David's Blog

I have a lot of nice things to say about Vienna. It's a perfect example of a big dense city that's easy to get around and looks very aesthetically pleasing. Every building is 6 or 7 stories. The style of most buildings looks the same, but some are so nice I just had a to take pictures, especially the parliament building. There are several large open areas like Belvedere Palace, lots of squares, and the main street thru the city center is only for pedestrians. I thought Vienna would have some eastern european characteristics. Not at all. It's as western european as cities come....especially when you see the retail prices.

Vienna has an excellent bicycle idea. There are at least a dozen spots around the city where you can pick up and drop off a bicycle. It's self serve. Put in your credit card, take a bike, lock it back in to any of the other bike racks in the city to complete the transaction. Pay by the hour or day. Only problem is there's a 500 euro fee if you lose the bike. I'm not going to ride your 100 euro bike and then buy you 5 new ones if some one jacks this one. Great idea Vienna, now make it practical.



Vienna's official tourism website is an excellent resource.

Labels: austria

Posted by David at 9:48 PM | Share this post on:   facebook   del.icio.us   digg   StumbleUpon     | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

For me, Salzburg isn't so much a destination as it is a stop between Munich and Vienna. But everyone knows it's Mozart's hometown and it really is a pretty city. See pictures in the slideshow below.

My impressions of Salzburg can best be summarized by this sarcastic YouTube video. (which was made by someone else but accurately captures my memories). On one hand Salzburg could be perceived as dull, but for a short stay, it's stimulating enough to walk around and enjoy the scenery. Is this a living Mozart museum or a city?

To be in such a musical city, it's very appropriate to catch a performance or two. There are small groups that play all over the city. They have concert halls like we have coffee shops. You could pay, but there are many free student performances. In a country where Mozart and musical instruments are on the euro coins, university level music students play well enough for me.

One last helpful note about Salzburg. The directions of the bus lines will fool you. I got off a bus heading south, so for the return, I took the same line across the street heading north. Wrong! Busses going thru the city make a complete loop around the city center. I should have taken a northbound bus on the other side of the river!!

Labels: austria

Posted by David at 9:02 PM | Share this post on:   facebook   del.icio.us   digg   StumbleUpon     | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

If this castle looks at all familiar, perhaps you saw something similar at Disneyland. Sleeping Beauty's Castle is based on this one. I didn't know that either...til I read the wiki. But I did know of this castle, because as a kid, I had a puzzle with a picture of it, and I knew it was in south-east Germany. Visiting it involves a train-bus-horse carraige combo. Two hour train ride to Fussen (thru very scenic countryside), a short bus trip from the train station, and then either a long walk or horse carraige up the hill. No cars. The castle itself is impressive, but so is the scenery from the hill. There are a lot of paved walking trails to see the castle and the surrounding countryside from different angles.

Labels: germany

Posted by David at 8:31 PM | Share this post on:   facebook   del.icio.us   digg   StumbleUpon     | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

It has been many months since I've updated this blog. One of the most time consuming things is going through many pictures to pick only a few for the blog. Fortunately I found a good way to share many photos within the blog. Google's photo sharing site, Picasa, allows you to upload albums and then embed a slideshow in any webpage or blog, the same way you embed a YouTube video. You can choose from 5 sizes for the pictures. This slideshow is the middle size (400 pixels). In previous posts where I had a lot of pictures, I either created my own thumbnails or linked to a Flickr album. This is a much better system and I will be making several posts with slideshows.

Labels: germany

Posted by David at 8:03 PM | Share this post on:   facebook   del.icio.us   digg   StumbleUpon     | Permalink | Comments | links to this post