The Good, The Bad, and The Odd

Here are some of the things we were surprised by on the trip that we either did not know about beforehand or did not expect to stand out:

The Good

#1 - Zoom Kindermuseum, Vienna. A well-thought-out children's museum we thoroughly enjoyed. Rather than your typical pay an admission for all-day access while your kids get exhausted and overstimulated, they run semi-organized programs in specific museum areas for a particular time slot. We did the "ozean" (ocean) one (for ages 0-6), which lasted an hour and had an incredible, enclosed play area with two guides that ran an introduction and closing for the group, and kept the area clean and organized.

#2 - Devin Castle, outside Bratislava. Fun castle ruins to explore and hike around. Also had a neat exhibit on the archaeology of the site. You can also take advantage (as we did) of the riverside bike/walk trail, the outdoor restaurant, and the hokey carnival-style rides by the entrance.

#3 - Double-decker buses! We all enjoyed riding around London on the upper deck of the buses. We took buses instead of the underground whenever we could, even if it meant a little longer ride. It was a great way to see the city, and avoided the many stairways and escalators (not fun with a stroller in tow).

The Bad

#1 - Prague metro ticket machines. They only took coins, there were no change machines in sight, and vendors were always requesting exact change and small bills. Is there a Czech coin shortage we're not aware of? One of the machines would not accept the coins we did have, and we were barely able to get tickets back to our hotel that night. Oh, and did I mention it's all on the honor system (with heavy fines if you're caught without a ticket), and we never saw anyone checking for tickets?

#2 - Crowds at Prague Castle. This is one of the big tourist attractions in Prague, and it was mobbed when we went. We could hardly walk around, a ticket-taker gave us a hard time for having a "family" ticket but not having our child *with* us (both kids were wiped out and waiting--within sight of the ticket-taker--with Aunt R and Uncle A), and parts of it felt like a complete tourist-trap. I'm sure it's much better if you go when it's not crowded.

#3 - London Underground maintenance. On weekends, London is working on it's underground system. This meant that certain entire lines were closed all weekend, and many others had limited service. It was a challenge to figure out what was and wasn't running, and then how to get around while avoiding all the closures. You can't *always* take the bus, even if we wished we could.

The Odd

#1 - The Opera Toilet (no, I'm not kidding). This was an artist-designed pay toilet in one of the Vienna U-bahn (subway) stations. It played the Blue Danube Waltz, and aside from being oddly decorated (the men's urinals were a "Piano Bar"), it was otherwise basically like any other toilet. Joel's comment, "You know the art market is over-saturated when artists start designing public toilets."

#2 - The Museum of Communism in Prague. I would actually recommend a visit if you're ever in Prague. It was a text-heavy museum full of communist-era artifacts, photos, and propaganda. A great glimpse into Prague's communist days, and a small idea of what it must have been like to live under communist rule. Simon was actually very curious about the whole thing too.

#3 - The Whispering Gallery in St. Paul's Cathedral, London. This actually would be better characterized as "curious" or "intriguing." Up where the dome begins to curve inward, there is a narrow balcony running all the way around. You can stand there and whisper into the wall, and due to the acoustics of the space, someone at any other point around the circular balcony can hear it (as long as they have their ear up to the wall). It actually works, and is quite surprising the first time you try it.