I came to a fork in the road after Poland. Prague and Vienna are pretty close to each other but in different directions. I have not been to either, but going to both would have required a day’s worth of backtracking.
I have just about had my fill of Europe’s old cities. Sure they are pretty and all but they are starting to run together and looking at the photo’s I have taken, I can’t really tell them apart anymore. Especially when the ground floors have been turned over to retail outlets that can be found in any mall across the US. Assuming there are still Malls left across the US.
So, old and pretty are not deciding destination factors anymore. I have the impression that Vienna is a little prettier, has more to do, more history and a bit more culture. Seeing as I only have a couple $3 t-shirts and one pair of traveler cargo pants left, I didn’t think I would fit in with Vienna’s high society way of life. I boarded the bus to Prague.
Prague and the tourists
Prague was as expected, winding narrow streets lined with quaint shops and restaurants and clogged with tourists. Pretty much more of the same.
I want to be clear here, I am not against the old cities of Europe. I just think that one or 2 per trip is plenty.
I spent a couple of pleasant but uneventful days there. I broke down and tried a local desert called a Trdelink. It is kind of like a hollow cinnamon roll. The hollow part is stuffed with chocolate cream, Nutella or Ice Cream. Messy but delicious.
Even with the goal of working my way through all the of the possible Trdelink fillings, I just wasn’t staying entertained. It was early May and I was still wearing my Winter coat. It wasn’t a conscious decision but in the past week, somewhere I decided that I was just going to power through the remaining countries to get to a point where I could find a beach chair and settle in for the remaining days of the trip. I hopped on the next bus and head south.
But first a quick stop off in Innsbruck Austria. Austria was another new country on my list to check off and since I bypassed Vienna, Innsbruck it was. Not a bad option either. It is set in a long valley of the Austrian Alps. 
It hosted the 1976 Winter Olympics. The Ski jump is still visible from town. It has a small alpine themed old town which I liked but as with most ski towns, pretty expensive. I was there on a Tuesday so I can tell if it was all that much fun but it was a nice walk with the Alps towering over town.
Not much to do on an off season Tuesday so I would have headed on pretty quickly but I still had one more thing to do. Get to Lichtenstein. One of those little known but fabled micro nations that dot around the globe.
I had heard that there wasn’t all that much going on there. There were a few buses and I think a train but none of their schedules suited my desire to get in, get out and continue my trip to sunny weather. So I just rented a car.
Renting a car in a foreign land always raises my stress levels and I would rather not do it. I cant read the street signs, have no idea where I am going and feel like an open target for every cop needing a little pay bump without all the paperwork.
At least my GPS says I was there.
Getting to Lichtenstein from Innsbruck is pretty easy. It is just a scenic three hour highway drive up a valley road. The problem is knowing when you get there. It is at the very western tip of Austria, with Germany on the right and Switzerland on the left. Kind of hard to miss, but I did. I had forgotten to downloaded the Google map to my phone so I knew was that I was in Europe.
I reason I didn’t see any signs probably was budgetary. Probably pretty expensive to print out the “welcome” and “thanks for coming” to Lichtenstein on signs for the few visitors that do come through and actually care. I ended up finding a sign that said Lichtenstein on it so I stopped. It was the local winery but it still counts in my book.
A romantic dinner at Innsbruck IKEA
No time to bask in the success though. I had to get back to Innsbruck to catch an overnight Bus to Milan. I was early and pretty much had covered as much of Innsbruck as I wanted on this visit so I just had a picturesque dinner at the local IKEA and relaxed at the attached shopping center. Still no “Swedish Fish” though.
I don’t usually like to take the overnight bus because you cant see the scenery and the sleep is crap. But sunshine and sand were awaiting somewhere on the other side of the ride so I bit the bullet and climbed aboard.
I awoke a few hours later in the Milan. Many will think I am crazy, but I have never liked Milan. I just don’t see the point especially when Lake Como is a short train ride away. It didn’t help that the bus station is just gross and I was grumpy from the bus ride. I thought I should give it another try but the gray cold morning reminded me that sun and sand were somewhere not near. I bought another bus ticket and got on the bus to Nice, France with high hopes.
