Vienna

After a busy month getting settled in Bratislava, today was my first opportunity to visit Vienna. Trains on the "City Shuttle," as they call the route between Bratislava and Vienna, run once an hour all day long. The trip takes about one hour, even with quite a few stops along the way to pick up and discharge passengers.

Mine was on-time, with the cars mostly empty, very neat, clean, and comfortable. Smoking is banned, as are mobile phones.

A Slovak conductor came through to stamp our tickets, followed by the border control officer. I asked him to stamp my passport, but he said they didn't do that anymore. So after a month in Austria and Slovakia, I still don't have a single stamp in my passport! I was hoping for a nice collection. Once we crossed the Austrian border, an Austrian conductor came through and stamped our tickets again.

With so much to see in Vienna and so much commercial photography available, I could not do justice to the city. It's easy to see why it is such a popular tourist destination, but Austria has had some advantages. It regained its sovereignty in 1955 after fighting on the wrong side of World War II. It joined the European Union in 1995. Perhaps most importantly, it was never under the thumb of the Communists behind the Iron Curtain.

I think this is what they call bringing coals to Newcastle: the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York has one of its retail stores smack in the middle of Vienna, surrounded by extraordinary museums of all kinds. But I suppose this is smart marketing, with so many art lovers in the area.

Travel tip of the day: I know RailEurope sells some great passes to American travelers in the U.S., but the single destination tickets are no bargain. My round-trip ticket between Bratislava and Vienna was $12, bought at the Bratislava train station (where they take credit cards and speak English). The RailEurope price for a round-trip first-class ticket for the same trip is $60, with a round-trip second-class ticket going for $38. But there is no first-class option on this route, so I'm not sure what you're buying for that extra $48!

NOTE: Click on any image in this blog to see it full-size.