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Archive 2016 · Toronto, Milan, or Vienna, Which Would You Choose?

  
 
Sjjindra
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p.1 #1 · p.1 #1 · Toronto, Milan, or Vienna, Which Would You Choose?


I am a newlywed (10 months now) who have travelled very little over my lifetime (seldom left Texas) and we are both retired. My new bride loves to travel and has proposed going to one of the the above cities for about a week next summer. It won't primarily be a photography trip, but I will plan to take a lot of photos of the city, the sites, and the people.

Which would you choose, and why? What sites should we not miss at either city. Any photos are appreciated.

Thanks for any imput.

Steve



Oct 06, 2016 at 10:56 AM
mdude85
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p.1 #2 · p.1 #2 · Toronto, Milan, or Vienna, Which Would You Choose?


I have been to all 3 although I don't have as much familiarity with Milan. Toronto is very much like the New York City of Canada and there is tons of shopping, restaurants, skyscrapers etc. Vienna is a much more classical European city featuring beautiful Romanesque and Baroque architecture, great public transportation and city planning, fantastic historical and cultural sites, gardens etc. And Milan has a bit of both but being in Italy it is of course more the latter than the former.

If you are going to hop on a plane to a major city then there's not a huge difference between Toronto and other cities like Chicago, New York, etc... actually Chicago is a better bang for your buck and you don't need to go thru customs.

As far as tourism and cultural differences, Vienna and Milan are just in another category. So I would suggest one of the two. The travel times are much longer to Europe but if you're going for a week it should be worth it. Plus, there is so much to see on a day trip from Milan or Vienna if you get tired of being in the city.



Oct 06, 2016 at 11:24 AM
Sjjindra
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p.1 #3 · p.1 #3 · Toronto, Milan, or Vienna, Which Would You Choose?


Mdude85

I appreciate your input. Having a bit of a phobia about traveling, Toronto was instinctively my first choice. After reading your comments, and thinking hard about it, I've put Milan as first choice now.

I am to be the group captain for myself, my wife, and 6 other women, close friends our's. They accepted my initial recommendation for Toronto, but when I brought up changing to Milan, the response has been an immediate and enthusiastic approval by all.

So thanks for nudging me in a more preferred direction. My wife is thrilled.

Steve




Oct 06, 2016 at 06:33 PM
MalbikEndar
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p.1 #4 · p.1 #4 · Toronto, Milan, or Vienna, Which Would You Choose?


Right countries, wrong cities.

In Italy: Florence. In Austria: Salzburg and Innsbruck.

(Well actually in Italy you could go to piles of different places, have a good time, and find great photographs).



Oct 06, 2016 at 10:47 PM
Sjjindra
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p.1 #5 · p.1 #5 · Toronto, Milan, or Vienna, Which Would You Choose?


MalbikEndar

Each of the cities listed are to have a large 3 day international convention and our group plans to attend one of them. So the choice is to be one of the three. For at least a week we will be involved in the convention, meeting new friends, and having planned visits to key sites in the area. We will probably extend our stay by another 3 days or so to pursue some activities outside the scheduled itinerary.

It is still early in the planning for our group, so we will still need to discuss any plans to extend our stay beyond the scheduled 7 days and any excursions we might choose. Any suggestions here are much welcomed.

Thanks
Steve




Oct 06, 2016 at 11:18 PM
Dustin Gent
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p.1 #6 · p.1 #6 · Toronto, Milan, or Vienna, Which Would You Choose?


Milan


Oct 07, 2016 at 11:25 AM
mdude85
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p.1 #7 · p.1 #7 · Toronto, Milan, or Vienna, Which Would You Choose?


Sjjindra wrote:
Mdude85

I appreciate your input. Having a bit of a phobia about traveling, Toronto was instinctively my first choice. After reading your comments, and thinking hard about it, I've put Milan as first choice now.

I am to be the group captain for myself, my wife, and 6 other women, close friends our's. They accepted my initial recommendation for Toronto, but when I brought up changing to Milan, the response has been an immediate and enthusiastic approval by all.

So thanks for nudging me in a more preferred direction. My wife is thrilled.

Steve



Glad it helped. If your wife has traveled a lot, maybe she should be the group captain? It's not easy to travel overseas with 8 people in tow (especially if you have never gone overseas).

One good thing about Milan and all the other Italian cities is the food and wine are great. Austrian/Bavarian food is not my favorite. If you don't do a lot of traveling you will still find the food in Italy to be very palatable.



Oct 07, 2016 at 12:26 PM
Sjjindra
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p.1 #8 · p.1 #8 · Toronto, Milan, or Vienna, Which Would You Choose?


Well, with 7 mature women travelers, I knew I would be more of a figurehead group captain anyway and will carry out the role while giving plenty of consideration to the input from the others. My wife is an excellent organizer and planner and the others are appreciative of her efforts.

Good food and wine will make any excursion more enjoyable. Plus we will be meeting and enjoying the hospitality of a number of new friends from the area during our stay. My wife had taken a similar trip to an international convention in the Philippines in 2013 and still loves to show photos and share memories from that event.

I'll be putting together a list of any of the best sites to visit near Milan to compare with those that will already be in the planned trip (when published) and then our group will have to decide what other sites to visit during our extended stay. Any recommendations are appreciated.

Thanks again.
Steve



Oct 07, 2016 at 02:16 PM
GroovyGeek
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p.1 #9 · p.1 #9 · Toronto, Milan, or Vienna, Which Would You Choose?


Assuming that you will never leave the city -- of the three, Vienna is far and away the most interesting. Toronto is just barely distinguishable from any large US city, except that it is colder. Milan is, by a large margin, the ugliest Italian city I have visited.

If you are willing to travel a bit the math changes. Most of the Amalfi coast is over-run by tourists and is not particularly remarkable, but the southern part, particularly Ravello, is lovely.



Oct 08, 2016 at 02:22 AM
Sjjindra
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p.1 #10 · p.1 #10 · Toronto, Milan, or Vienna, Which Would You Choose?


To all

As it stands now, our group seems pretty enthused about Milan, Italy. We have to turn in our individual applications, with our group number, for the convention listing our prefered cities in order. So for now, it's:
Milan, Italy 1st preference
Vienna, Austria 2nd preference
Toronto, Canada 3rd preference
We will have to wait for our assignments before we know for sure, but will be doing some preliminary planning and building of anticipation in the mean time.

Next will be cosiderarion of the camera(s) to take. I now have a 5DIII, but on a trip to NYC a few years ago, found the 5DII and few lenses became very heavy. So leaning toward taking my Sony A6000 with the 20, 35 IS, and 50-200 lenses and/or my SL1 with the EFS 11-18 IS and 35 F2 IS, and maybe the 55-250. Or possibly buy the 24mm pancake for day to day. It will depend on whether my wife wants to carry a separate camera or just use her cell phone.

Thanks
Steve



Oct 09, 2016 at 12:26 PM
Craig Gillette
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p.1 #11 · p.1 #11 · Toronto, Milan, or Vienna, Which Would You Choose?


I's have suggested Vienna too but that's a matter of what might interest me. An advantage that Milan and Vienna have over Toronto is that it's not all that difficult to make interesting "day" trips by train - and even "boat" from Vienna. Summers are high time for tourists in Italy(and the other choices, too) so planning side trips and ticketing in advance might be a good idea.


Oct 18, 2016 at 11:48 PM
Craig Gillette
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p.1 #12 · p.1 #12 · Toronto, Milan, or Vienna, Which Would You Choose?


I used a Sony NEX-6 with only the 16-50 kit lens on our trip to Florence, etc., and it was a great savings in weight and complexity compared to multiple cameras and lenses although at times I wanted wider/longer options. I've considered the 35 is but haven't grabbed one yet. An advantage is it's not a power zoom and you don't have added delays to zoom/wake up, etc. OTOH, I don't think I'd have been happy with only that one lens. Advantage quality and aperture, disadvantage, no zoom range. Maybe I'd consider the other zooms Sony offers for added range. Not sure you'd be happy with 20mm as the widest choice there.

I'd wonder how much real photo time you'll have in a group and thinking the KISS principle might rule the day.

I'd suggest maybe a local trial run or two with your camera/lens choices with a lot of walking and/or similar sorts of subject matter to help you get comfortable with your choices before you get away for real.



Oct 19, 2016 at 12:00 AM
C of Light
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p.1 #13 · p.1 #13 · Toronto, Milan, or Vienna, Which Would You Choose?


Toronto is your typical Canadian city, cosmopolitan and clean. Certainly combine it with a trip to Niagara Falls.
Never been to Vienna.
I went to Milan as a starting point for a one day excursion into Venice and trips into the Swiss Alps including Interlaken, Jungfraujoch (where they shot a Bond movie) and Bern using the Swiss Rail Pass. After traveling on the Swiss rail system, I have a much better appreciation of "Swiss Precision".



Oct 22, 2016 at 08:24 PM
Sjjindra
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p.1 #14 · p.1 #14 · Toronto, Milan, or Vienna, Which Would You Choose?


We are in a holding pattern until the assignment of which city our little group is to attend comes through (probably in January). Milan seems to be the most popular preference among many people we know. If we were to get bumped on all three of our choices, I think Bolivia would be our next alternative!

Still bouncing around the camera choice, leaning toward the SL1, due to more familiarity with the menus over the Sony, unless my wife prefers that one. When we go out to photograph birds the SL1 with the 55-250 STM is the camera I give her to use. She may want that one, or just want to use the little S100 or the camera in her IPhone though.

Once our assignment comes in, we will start getting a lot more excited about the destination. If Milan, we will have to look into some excursions taking that Swiss railway system.

Thanks
Steve



Oct 24, 2016 at 04:58 PM
Scott Stoness
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p.1 #15 · p.1 #15 · Toronto, Milan, or Vienna, Which Would You Choose?


I suggest:

Victoria BC - West Coast ---Ocean, whales, gardens, art - something unique or
Calgary AB - Eastern Side of Rocky Mountains, bears, Banff, gondolas
St John's Nfld - oceans, quaint buildings, friendly people, ice bergs
Quebec City - French, like Europe, history, old buildings.

over Toronto - Toronto is very nice but not much different than Chicago, Houston, Cleveland....

-----------------------------------------

Woops I should have read on - you are going to Toronto because of a conference.Niagra falls, theater, shopping, restaraunts are all great there



Oct 25, 2016 at 01:45 PM
dhachey
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p.1 #16 · p.1 #16 · Toronto, Milan, or Vienna, Which Would You Choose?


Sjjindra wrote:
I am a newlywed (10 months now) who have travelled very little over my lifetime (seldom left Texas) and we are both retired. My new bride loves to travel and has proposed going to one of the the above cities for about a week next summer. It won't primarily be a photography trip, but I will plan to take a lot of photos of the city, the sites, and the people.

Which would you choose, and why? What sites should we not miss at either city. Any photos are appreciated.

Thanks for any imput.

Steve


Why not ask your "new bride" where she would like to go. To me Paris is one of the most romantic and photogenic cities in Europe, but Barcelona and Rome interesting too. All of them offer good food, beautiful museums and interesting photo opportunities.




Oct 26, 2016 at 04:53 PM
Sjjindra
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p.1 #17 · p.1 #17 · Toronto, Milan, or Vienna, Which Would You Choose?


Dhachey

My new bride and the rest of our group (6 other mature women) gave me the first choice in our selecting the order of preferred cities. I originally chose Toronto first, Milan second, and Vienna third, but based on some recommendations in this thread, approached our group and asked about changing the order of preference to Milan first, Vienna second, and Toronto third. This was heartily accepted by all, especially my new wife. This just showed how willing the others were to acquiesce to the preference the new travelor (me), but with your (FM) help, I think I got it right.

Our group is applying to attend a special convention that will be held at key cities throughout the globe, and only so many can attend at each location. So we selected 3 cities in our order of preference and the selection committee will probably let us know which one we are being assigned to in January.

A lot of activities will already be planned for our group by the local friends in the area, including many of the favorite sites and foods. We will probably stay about 3 additional days to venture out on our own.

Thanks
Steve



Oct 27, 2016 at 08:05 AM
Matt Drown
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p.1 #18 · p.1 #18 · Toronto, Milan, or Vienna, Which Would You Choose?


My wife and I were Vienna last year, but for the christmas markets - http://2ontherun.com/2016/christmas-markets-in-vienna/ - So summertime is going to be different.

Milan will be the tastiest choice of the three, so if food is important to you, Italy.

Toronto has lots of good food, but I don't remember the public transportation being as good as the other two. As people have said it's similar to metropolitain US cities, but with a different Canadian flare.

As to the camera choices, I've converted from a 5dm2 to a Olympus EM1 for weight changes. The EM1 with the 12-40 pro lens is wonderfully compact and lighter weight than the canon. You can add a 17mm prime and have a great street setup that weighs considerably less than the canon. My arms thanked me after this conversion while doing multiple day long city shooting experiences. My biggest suggestion here would be to limit yourself to 1 or 2 lenses only. Leave the rest behind, you will probably find it liberating and much lighter.

I'm sure you'll enjoy any of the three, just make sure you let us know where you end up!




Nov 01, 2016 at 10:16 AM





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