Friends,
     He goes where others, but not you (presumably), have gone, to bring you the bottom line
on traveling. On the road again, a short trip, Vienna and Slovakia.
   
   Vienna is a very classy city. There are hundreds of wide boulevards, baroque buildings,
statues, monuments, small parks such as Beethoven Platz, with a parking garage underneath.
The sheer number of grand buildings is impressive. The grand public buildings are modern
on the inside. The main Post Office has an art exhibition in the glass roofed space where
people buy stamps. Vienna is world famous for art and music, but as I dont know too much
about them, i will rely on your general knowledge of such matters.

   Vienna shows many signs of an advanced civilization. It, like most cities and towns in
the civilized world, has a downtown  that is pedestrian only (delivery trucks permitted 2am
to 10am), with numerous benches to sit, the subway stations are well lit with readable
graphics, there are public toilets in most public places including subway stations, there
are numerous large parking garages (albeit not cheap)  with electronic signs up to a
kilometer away stating the number of available spaces, shops have hooks outside for dog
leashes, subways and busses and trams have one ticket for all, ie, buy a ticket for 1.5 Euros
and its good anywhere for 2 hours, McDonalds sells beer, hundreds of outdoor cafes, there's
a supermarket in the  airport, the airport has rapid transit direct to the subway/tram/bus
system with one ticket, there are hundreds of ice cream and wurst stands, over 60 museums.
The Prater amusement park, you know, the one with the huge Ferris wheel with cars as large
 as trolleys, is just a few subway stops from the center. The main shopping street,
Mariahilferstrasse, has numerous hotels, cafes, reasonable pensions, and is on a subway line
that goes to Stephansplatz, the center, in 5-6 minutes. The cathedral, ST Stephans, is
beautiful to visit, vaults, stained glass windows and statues of saints etc. another
magnificent medieval monument to cheap labor, and has numerous horse-drawn carriages outside
that will give you a grand tour of downtown with high stepping (if no traffic) steeds, (for
numerous shekels). 

    One does not have to stay downtown, as the subway (U bahn) gets you downtown in minutes.
The Ibis hotel chain, a very large worldwide (but not in the US) and nice chain, for example,
located four subway stops from the center of town, has doubles for 62 Euros. 

    Less visible in Austria but just as important are such features as health insurance for
all, free lawyers for civil suits (if you make under $13,000 per year), and strict protection
of the environment, ie, one needs a license to cut a tree bigger than a certain diameter.
Vienna tied with Zurich for second in a recent survey of large cities for livability. Posters
depicting bush sport Hitler mustaches, those cheeky twerps. an out and out fascist is governor
of the state of Corinthia.
   
   Day trips from Vienna, west along the Danube is like the Rhein from Rudesheim to Koblenz.
Lots of castles on the surrounding hilltops plus wine growing. South one hour is the spa/casino
town of Baden, picturesque. Budapest, Krakow, and Bratislava are just a few hours away.
there is a well restored castle on a hilltop a half hour NW of Vienna, Kreutzenberg Castle.
Worth the trip. 

   Slovakia. Overall, good roads everywhere, lots of autobahns, cheap restaurants and hotels,
of good quality, the cities have the standard ancient market place as the center, and in the
suburbs, modern apartment blocks. Bratislava, the capital is just one hour east of Vienna.
It has the usual castle and medieval town center, not earthshaking. East of Bratislava the
countryside is flat rich farm land and rolling fields and forests like Western Maryland near
Frederick. in the Eastern part of Slovakia is the beautiful city of Kosice. The main plaza is
an elongated pedestrian plaza with shops restaurants, churches, monuments, grand public
buildings, and a cathedral. People wandering around at all civilized hours.

   One half hour north of Kosice is Presov, quite similar to Kosice but smaller. I stayed there
in a very elegant hotel for 51 Euros. north, near Poland is the very pleasant town of Bardejov,
also with a pretty market place/town center/cathedral. Slovakia has a castle on every hilltop,
mostly in ruins, but many restored. Very picturesque. the north of Slovakia, along the border
with Poland, is mountainous and looks a lot like northwestern Colorado. 

   I took a detour into Poland to the ski resort of Zakopane, the Aspen (not Vail) of Poland.
Very picturesque, what else?  Still skiing on April 20.

If you are in Vienna on business, take an extra two weeks to look around. what else is life for?

Your faithful servant,     tom