8. Butterfly Love

Day 8
Location 2: Vienna
Nov. 8, 2022

I learned this morning that memes can transcend species. I'll explain.

I went to a butterfly world and there was this one male butterfly trying to mate with a female. The dude would not leave her alone. 

It was a real-life, alternate species version of this meme:

The guy butterfly never did get the girl and eventually just flew away. Don't feel too bad for him, though, apparently he was super racist.
 
When the SpongeBob SquarePants Movie came out in 2004, I was obsessed. It was a hilarious movie that perfectly encapsulated all that I loved about my favorite TV show. 

I listened to the soundtrack a lot. (You should check it out, there's classics like Now That We're Men and The Best Day Ever, but also hidden gems like an Avril Lavigne version of the show's theme song). I still have every song from the album saved on Spotify. I promise I did not change anything before taking this screenshot:

Anyway, track 5 is a rap song about SpongeBob blowing bubbles. As a kid, I would constantly sing a little tune that's hummed by Patrick and Spongebob in the Season 1 episode Jellyfishing.

As an adult, I learned that "little tune" was actually a famous piece of classical music, The Blue Danube Waltz. This legendary tune is, of course, named after the Danube River.

All that is to say here I am biking along the Danube River:

I pulled over to sit and read on a bench by the river, and while I didn't see a yellow, tie-wearing sponges or hear any Avril Lavigne vocals, it was still a nice moment...until like 2 pages in when I got too scared–because it was dark and no one was around–got back on my bike, and rode away really fast. (It took a lot for me to admit that just now.)
 
Here are some bonus photos: