This is our third consecutive autumn trip to Europe.  In 2010 and 2011 we did the trips in September.  This year we decided to enjoy our glorious Colorado September at home with our departure then being further delayed by two functions in my home town the first half of October and an educational conference late in the month that I thought would be beneficial in doing my job.  That turned out to be a mistake because the conference was not worth the time and it pushed our trip into mostly November.  With the weather we’ve had, we’ll be coming in September again next year.  Not only is the weather significantly better, we enjoy visiting the European gardens which are obviously gone by this time and we also learned that several venues that we wanted to visit closed at the end of October.

With that background, the weather for the rest of our stay in Salzburg was unpleasant.  Intermittent rain (sometimes very hard) mixed with 30s or barely 40s on all days.  In fact, the Sunday pictured in my “Salzburg” post is the only sunny day we have had through the first twelve days.  But we did manage to visit a few more worthwhile Salzburg sites before heading out in spite of the rain and cold.

In our remaining time we enjoyed Stift St. Peter and the Residenzplatz.  The Schloss Hellbrunn was closed for the season and the beautiful Kollegienkirch was closed for an extended restoration.  And then we headed to Slovakia on Wednesday.

Because a very large abbey in Melk, Austria was also closed for the season, we decided to stop in Linz, Austria on our drive from Salzburg to Bratislava.  Good decision.  We really enjoyed our brief stay in Linz including our best meal of the trip at a little Italian place on a plaza by a parking garage called Mia Cara (www.miacara.at).  It wasn’t just a good meal, it was outstanding.  Then we hustled around the city fighting the wind and freezing rain visiting a few historical sites (they have two cathedrals here), again enjoying the active and varied retail offerings including two very nice downtown malls (i.e. escape from freezing rain) as well as just a generally attractive city.

The pictures accompanying this post again have a disproportionate number of shots of churches.  The obsession not only comes from how grand they are, but how many there are so close together.  I need to research why that is.  In Vienna, Salzburg and Linz, there could be mere feet between these facilities of what I thought is the same denomination.  So in Salzburg, the 10,000 seat cathedral is a few hundred feet from the spectacular Stift St. Peter.  In Linz, the two cathedrals, one seating 20,000, are a few blocks apart.  And in Vienna, it is the same scenario throughout the area of the city in which we spent our time.

This is the second time we have been in Europe during our presidential election.  And during both trips, the locals clearly take a great interest in our politics and are forward with their questions.

We loved Austria.  The countryside is beautiful, the cities we visited were lovely (and in the case of Vienna absolutely grand), and the people friendly and helpful.

Next, Bratislava Slovakia.  Our first former Iron Curtain country.

We successfully navigated our way out of Vienna in a rental car on Saturday and headed to Salzburg.  Vienna is a gorgeous city and we loved it.  We left plenty more to see if we ever get the opportunity to return.

The drive to Salzburg was also very beautiful with rolling countryside, lovely villages, and the vertical hillside plowing that looks so unusual to me.  There were also wind farms and many, many solar panels for those of us who just don’t get it (as our oil industry neighbor describes those of us who think renewable energy should be a part of the energy agenda) to be intrigued by.

We stopped in the city of St. Pölten, the capital of Lower Austria that originated in Roman times, to stroll the town center and enjoy lunch at Café Schubert where our server was very helpful in assisting us with the German menu.  Then it was back on the highway toward Salzburg.

We are staying at the service-obsessed Hotel Sacher (http://www.sacher.com/en-hotel-sacher-salzburg.htm) which is on the new town side of the River Salzach.  Waking up on Sunday to a view of the sun glistening on the Old Town as well as up and down the river was a treat with Sunday being our first nice weather day of the trip (we’ve mostly been in the 30s with rain).  We strolled the romantic medieval streets of Old Town that is a UNESCO World Cultural Heritage Site.  We took advantage of the nice day to check out the apparent vibrant retail, visit the Cathedral with its fantastic Baroque ceilings, the vast Franziskanerkirche and Hohensalzburg Fortress including a ride on the funicular to scale the hill.

Dinner at St. Peter Stiftskeller (“since 803”) (http://www.stpeter-stiftskeller.at/en/the-restaurant.html) that bills itself as the oldest restaurant in Europe and it was excellent as had been the hotel restaurant the night before.  It is game season here in western Austria so there are many wild animal specials on the menus.

Another day in Salzburg tomorrow but, as of now, it is a wet and cold forecast.

November 1 was All Saints Day, the country’s second national holiday in six days.  And they close almost everything.  Tourists aimlessly wandering the streets just dying to spend money.  So what better way to spend the special day for all of the saints than to visit Karlskirche, a fabulous church that was dedicated to the patron saint of the Plague, St. Charles Borromeo, the once Archbishop of Milan.

This baroque church begins to impress from blocks away because of its 236 feet high dome and dual columns towering over the plaza with scenes celebrating the Plague Saint’s life.  Entering the interior is at first equally impressive with its grandiose High Altar and beautifully decorated mini-domes.  But what a bummer.  The otherwise impressive dome is significantly obstructed by scaffolding.  But when I started to try to photograph the sections of the dome that I could see from the floor, I realized it wasn’t scaffolding at all.  They have installed an elevator and stairs right in the center of the church so that visitors, for a price of course, can get all the way up to the top of the cupola.  Talk about detracting from the elegance of a structure over 250 years old to make a couple of bucks.  We have enjoyed the smaller old churches here so much and to see them willing to compromise the elegance as well as the structure of this building that took 25 years to build was disappointing.

After visiting Karlskirche, we continued on to spend the afternoon at the Belvedere Palaces and Gardens.  The larger palace is now the art museum with the main collection of Gustav Klimt that Konnie was yearning to see.  On our last full day we walked more of the city taking in more of the fabulous buildings and the people.  The beauty of the buildings and plazas here remind me in some ways of the much younger Washington, D.C.

Dinner at Weibels Wirtshaus (http://www.weibel.at/wirtshaus01.html) and Griechenbeisl (http://www.griechenbeisl.at/lang_en/page.asp/index.htm) to wrap up the week in Vienna before heading to Salzburg for four nights.

Tuesday had us trying the subway for the first time and finding our way to Schonbrunn Palace and Gardens.  Schonbrunn was the summer residence of the imperial family dating to the early 18^th century.  It was the typical royal residence with very large rooms, elaborate décor and grandiose gardens.  It reminded us of Versailles but it was still interesting to learn the Austrian history surrounding it and with the Habsburgs ruling this area for over six centuries, there is plenty of history.

Wednesday started off with a bit of disappointment as we had purchased tickets for what we thought was a two hour practice session of the Lipizzaner stallions at the Spanish Riding School here.  So we thought we would see them working on some routines but it actually was a two hour portion of the daily exercise routine for the horses with nothing particular of interest.  They mostly just rode them around with only a few horse dancing moves.

Lunch at a new find called Ess & Tisch was the first step in making up for the Lipzzaner disappointment.  Our Spanish Riding School ticket included a tour in the afternoon and that, when combined with our limited exposure in the morning, made the horsey part of our day finish much better than it started.

From there we did a bit more exploring of this gorgeous city that already ranks among one of our favorites.  It would be very easy to return here to see more.  It was too late in the day to see the inside of the National Library building (but we will before we leave) but we managed to slip into two more fabulous churches.  The more impressive of the two was the obscure Michaelerkirche.  Portions of the church date to the early 14^th century and it contains several beautiful frescoes including one from 1519.  The fabulous altar piece is from the mid 18^th century.

We chose an Austrian restaurant called Griechenbeisl.  The food was great, the wine even better and the interior charming to say the least.  In asking a server about the meaning of a word in a document I was trying to read, he told us the restaurant began in 1447 and that many famous people had dined there.  I tried to spin a little humor with my suggestions of famous people.  He straightened me out by answering Mozart, Beethoven, Twain and Strauss.  Oh.  Those famous people.

And to end our day, we were surprised by three cute Viennese trick or treaters at our apartment door when we arrived home.  Hope they liked the granola bars.

We really like Vienna and highly recommend it.

As you know, the Catholic Church had a pretty significant influence in this part of the world back in the day.  Our plan for today to help endure the cold and see how elaborate some of the local churches might be (especially given the dullness of the Cathedral) was to take a look at the Franziskanerkirch (Franciscan), Dominikanerkirche (Dominican) and Jesuitenkirche (Jesuit) churches.  If you've seen earlier blogs from Europe, you'll note that we visit a lot of churches and cathedrals as we enjoy the architecture and the history it reflects as well as observing the great effort that was made to make these extraordinary places for the worshippers to visit.

On Tuesday we made the 250 mile trip from Orlando to Miami via the Florida Turnpike.  The intention was to grab lunch upon arrival and then take a trip west to give the boys a glimpse of the Everglades.  But omg, the traffic in Miami!  What a mess.
So it was a leisurely lunch at Latin Café 2000, then to the hotel and then to Marlins Park in time for batting practice.  Oh yeah, it was also 92 with a heat index of99 in Miami (while it was also 92 in Denver and with a heat index of 88…I love
dry heat).

Our first glimpse of Marlins Park elicited the reaction that they play in an office building.  A cool contemporary office building but an office building looking structure nonetheless.  But when we got inside, I was extremely impressed.  It is the smallest of the new parks seating just 37,000, is very attractively finished, has a huge concourse with a clear view of the field and with a good selection of concessions.  It has a retractable roof that is of course a dark color as opposed to the white circus tent that matches the ball at the home of the Tampa Bay Located in St. Petersburg Rays.

We were in row 1 behind the visitor’s dugout for a 4 to 3 Atlanta victory over Miami.  We saw three very competitive games on this trip including a 12 inning, 14 inning and two one run margins.  The game in Denver was the only one that was
not competitive to the finish.

So Baseball Tour 2012 is complete.  Four games, 44 innings, first extra inning games, first rain delay, Disney World, Universal Studios, high quality time with Uncle Benjamin and Aunt Fernanda and hopefully a lifetime of memories for these two guys to share with their grandchildren.  We have now seen 16 games in 11 stadiums (four games in Yankee Stadium, two at Citizens Bank Park and two at Coors Field) in our three years on the road.

We are looking at the Mid-West for 2013.  IF the scheduling permits, IF the names fit on our shirts and IF these guys want to spend that much time with their grandfather, our goal will be seven stadiums so we can make the claim to have been to all of the stadiums in the United States east of the Mississippi River together.  A big IF but we just might try it.

Thanks for following us.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, this Baseball Tour is a bit different than our first two because we decided a year ago to include a stop in Orlando to visit Benjamin and Fernanda and take Ryan and Logan to enjoy the theme park sights here for the first time.  For background, Benjamin went to work for Disney in 1999.  He has worked in numerous areas of their business over the past 13 years and is now an independent contractor for them.  I consider him an expert on the parks and how best to efficiently visit the attractions.  Fernanda, who hails from Belo Horizonte Brazil and met Benjamin when he was in Denver finishing college, started with Disney about 2005 and is now the Latin America Marketing Manager for Disney Destinations.

So Saturday was spent at Disney’s Animal Kingdom and Hollywood Studios while Sunday we visited Universal and its adjoining park Islands of Adventure.  The boys enjoyed the days with Ryan in particular feasting on the most challenging of the rides.  At Disney you can manage your day pretty well by utilizing their Fast Pass system for the most popular attractions at no additional cost.  The Universal version requires the purchase of an absolutely outrageously priced ticket with an Express Line that is mediocre at best and not available on all of the attractions in spite of the cost.

On Tuesday it is off to Miami to see the new Marlins Park for a game between Miami and Atlanta.  We head for home on Wednesday and start to plan for Baseball Tour 2013 which will most likely be a tour of some of the mid-western teams.

You can go to Clown College in Florida because this is where Ringling Brothers calls home.  Perhaps that is why the Tampa Bay Located in St. Petersburg Rays play their home games in a white tent.  Yes, they try to catch a little white baseball while staring up into a white tent ceiling.  Not an easy task as demonstrated by the Seattle Mariners catcher who nearly got hit in the head while trying to find an otherwise routine pop foul.

In any case, our trip was slightly diverted when one of my traveling partners was taken ill shortly after returning to our hotel in Atlanta in the middle of the night on Wednesday.  We were finally in bed at 3 and up at 7 to catch our flight to Tampa, hopefully without causing an unpleasant scene along the way.  The details of getting through the airport, security and time on the plane shall go unreported here.  So we headed for Orlando where the sick child could rest and get comfort rather than finishing him off on the roller coasters at Busch Gardens.

Oh yes.  Baseball.  As I noted, Tropicana Field is a bit of an odd venue for baseball.  I'm actually surprised they got into the American League with that thing as their facility.  But we had terrific seats and it was a great game with Tampa Bay prevailing 4-3 in 14 innings.  Our second extra inning game in a row with a post midnight finish.

Our next game is not until Tuesday in Miami.  Until then, a weekend of Orlando amusements with Benjamin and Fernanda and a trip through the Florida Everglades on the way to Miami.