutting them. It took us all about 15 minutes to catch our breath.
The first act went through, and because we had come in so late, we were standing in an area where it was quite difficult to see. During the first intermission, everyone cleared out. We took this as our turn to move a little further down so we could actually see some of the stage. Intermission lasted about 20 minutes, and no one came in to get a spot until the second act was about to start. At this point, people began filtering in.
Danielle, our friend, and myself were standing quietly when a large woman who had been standing next to us earlier came up to us and said "Please," and motioned for us to move. We turned and looked at her, confused, because CLEARLY we were standing here to watch the opera. Again, she said "Please," this time with an aggravated tone in her voice, and swatting at us as if we were flies to be shooed. We told her that we were standing here to watch the show, and in broken English, she explained the spot was reserved. She motioned to a small piece of paper, a program to the opera, folded over the railing, then pointed to herself, and again motioned for us to move. Everyone in the opera house had these programs, who was to say it wasn't ours? Danielle asked the woman how much she paid for her ticket, because it was standing, and Danielle said she was sure they had paid the same amount and that there were no reservations in standing area. She tried to tell us that we had to go stand where we had been standing earlier, and when we pointed out that she had been standing there as well, she changed the subject back to us needing to move from her reserved spot. This conversation went back and forth for about five or ten minutes, with the woman growing ruder and ruder about her "reserved" standing section. Frustrated and completely annoyed, we gave up and moved down the row, but we didn't miss the woman's insult of "You should learn," meaning that we should learn to behave "properly" in the opera house.
I think that 3 euro means 3 euro, and it's first come first serve. This is clearly what she was trying to tell us, when she said our standing area was at the end of the row. But nevermind that she had been standing there as well, she now had a "reserved" ticket. She also continued to throw ugly glances at us through the rest of the performance.
There really is something to be said for Southern hospitality.