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Things That I Really Enjoyed During Our Visit-My Short List
- Visiting the different cafes of Vienna and realizing there is something important in slowing life down.
- "Mayerling" normally not something that I would look forward to but I thoroughly enjoyed both the orchestra and the ballet. It gave a sense of clarity to the story of the Habsburgs.
- Old Town Prague and its activity and vibrancy.
- The beauty of Vienna and how well it works its green areas into its city planning. Parks range from Prater with its family atmosphere and numerous activities to the Vienna Woods with its vineyards and its panoramic vistas to the Volksgarten where people could relax, read a book or just retreat from city life for a while.
- How efficient local transportation was ranging from trolleys to subways to buses.
- The vast array of historic buildings and different styles of architecture. I enjoyed walking the Ringstrasse at night and being surprised how active it was even at midnight.
- Seeing the many different perspectives of our group and witnessing that each of us have our own passions and motivations.
- Talking to some of the residents of Vienna and hearing the pride in their voice about Viennese culture.
- Being amazed by The Czech Republic and their recovery from a system that stifled a very creative culture. They have historically been caught in the middle of other peoples conflicts and still managed to have their own unique way of life.
- Returning to the US and realizing I was very lucky to have such an opportunity that many others will never know.
I still am amazed at how efficient the transportation was in Vienna. Coming back home I have thought about that often.
ReplyDeleteIf Vienna can do it, Saint Louis can or any other city trying to carry out a program. A few years ago they tried to bring a street car program back in Saint Louis. I would like to see what I can do to help bring that in.
It seems that without that mass transit in Vienna and Prague that our experience might have been lacking somehow. It would not have been the same as driving in a car. Sitting or standing with the people and getting to be in the hustle and bustle helped me at least understand the cities better.
@greentechguy
ReplyDeleteI couldn't agree more. Experiencing the wonderful pubic transit system here is a great way to get a feel for the pulse of the cities. In St. Louis, I miss this very much as I moved to the Midwest from the East Coast. I must say, however, that the two systems for transport in Vienna and Prague rival those of New York, LA, and Chicago. By far.
It's truly a shame that we can't muster the motivation and resources among the US public to lay out some really great public transportation systems in our country. We would become more connected and more united, more efficient, and much cleaner.
Hope one of you can encourage the city gov't to reconsider their policies on public transport - now that you've seen a real one. There are other cities with efficient systems, like Chicago, Champaign-Urbana in IL, and Honolulu
ReplyDelete