Destination: Austria

I’m in Vienna — the city of high culture — standing in front of the Opera, where the standard “walk-don’t walk” lights have been replaced by lights showing gay and lesbian couples patiently waiting when red and happily crossing when green. It’s done in a fun-loving way to make it clear that, in this city, people want to be tolerant and celebrate diversity. (As in the USA, in Austria there is a split society making political news — basically city culture vs. country culture.)

This is Day 54 of my 100 Days in Europe series. As I research my guidebooks and make new TV shows, I’m reporting on my experiences and lessons learned in Vienna, the Alps, the Low Countries, England, and beyond. Find more right here on my travel blog.

Just off Vienna’s happy-go-lucky Mariahilfer Strasse, I came upon a mighty WWII flak tower built in 1944, which still functions as a shelter for the Austrian government in times of crisis. There are several such WWII towers in Berlin, Hamburg, and Vienna — all built after Hitler realized he might be defending his empire on his own turf.

This is Day 53 of my 100 Days in Europe series. As I research my guidebooks and make new TV shows, I’m reporting on my experiences and lessons learned in Vienna, the Alps, the Low Countries, England, and beyond. Find more right here on my travel blog.

This little clip features one of my favorite streets (Mariahilfer Strasse) in one of my favorite cities (Vienna), with one of my favorite guides (Wolfgang Hoefler). In a short chat we learn how the Green Party’s initiative turned a formerly congested street into a peaceful, community-building pedestrian zone. We also get some insight into the dynamics of Austrian politics (where there is also thunder on the right), and even watch members of the no-longer-fearsome Austrian army licking ice cream cones.

While there are more stately and elegant streets in Vienna’s central district, the best opportunity to simply feel the pulse of workaday Viennese life is along Mariahilfer Strasse. (If you visit, an easy plan is to ride the U-3 subway line to the Zieglergasse stop, then stroll and browse your way downhill to the MuseumsQuartier subway station.)

This is Day 52 of my 100 Days in Europe series. As I research my guidebooks and make new TV shows, I’m reporting on my experiences and lessons learned in Vienna, the Alps, the Low Countries, England, and beyond. Find more right here on my travel blog.

Just finishing up my first day of research in Vienna, kicking off my eight-week summer trip, I was struck by how you can read history into the cityscape of Vienna on nearly every corner. A good example is this old-fashioned showdown between the Old Regime concept of divine monarchy and the utilitarian view of the modern world — as seen in two diametrically opposed buildings (the Habsburg emperor’s palace and a building, now a bank, by the very-modern-in-his-day architect Adolf Loos). They were both built in the same generation around 1900. And by 1918 — the Old Regime was dead.

This is Day 51 of my 100 Days in Europe series. As I research my guidebooks and make new TV shows, I’m reporting on my experiences and lessons learned in Vienna, the Alps, the Low Countries, England, and beyond. Find more right here on my travel blog.

Stepping out of my hotel in Vienna on my first hour in Europe (clearly still a bit bleary with jet lag), I’m confronted by free culture on the street for the average Joe — it’s Puccini, a live videocast just outside where it’s being performed at the Vienna State Opera house. This is one of many ways Vienna brings culture to its people…and one of many ways this city inspires me.

By the way, with this post I kick off Part Two of my 100 posts in 100 days coverage of my travel season. For July and August I’ll be posting daily from Vienna and Munich, from our My Way Alpine Europe tour (Salzburg to Chamonix), from England (as we shoot three new TV shows) and — for a wild finale — from the Palio, Siena’s famous horse race. You and your traveling friends are welcome to stow away with me, right here on my travel blog, on what promises to be a great trip.