Top 5 videos of 2019

Ed. note - check out my YouTube channel for all my videos, and consider giving them a "thumbs up" or even subscribing. I update the channel with every trip I take.

It's intriguing to see what interests people, and the takeaway from 2019 is that train travel is a big interest. Yay! I advocate hard for public transit, and I'm glad it interests you as well. Overall, you viewed my travel videos 2,700 times in 2019. Thank you.

Here's a snapshot of my 2019 travel videos that you viewed the most:

1 - Canada's Via Rail, Windsor to Toronto When I tried to find videos that covered the Windsor-to-Toronto stretch of Canada's Via Rail trip, a few "train watching" videos were all I found. That still puzzles me. Whether using the train to fly out from Toronto or to take in the sights of the city, it's hard to go wrong with Via Rail. See my Canada playlist for more.

2 - Railjet from Vienna airport to city center With few exceptions, European airports have easy rail links to their city centers. This is unsurprisingly true of Vienna; you can choose from a couple options. Because we're frugal, we chose one of the less expensive options: Railjet. To a non-European or someone new to public transit, it may seem confusing, and this video smooths out those rough patches. See my Austria playlist for the view from the heights of the Wiener Wald (Vienna Woods) to the playgrounds of the Prater.

3 - Morgan Mile, Brookfield, Vermont As a lifelong equestrienne, I love that a horse video made it into the Top 5. And it's a Morgan video, no less! Thank you. Horses get my enduring gratitude because without them I wouldn't know nearly as much about history, culture or geography. The 18th-century little stallion known as Figure should be counted twice in that category. This video is part of a New England/Northeast U.S. playlist I created over two years of travel, and it's one that I hope is several more years in the making.

4 - Spanische Hofreitschule (Spanish Riding School), Vienna

Another horse video (yay!). Although photos of the legendary Lippizan performances are forbidden, the Spanish Riding School doesn't seem to mind images of the stallions as they walk from the winter riding hall to the stable, so you see them here after a morning exercise. This was an emotional video to make, and it was even more emotional to film. How could a poor kid from the city end up in the front row of Vienna's Spanish Riding School? Tenacity, good luck and books by Marguerite Henry, that's how.

5 - Alexanderplatz, Berlin

East Germans just call it "Alex," and you'll see why they feel this familiarity to the platz's simple, stark usefulness. It has none of Europe's typical lavish grandeur and it makes no apologies for that. But if you're looking for the more typical Roman-era flourishes that dominate Europe, Alex stands just a few minutes from Brandenburger Tor (Brandenburg Gate). Check out my Germany playlist for a taste of the nation from the Rhein to the Spree.