Good R vs great PG

So we are back in the states after a day of travel that is beyond belief. I still need to write about our time in Vienna before wrapping up with the worst travel day (short of actually getting bumped or missing flights) but let me say as a teaser that it involved early morning obstacle courses, several trains, subways, and trams, long lines, and a 5 minute interaction with French security that mimics a scene from the movie Dumb and Dumber. 

So Vienna, my how big you are. Heather and I imagine we must have walked on average about 8 miles a day on our trip and the bulk of this must have been in Vienna. But before I get to that let me do my best to explain what I mean by comparing Prague and Vienna to the movies. Vienna is really a beautiful city and after seeing pictures of how it looked immediately after WWII one can't help but be completely impressed with all they had done to bring it back to past glory. Truly amazing! The city is quite impressive with it's cleanliness and is amazing for it's public transportation and accommodations to bicyclists and walkers alike. The feel is very cosmopolitan and there is a lot of "high fashion" in the city. It is also seemingly very safe. Never once did we feel uneasy in any neighborhood or at anytime of the day, which is amazing considering one can buy beer and jaegermister from a hotdog stand 24-7 you'd expect a little more disorderly conduct but there wasn't any. Instead we found Vienna to be friendly and accommodating to not only ourselves but seemingly everyone from all walks of life. In that I say it's like a good PG movie. Interesting and fun in a family friendly package.

Prague on the other hand seemed instantly racy and slightly dangerous. There is an edge there. Something dark that lingers in the shadows of the former communist era. This city was virtually untouched through both World Wars and all military campaigns previous. The history of architecture is unparalleled in the world and I can say with total conviction that I know of no other city in which every street, every turn, every inch could potentially be a postcard view. There is something amazing to see everywhere you look! I could do a 15 pound coffee table book on the "Doors of Prague" alone. But as I said there is an edge to the city. The visible evidence of rebellion and angst is literally written on the walls with the overwhelming graffiti. People here, especially the older generations, are not warm to strangers. We guess this to be a hold over from the communist regime when strangers could be potential spies lurking to rat someone out to the secret police. Seeing pictures from as recently as 20 years ago will also bring feelings of admiration for what the Czechs had done to revitalize there amazing city, but where Vienna seemed to get the brass cleaner out and remove the tarnish, Prague accepted the patina and embraced the beauty of it's decay. For it's edgy and gritty nature and tease of unseen dangers we liken it to the rated R movie. Thrilling and not good for all audiences, but authentic and substance.