Vienna: Post: 7

Science & the Enviroment

In Vienna, like London and Paris, there is a public bicycle system (unfortunately I did not take a picture of this, but I have already pictures posted on the other ones*). In this city are wide, designated bicycle lanes, and not on the road but seperate on the sidewalks. Moreover, they seem to be everywhere in the city's centre. There are a lot more spaces to lock up your bicycle than in the other two cities. Comparativly it looks like bicycles are being used less in London than in Vienna and perhaps Paris. Also related to green transportation, the mass transite system here has trams, metro ("U-bahn") and trains. The system is excellent, maybe the best of the cities I have visited. In addition the U-bahn stations are exeptionally clean and more attractively desighned.

The cars here still remain relativly small compared to London and Paris. The variety of models of cars is not as many as in London, although there are still a number of different models of cars I haven't seen in either London or anywhere else.

Social & Cultural Observations

The Vieannese, unlike the Londoners, wait for the cross walk signal to turn green before crossing even when there is no car on the road. The Londoners that I witnessed, ran across the street even when a bus was coming at them from a close distance. The custom in Paris seems in between. People drive slower here compared to London or Paris with Londoners driving the fastest. The Austrians are comparatively quite formal, athough I am told they are not as formal as the Germans. The metro stations here do not have a barracade connected with scanning your ticket to get through to the metro. It appears the Metro company trusts that you bought a ticket and so do not have barracads. Is this because it is a Gemamanic culture? ( What do you think? Leave your ansewer in the comments section related to this post)

Comparison of Natural History Museums in London and Vienna

The Natural History Museum in Vienna in my opinion is much superior to the one in London. Vienna's museum has a little less in quantity in its collection but much better quality.* For example, when I was comparing the collection of minerals and gems, the Austrian collection had much better samples, unlike the London ones wich had lower quality but much bigger quantity of specimins. Also, the Austrian musem displays there collection in a much more aesthetic and effective way compared the the London's Natural History Museum. Vienna's had a lot more dioramas than London's, and were more realistic.* Overall, the Natural History Museum in Vienna is much superior than London's.

Queing in Veinna

Although queing seems to have died in Britian, it is alive and well in Vienna. Unlike in London, were people make a clump and then rush to the opening at the first oporntunity in this city people wait patiently in an orderly fashion until their turn.

Next Destination

The capital of South Bohemia, Cěské Budějovicé.

P.S. The pastries here in Vienna are like a slice of Heaven. Have you had a "Mozart Bombe"?

*pictures related to this post can be found at www.frozenmiceblogpics.wikispaces.com

Southern France: Post 6

Southern France


The Ardeche Region


My parents and I took a bullet train from the Gare Du Lyon station in Paris to the city of Lyon. It was a very nice experience especially when you are sitting in the opposite direction that the train is going. After the bullet train we took a slower, more local train to the town of Montelimar ( in the area of France called the Ardeche). While waiting for the local train to start I noticed the huge number of cigarette butts littering the sides of the track and that got me thinking, what is the percent of people who die in France due to smoking related lung disease.



From Montelimar we were driven to our B&B out in the countryside, which is close to where my mother and father will be participating in a conference on Mountain Amenity Migration -- people moving to beautiful and interesting places and not mainly for economic reasons. It is considerably warmer here because it is closer to the equator and is on a plains. It is even warm enough to wear a T-Shirt. Altough on the second day being here the bad weather of rain and cold seemed to follow us from Paris. This area of the Ardeche is known for is chesnut recipies, such as cakes, spreads, preserves, etc. I think the food here generaily is a little less in quality here than in Paris, but still quite good.



More Comparative Architecture
Architecture around here is Mediterranean in character. I find it similar to that of SantaFe, New Mexico's architecture; same adobe finishing, bright colours and warm coloured tiles. Yesterday we visited Balazuc, a nearby town of Roman origin perched above a cliff. There, it was mostly stone walled houses and small cobble stone streets winding in and out of the town.*

Next Destination

Tommorow my parents and I will travel Back to Lyon and fly to Venice, Itaily -- if we can get a ride to lyon because there is a general strike in France which includes the trains.

Venice, Italy

Science & the Enviroment

Venice is known as the floating city, although it may be quickly becoming the sinking city. On spending a day with two architects and city planners who live and work there, I learned the city has a long history of finding ways to deal with water. It's water problems is mainly governed by tides from the surrounding Adriatic Sea. Some areas of the town are lower than others and usuaily have water, there are higher parts that are affected by the tides. These water issues are increasing due to the rising sea level which is resulting from Global Warming.* I learned that the people of Venice keep an eye on the tide reports day by day so they can decided how to avoid the water. For example, they check the internet and see what the tide is going to be (its going to be some inches high), then they will plan there route to where they want to go by avoiding places (like streets and plazas), they know will have water on them, and/or put on different styes of shoes for were there going. If the water is coming into theire house they can't do much about it, and just have to wait it out and clean up afterwards. At the same time the arcitects showed us buildings with drainage and pumping systems to combat this water problem. However it seems to deal more with historical times. However can they sole the rising water issue coming from Global Warming?

Footnote: *pictures can be found at http://www.frozenmiceblogpics.wikispaces.com/