Lisa & Michelle's European Adventure

During our stay in Berlin, we kept trying to compare this amazing place with other cities that we know, attempting to put it in context with other urban locations. Early on, Michelle mentioned San Francisco. Lisa kept thinking about New York. It also has that London sprawl. In the end, with its combination of new and old, heart-stopping history and eye-opening culture, we found it to be a place unlike any other. Berlin is filled with poignant reminders of the landmark historical events of the last century: the rise, domination, and eventual defeat of the Nazis, WWII and the murder of Jews, gypsies, homosexuals, and disabled people across Europe, and the post-WWII occupation that divided the city with a wall and the eventual destruction of that wall and reunification of Berlin.  The museums and memorials throughout the city don't shy away from telling the city's history. We were repeatedly face-to-face with the many horrors, but also new information and point-of-views that remin...

1. SaSaZu. Lisa has found AI to be a way of finding things to do in a city that helps us stay off the beaten tourist tracks. The results of her search in Prague included a suggestion to visit Prague's Holešovice Market. Michelle has never met an open air market she didn't like, so we instantly put it on our list. It was north, across the river, from our apartment, so we decided to walk there one cold morning, all bundled up in our coats and hats and gloves. Further research before leaving told us that  Holešovice Market was originally the site of the slaughterhouse in Prague, chosen for its location because prevailing winds blew the smell away from the city, toward another city that was not Prague. During the communist era, the market became a place where people would go to try to find goods that were not in the city stores. After the end of the communist era, the market became a place for trade in contraband goods, especially from Vietnam, which apparently included things lik...

10. Vibrancy. After Vienna (oddly empty) and Salzburg (oddly quiet), it was great to be in a city that felt thriving and busy, people on the streets and little shops and restaurants everywhere. 9.  Public transit . We walked everywhere in Italy because the cities were smaller and easily navigable on foot. We tentatively took a few trams in Vienna because it was the only way to get between different parts of the city, but we didn't feel confident about it (and immediately went in the wrong direction on our first trip). In Prague we started to get our European public transportation act together. The tram across the street from our apartment made it easier. We bought tickets on board like experts and didn't even go in the wrong direction. Also, the sight of trams making their way down a long, curved hill in the mist between tall pink, green, yellow, and gray buildings is beautiful (see also 6 and 3). 8. Anora. We saw previews for this film in Florence, which features an actress ...

Vienna! The second and final stop on our brief Austrian tour. First, you must know that it's a BIG city. With over 2 million people, it's Austria's biggest city and the capital. After getting settled into our 5th floor apartment and saying a little prayer of thanks for the lovely elevator (did we mention earlier that our 4th floor apartment in Florence did not include an elevator???), our first order of business was to study the map and attempt to figure out the various public transport lines. There are no shortage of subways, street cars, and buses for navigating this beautiful city, but figuring out where they all went was a bit of a challenge.  After a few rides in the wrong direction, we eventually got our bearings and did some exploring.  Apartment and views from our apartment: The very cool Hundertwasser Haus: The old town square features the magnificent St. Stephens cathedral. Our favorite Vienna sweets – Manner bars and Hot Chocolate: Highlight of Vienna – #1 Vienna...

Getting to Austria from Italy entails crossing the Alps and transitioning from one language, culture, environment, and cuisine to another. Suddenly you're surrounded by German instead of Italian. Museums are highly organized instead of pell-mell. People are exercising instead of smoking cigarettes. It's puffy coat weather and menus feature  potatoes and pork instead of pasta and pizza. Our train adventures took us through the southern Austrian city of Villach, where we had a cup of tea along the crisp, clean, blue Alpine river that runs through it. This is what it looked like: We approached our week in Austria as a bit of a vacation. Since we'd only be staying in Salzburg and Vienna three days each, we didn't have time to settle into these Austrian cities and establish a routine the way we had in Italy. We decided to be tourists. Salzburg has a large, busy, thriving newer city and--across and down the river--a laid-back, cobblestoned, quiet old town, which is where we s...