I do think cruising with small children is an easier form of travel. The logistics are just more straightforward: your accommodations and consistently toddler-friendly dining travel with you. On balance, this is both good and bad. On the one hand, it saves time and effort spent on ‘everyday life’ activities. On the other hand, caring for a toddler forces you to live more like the locals (in terms of engaging in kid-friendly activities and the chores of daily life). That said, I wouldn’t hesitate to drive again.

The trip had far more highlights than lowlights. Indeed, I think every place we went is now firmly affixed to the “return” list, especially Bavaria and Poland. And, while we were lukewarm on Berlin initially, it has a lot of cultural venues that are worth exploring. Thus, while it’s not the prettiest city, it’s certainly worthy of another in-depth visit. Realistically, it will likely take us another 3 years or so to finish the 157×50 (err 39? 40?) goal. So, if we’re not back in Central Europe before then, I suspect we will most assuredly return soon thereafter.

Finally, this trip reminded me just how much we like experiencing new places. I think that’s been one of the great advantages of the 157×50 project’s goals. By definition, you’re forced to expand your horizons and travel more widely. Fortunately (or unfortunately), once you’re on that path the thrill of exploring becomes addictive and you find yourself thinking: “why not drive from Budapest to Turkey?” or “maybe we should island hop through Indonesia?” Of course, we’re not hostel-dwelling, backpacking vagabonds. We’re far more (and unapologetically) bourgeois by this point in our lives both by choice (why inconvenience yourself when you needn’t have to?) and necessity (traveling with a toddler, while I’m sure it’s technically possible w/ backpacks and in hostels, I think you’d have to be stark raving mad to do it). But, I digress…

Final score: +6 countries and +1 state for us; +13 countries and +1 state for Emerson!

Up next: the Caribbean over Thanksgiving.

What a worthwhile place to visit! While the historic city center of Bratislava is diminutive in scale and lacks ‘major’ sights per se, we all found it utterly charming. It’s smartly restored, slightly arty, utterly accessible, not overly crowded, and full of friendly locals. We especially enjoyed the numerous statues that dotted the town, which added a note of whimsy to the classic facades. In short: Bratislava is a winner. I’d highly recommend it as a day trip from Wien or as a stop between Budapest and Vienna. We followed Rick Steves’s self-guided walking tour of Bratislava and added a few shopping stops to pick up souvenirs. Libby was especially taken by a silver and garnet ring, which she now owns.

Main Square -- Bratislava

Statues dot Bratislava's historic center...

For my part, I was struck by some images that I happened to notice inside of a little café near the town’s main square. It turns out that the café was run by a non-profit service organization that helps the intellectually challenged. The art work (made out of woven strips of construction paper to form multi-colored geometric patterns) was created by members of the organization as well and was for sale in the shop (at 5 euros, including frame and handmade gift bag). I found the people delightful in the café and the entire project to be very touching. The staff was clearly pleased to have sold their work, and I’ve probably never been happier spending ~$6.50 in my life.

My 'art' purchase in Bratislava...

After our successful morning, we returned to Vienna by 1:00. We grabbed lunch and took a nap. In the late afternoon, we headed to the Prater (a large public park near our hotel that’s very popular with the locals), which includes a Tivoli-style amusement park. We took a ride on a miniature train throughout the park, enjoyed a number of other amusements (including a traditional horse-drawn carousel), and wandered around the grounds enjoying the atmosphere. We then found a promising looking (and packed with locals) biergarten at which we enjoyed a tremendously awesome and insanely cheap (for Europe) dinner of bratwursts (with the most heavenly senf), frankfurters (for Emerson), potato salad, tomato salad, fresh bread, and drinks.

Fun at the Prater...

Pilot Emerson... ready for take-off!

We had ice cream—a sweet ending for a sweet day—as we walked through the park back to our hotel.

Tomorrow we depart Austria for Poland via the Czech Republic.

Today’s box score: +1 country (Slovakia)… +2 for Emerson!

Having said all of that, we did manage to take in most of the major sights in central Vienna including the Secession Building, Staatoper, Stephansdom (which is in the process of being cleaned), Peters-kirche, Michaeler-kirche, the Hofburg Palace (which Mom and Libby toured while I sat with Emerson in the Volksgarten during her nap), Burgtheater, Neues Rathaus, Parliament, Museum Quarter, etc. We also stopped along the way for coffees and had dinner in the Augustiner-Keller, which was a favorite from our prior trips (reasonable prices and good food—always a winning combination).

Emerson sleeping in Vienna's Volksgarten

After a long day out, we returned to the hotel around 7pm.

Tomorrow morning, we’ll head for Slovakia (country #67) before returning to Vienna for our last evening in Austria on this trip.

Inside Salzburg's Dom

We departed Salzburg around noon. Timing worked out ideally as Emerson fell asleep immediately, awoke an hour and a half later in time for lunch (more wursts!), and finished her lunch just as we arrived at our afternoon waypoint: Melk. For those that aren’t familiar, Melk is a smallish town located in the Danube Valley approximately two-thirds of the way from Salzburg to Vienna. It contains Austria’s most famous abbey and otherwise is just a pleasant city to stroll, which is precisely what we did.

View of Melk's abbey...

After leaving Melk, we quickly arrived in Vienna… on the opposite side of town from our hotel! Much to my chagrin, this meant that I had to navigate through Vienna’s traffic during “rush hour” (assuming they have such a thing). I must confess, I found this to be a bit stressful… a fair amount of traffic, seemingly all of the streets intersecting at odd angles, motorcyclists zipping between and in front of cars (they’re as much of a nuisance as bicyclists can be to pedestrians, who seemingly zip at and between people with little regard for anyone’s safety—which is somewhat ironic because the damn bicyclists are always complaining about aggressive automobile drivers and then act like douche bags to pedestrians… but, I digress…), and of course street signs that make little to no sense to me. Needless to say, I was glad to reach our Marriott in Messe (slightly outside of the center of town, close to the Prater, and very convenient for parking and getting toddler suppliers, such as a variety of fresh fruit).

We actually did something I almost never, ever do: we ate dinner in the hotel’s restaurant tonight. And, it was excellent! Most of the family had traditional Weiner schnitzel with fresh greens and potato salad (though Emerson had French fries). I went a little rouge and ordered the Viennese creamy potato soup (with leeks and bacon) and followed it with a bowl of barley risotto with summer vegetables and fresh “mountain” cheese (perhaps something lost in translation there?).

Tomorrow, we plan to leave the car safely ensconced in the hotel’s garage as we go out to explore Wien!

Schloss Vaduz

The route to Schloss Linderhoff (one of King Ludwig’s famed castles and the only completed one) was somewhat circuitous. From Liechtenstein, we re-entered Switzerland, crossed briefly into Austria, drove into Germany, re-entered Austria, and finally returned to Germany a few miles before reaching the castle! The route was generally attractive with an especially enthralling section between Routte and Linderhoff, where we found ourselves skirting along the banks of an alpine lake.
Schloss Linderhof—inspired by Louis XIV and the palace at Versailles—was built on a diminutive scale for this rather eccentric king. Both the castle and grounds were fabulous. Unfortunately, the steady rain limited our ability to fully explore the grounds and outer buildings. We were, however, able to take the guided group tour in English (which, thankfully, Emerson handled very well).

Schloss Linderhof

After the castle, we made a quick side-trip to Oberammergau, best known for its religious theatrical production and skilled woodcarvings. According to Rick Steves, Oberammergau represents a tourist trap that is best avoided. I don’t know. Is it touristy? Sure… if not for travel, the village would clearly be a fragment of what it is today. However, we found Oberammergau to be charming and would have enjoyed a longer visit. Indeed, even though this was our second trip to Bavaria, we think an extended third trip should happen in the future—it’s really that nice. We’re also hopeful that the 3rd time might be the charm: a trip to Bravaria without rain.

In the late afternoon, we drove a couple more hours to Salzburg and arrived at our hotel around 6pm. We would have actually made it 30 minutes sooner, but we hit our only significant traffic snag (thus far) a few kilometers before the Austrian border (for our third and final crossing of the day!). After checking into the Sheraton Salzburg, we walked across the river and then briefly along its banks before ascending a little hill to reach the city’s best beer hall / garden: the Augustiner Braustubl. Dinner consisted of various wursts (mit senf), schnitzels, and pretzels along with “radlers” (beer mixed with lemon-lime soda) for the adults. As the rain had long since stopped, we enjoyed our delightful repast under the shade of the beer garden’s chestnut trees — a perfect ending to a great day!

An evening in Salzburg...

Today’s box score: +1 country (Liechtenstein)… +2 for Emerson!