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Czech Republic/Austria Trip September/October 2015 part II

Six nights was adequate for our combination of time in Salzburg and our day trips. Very close to our hotel we ate at Ristorante Pizzeria da Giacomo, which had very tasty Italian food.

From Salzburg, we drove to Vienna. At Melk, we left the motorway and followed the Danube River north. With the many vineyards, the stretch between Melk and Durnstein reminded us of the Mosel River in Germany. We stopped at Durnstein and had lunch. The town is quite quaint and worth the stop.

Vienna - We stayed three nights at Pension Kraml. Very large room, friendly staff and nice breakfast. Stephan was very helpful. Not a great location for walking to the sights, but Vienna’s excellent subway system is only 5 minutes away. I don’t know if we were just tired from our travels or just tired of cities, but Vienna was underwhelming. To us it was just another big city. However, we did enjoy St. Stephen's Cathedral and Rick’s walking tour of the city, but the Ringstasse tram ride and Schönbrunn Palace were just OK. I also toured the Museum of Military History, while my wife sat outside knitting.

Observations/comments:

  • Really enjoyed Czech Republic. Country seemed prosperous. Many spoke excellent English.

  • CK Shuttle was a great way to travel between Czech cities. Very professional.

  • People with selfie sticks and Segway tour can really be annoying. Can make it difficult to walk with them in the way.

  • Driving in Austria is easy if you have a excellent navigator (my wife), map and good GPS (we use CoPilot on iPhone). For me, driving is relaxing and let’s us easily get out of the cities. We often need that break as we are not city people.

  • CityMaps2Go is a great app for touring cities. If you get lost when walking, because it uses the phone GPS, you can find your location on the map.

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Thank you for very informative report. It's probably better to start with Vienna, grandiose city, little snobbish, because Prague is a fantastic eye candy which is hard for other cities to match. Vienna unlike Prague and Budapest lacks the fairy tale view across the river.
By the way, Brian, are you from Morton, WA?