Vienna, Austria and Riva del Garda, Italy... and a review of the Skoda Roomster

Stunning Alpine Scenery

On the road in Bavaria

Not all of the trip was about sobering 20th century history. We did spend a pleasant couple of days in Salzburg in the beautiful Salzkammergut area of Austria. I almost consider this part of Europe to be a second home (in addition to the Netherlands) as each time I return I grow more fond of the area. The culture and natural beauty is simply spectacular. After the all too brief stay in Salzburg it was on to Vienna for my biannual law school international reunion. An event I always look forward to, this year's reunion was quite simply the best yet. Good friends and accomplished professionals in their home countries, it is always a pleasure to meet and network and enjoy an interesting European city. We had a great time enjoying the Viennese nightlife. Two of the hip clubs we went to: Bar Italia and The White Line. Bar Italia had a nice lounge feel and the White Line had pretty people and great dance vibes. Check out Bar Italia and click on the video link to get an impression of this fashionable lounge.

Welcoming new Austrian graduates into the extended law school family at the opening dinner at the Vienna Radisson Hotel

Bar Italia, central Vienna after the reception/graduation dinner. The middle point of a very long night!

The party continues back at the hotel as the sun rises... almost time for breakfast!

Reception later in the day (after very little sleep!) at a Viennese law firm overlooking the Danube River and the city of Vienna

At the law firm reception

Entrance of a Viennese Heurigen (vineyard), site of the second evening's dinner and wine tasting. Turned out to be the first stop and then it was on to the nightclubs of Vienna... and another morning watching the sun rise before calling it quits! Don't believe anyone who says that attorneys don't know how to party!

From Vienna it was time to head across Austria to the Dolomites of Northern Italy and Riva del Garda for a business conference. Instead of driving the quicker route back west to Salzburg and over the Brenner Pass into Italy, I decided to travel south on the A2 via Graz (my home state of California Governor Schwarzenegger's hometown), Klagenfurt, Villach, and over the border to Udine, Verona and on to Riva del Garda. The drive was beautiful, especially near Villach and the Slovenian border. Northeast Italy is very industrial especially the region surrounding Venice and the traffic on the roads reflected this. Lots of freight on the move! After the hard weekend of VERY late nights in Vienna I needed to take a couple of breaks to get some seriously needed rest on the approximately 8 hour drive.

Beautiful scenery on the way to Italy

On the shores of Lake Garda in Northern Italy. Spectacular location to do business!

Business discussion at Riva del Garda

Several days of serious business talks followed in the supremely beautiful setting of Garda lake in the Trentino area of the Dolomites Mountains. Then it was back up through the Brenner Pass and Innsbruck Austria and then on to Munich for the return home.

Skoda Update:


So how did the Skoda fare over the 10 days of travel? I was pretty unimpressed during my initial encounter with the car. Rubbery shift feeling, long throws and a long reach to the shifter, a lack of steering feel, a top heavy feeling, all of the foregoing did not bode well for the Roomster. However, the 1.9 liter twin turbo diesel proved to be a fairly peppy motor and allowed me to pass a fair amount of traffic with gusto. I adjusted to the steering and though not a precision tool, enough feel exists to give confidence within the car's performance limits. The small tires and top heavy feel made me refrain from making quick maneuvers in favor of smooth inputs, especially at speed. The center armrest was a pain when in the down position since my elbow would always hit when I wanted to shift.

I attained approximately 180 kmh (111 mph) at about 4000 rpms (max approx 4500 rpm) on a derestricted portion of the German autobahn. Pretty good for a fairly high profile vehicle. Sure, I had to move over quickly for the true performance vehicles but torque and decent speed allowed for fairly easy overtaking.

Final verdict: After well over a one-thousand miles behind the wheel I found the Skoda Roomster to be a competent vehicle with decent space for luggage, roomy rear seats given the vehicle's size with good visibility and lots of glass, good fit and finish with quality VW feel, awkward styling, decent power, smoothness, and good fuel economy with highest spec diesel motor. Definitely not an enthusiast car, but it is a competent European travel companion.

Final Note

Before I sign off on this post I have to thank Jennifer for taking most of the photos and video. She joined me on this trip and also reconnected with several of my friends she got to know back in my post-grad study days and also helped with the business conference. Without her camera I'd have a lot less to post about!

The Eternal City of Rome

Hi all,

We had hoped to do both Rome and Naples/Pompeii during our four days in the area. However, creeping travel fatigue and the long day spent at the Circus Maximus left us too wiped out to do anything the next day. We decided to take an organized tour around the city's major monuments the day after that just so that we could let someone else do the hard work. Naples and Pompeii will have to wait for another trip.

At the Trevi Fountain

Jennifer lending our tour guide a helping hand

The Roman Forum

This morning I decided to take JCW MCS for a drive around the city to re-visit some of the spots we saw the day before.

I managed to get JCW MCS in some interesting locations in Rome.

One Lap of Rome

At the Vatican

Circus Maximus and Genesis

Our first full evening in Rome was spent inside the Circus Maximus. Genesis performed a concert and there was a massive audience present; I would guess 200,000 but I have read that upwards of 400,000 attended from BBC News. Wow! To be in the ancient location of chariot races with a seat opposite the Palatine Hill where the leaders of Rome erected magnificent palaces made the concert venue truly one-of-a-kind. Directly across from us we could clearly see the remains of those magnificent buildings.

As a Phil Collins fan I was very pleased to see Genesis. The ancient Roman surroundings just made the event that much more special! We had to put up with a lot of dust and a huge number of people and Jennifer was pushed to the breaking point but she decided to stay and enjoyed the show. We knew that opportunities like this don't come too often!



Genesis performs in the Circus Maximus in Rome. Note: musical content is the copyright property of Genesis. This clip is intended solely to give an impression of the event and location.

Between Florence and Rome: Siena and Lake Trasimene

JCW MCS at the inner gate of the city of Siena, Italy

The day spent driving through the Italian provinces of Tuscany, Umbria, and Lazio was spectacular in its scenery and off-the-beaten-path roadways. We drove out of Florence and bypassed the A1 Autostrada to take in the old city of Siena. The stop was brief but we did manage to get the car pretty far into the old city.

Western Shore of Lake Trasimene at Castigliano del Lago

We then journeyed by backroads to Lake Trasimene in Umbria. A lake that is not fed by any rivers (although the Tiber runs nearby) the water level rises and falls primarily based on rainfall. As a history buff I have been interested in this lake because it was the site of one of Hannibal Barca's great victories over Rome during the Second Punic War in 217 B.C. At Trasimene, Hannibal managed to ambush a Roman army and trap and destroy it against the northern shore. Panic spread in Rome after this attack and just might have spelled disaster for Rome, but Rome soon recovered.

Siena and Lake Trasimene

After leaving Lake Trasimene we entered the province of Lazio and made our way to the eternal city of Rome.

The Circus Maximus in Rome and Genesis

Spent the better part of the day at the Circus Maximus in Rome. We went not only to see the ancient location of chariot races and huge spectacles just south of the Roman Forum and Colosseum but also because the rock group Genesis was in-town for a concert. It was a unique opportunity to listen to the group perform with what must have been about 100,000 concert goers while surrounded by ancient ruins. A special evening, if not for the tough dusty and crowded conditions in the ancient venue.

I have more to post including pictures and video clips of the past two days but I'm still on a painfully slow mobile connection. Our next hotel will hopefully have normal broadband service.

Scenic Tuscany and Internet Access Italia

The drive to Rome was fabulous. The route took us through very scenic Tuscan countryside to the hilltop town of Siena. From there we drove through more spectacular countryside to Umbria and Lake Trasimene, the second largest lake in Italy. Our final destination is the great city of Rome.

I'll have pictures and videos to post but that will have to wait due to internet connectivity issues at our current location in Rome.

Internet Woes

Looks like a spotty internet connection in Florence has been traded for zero access in Rome...

From the concierge at our hotel we received his sincerest apologies but a dispute between the cable line owner and the hotel's Internet Service provider has resulted in internet services being cut to the hotel. Adriano, our friendly concierge says "It's Italy... that's how it goes and our hotel is caught in the middle." Internet service may be restored at any time or not at all during our visit so I've had to resort to using my mobile phone as a modem, and quite a slow one it is.

L.A. MINI Tours Florence, Italy

The MINI in the historic Piazza della Signoria in Florence, Italy

Ok folks, I think I've got a good one for you today. We just returned from an early morning drive around central Florence... just about the only time this part of the city isn't choked with visitors from all over the globe. I was able to get into normally auto-unfriendly areas to take some pictures and Jennifer shot video as well. After breakfast I edited the video clips and have uploaded a pretty good impression of this historic city.

Enjoy!

JCW MCS in front of Florence's Duomo

Florence, Italy

Pondering the new Fiat 500 in the Galleria degli Uffizi


Today was our first full day in Florence. We decided to leave the car at the hotel and take the bus into downtown in order to get a better feel for the city centre. We took in the Duomo, Piazza della Signoria, Piazza della Repubblica, the Ponte Vecchio, and the Galleria degli Uffizi. I will try to get out early in the morning with the MINI to try to get a few pictures of the car in front of some of Florence's famous sites before the piazzas become crowded with visitors.


Video impression of the Piazza della Signoria

Antibes-Cannes-Pisa-Florence

Jennifer and JCW MCS near the Leaning Tower of Pisa

We're on the road again and have left a wonderful time in France for further adventures in Italy. We started by making a slight detour to Cannes to try and get a little feel of Hollywood on the Riviera by driving down la Croisette. From there it was autoroute/autostrada until Pisa. The drive was magnificent with the Meditteranean Sea a constant companion for most of the drive. After navigating the Riviera dei Fiori and passing through Genoa we entered Tuscany and stopped at the famous Leaning Tower of Pisa. A brief respite to grab a bite to eat (Italian of course) and then on to our accommodations in Florence. Tomorrow we plan to spend the day in the center of Florence and hopefully get the Accademia and Uffizi galleries done early before the throngs appear.

My internet access is also a bit spotty so I might not be able to respond or post as quickly as I would like.

Video of today's drive into Italy.