Vacation in Austria

Last year, my wife Aditi and I decided to spend some vacation time in a European country. After a lot of scouting around for deals, we found Austria to be a great option. We charted out an 8 day itinerary (excluding travel) - 3 days in Vienna, 2 days in Innsbruck and 3 days in Salzburg.

Vienna is a beautiful modern city, with a lot of history in its background. Its baroque style of architecture (gothic spires, dome ceilings), its history (Austria had a monarchy from the early 13th century right until the beginning of the 20th century), its museums give tourists what they want to see. But beneath all that, there is a modernness to the city that is evident in its thriving malls, clubs, casinos, etc.

Innsbruck is a city that has the unique distinction of hosting the Winter Olympics twice. It has a beautiful town center, which was part of a castle in the medieval days. It is surrounded by the Austrian alps on all sides, which gives it a very fairytale look. Here too, there are lots of museums, fortresses, castles, etc.

Salzburg, known for its most famous son - Mozart, is different from Vienna and Innsbruck. To give you a bit of history, the former two were part of the Hapsburg empire, while Salzburg was an independent Principality ruled by the Archbishops of Salzburg. So the culture is different, the history is different, and the architecture is also unique. It has its own share of museums, castles, fortresses, and most importantly the birthplace of Mozart. Salzburg is also famous as the city where the movie Sound of music was shot and based on.

Travelling tips:

1. Buy the Vienna Card (17 euros for 72 hours), Salzburg Card (28 euros per day) and Innsbruck Card (24 euros per day) for each of these cities. The Vienna card includes all forms of public transportation and also significant discounts to all places of tourist interest. The Salzburg and Innsbruck cards are all-inclusive.. al public transportation, all sightseeing tickets are included. You get back more than you invest in these cards, and thus are an excellent value for money.

2. If you have the card, needless to say, public transportation is the best way to travel. It is fast, efficient, clean and safe.

3. Food - Donner kababs and Durram Kababs are the way to go, if you are a meat lover. These are found on every roadside and cost anywhere between 3 and 4 euros, and are pretty filling. Austria has more McDonalds locations than most places in the United States. If your hotel offers you breakfast, take advantage of that. Eat a filling breakfast before leaving your hotel in the morning and that wil last you until 3 PM. Do not try the Indian restaurants. They are extremely expensive and the food and service is not that great.

4. Places to stay - try Pension Paula (http://www.pensionpaula.at/) in Innsbruck. Very good value for money. It is run by Wolfgang Gunsch and his family. Again, value for money.

5. Money - There are Bankomats (ATMs) all over the country and they do not charge you for withdrawing money using your ATM card, regardless of which bank issues your ATM card. I found that much more convenient than carrying travellers checks, or exchanging money at the "Highway robbery" rate in the airports.

6. Learn some basic courtsey phrases in German - Danke (Thanks), Bitte (Please), Weidersen (Bye) - Austrians appreciate that, even though most of them speak fluent english.

7. Best time to visit - although summer is the season of choice for Vienna and Salzburg and winter is the season for Innsbruck (winter sports lovers), we went in the end of May, which ws the shoulder season. It had its advantages of shorter queues, cooler weather and good rates for hotels and flights.

Suspicious package at Penn station

I haven't seen this make the news headlines yet, as of 9 AM Eastern time. So I guess things may not be clear yet.

This morning as I was coming out of Penn Station to go towards my subway station, the regular exit from the station was blocked by US Army soldiers. Once we took the alternative exit (from the Madison Square Garden side), we saw the entire stretch of 7th Ave between 33rd and 34th Streets being blocked by ambulances, fire trucks and police cars. People were lined up on both sides of the streets. They had cameras and cell-cams in their hands, and were merrily clicking away. I thought it could be anything - some celebrity, some foreign dignitary, an accident, etc. Then I asked a cop what it was about and he said that they have found a suspicious package. And it ceased to be interesting anymore. My first instinct was to get as much distance between me and Penn station as possible. As I started walking away, I realised that most people were more interested to be part of the story. They wanted to be there as more information was obtained. And the questions that started coming to my mind were, why would one insist on being near a scene can prove to be potentially dangerous, if not disasterous.

Have New Yorkers and Americans in general have gotten so used to the idea that there may be a terror attack lurking at every corner (much of it is hysteria and paranoia, but some people would disagree citing the recent Fort Dixon plans), that they see something interesting in it?

I don't know the answers, but something about this doesn't fit in at all. Or maybe, someone can argue that New Yorkers are so tough that they have taken this in their stride and refuse to bow down to any sort of pressure. Who knows?