Hi, I'm Eric.

I’m an avid world traveler, photographer, software developer, and digital storyteller.

I help implement the Content Authenticity Initiative at Adobe.

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Europe Part 1: Seattle to Bratislava

1 June 2024 • 9176 km / 5701 mi (map)

I’m headed to Berlin this week for the 2024 European Identity Conference. I left a couple days early so I could go exploring a bit.

At the last minute, I changed my flight to leave on Friday instead of Saturday and to arrive in Munich instead of Frankfurt.

Little did I know that change of plans would lead to me being on the first-ever direct commercial flight from Seattle to Munich. There was a little bit of a party at the gate to celebrate the new route:

Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, Sea-Tac, Washington
Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, Sea-Tac, Washington

On board, we were given commerative cookies …

Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, Sea-Tac, Washington

… and a water-cannon sendoff as we pushed back!

Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, Sea-Tac, Washington
Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, Sea-Tac, Washington

I had a window seat, which gave me some nice views of the Canadian Rockies along the way.

above Mastodon Mountain, Alberta, Canada

On my countries-visited list, I’ve counted Slovakia and Poland from a trip in 2013, but the reality is that in those trips I barely crossed the border. My goal in this trip was to see much more of those two countries.

Once on the ground in Munich, I got a rental car and drove a few hours east to the Slovakian capital of Bratislava. Most of my time was spent on the autobahn in Germany and Austria, but I did venture off onto some side roads here and there and capture a few scenes from this cloudy/rainy day:

A large old white-walled farm building with a steep gray tiled roll and weathered, peeling plaster stands in a green meadow under an overcast gray sky. Lush deciduous trees rise around and behind it, with a tall leafy tree to the right and other rural buildings visible in the distance.
A white farmhouse in a lightly forested area. · west of Mankham, Austria
A small green building in a field with trees on a cloudy day. · Elling, Austria
Bad Füssing · north of Röfl, Austria
A field of ripening barley with yellow-green seed heads, much of it flattened and bent over in patches from rain and wind, under an overcast grey sky. A line of trees and a tall mast mark the flat horizon in the distance.
A field of wheat with trees in the background. · north of Röfl, Austria
south of Schönfeld, Austria
Sankt Christophen, Austria
A tall, golden meadow of long grass stretches across the foreground beneath a wide blue sky scattered with soft white and grey clouds in evening light. Beyond the field, scattered fruit trees and a low wooded hill rise up, with a few houses and a long modern building set among the green countryside.
A field of grass with trees and a building in the background. · Leitsberg, Austria

I arrived a bit after dark in Bratislava, but took some time to go out for a nightcap and walk around the area right next to my hotel.

A bronze sculpture of a smiling man wearing a hard hat and work clothes, leaning out of a manhole in a cobblestone street with his arms resting on the pavement, the open manhole cover propped up beside him. The scene is lit at night, with the worn stone paving stretching across the frame.
A sculpture of a man climbing out of a sidewalk. · Bratislava, Slovakia
The illuminated Neo-Renaissance facade of the historic Slovak National Theatre in Bratislava glows golden against a black night sky, with a tiered stone fountain to the right and a dark grassy lawn in the foreground.
A yellow building with a fountain and statues on it at night. · Bratislava, Slovakia
Seattle, Washington, to Bratislava, Slovakia · 9176 km / 5701 mi
(Mouse over or tap on the markers to see the photos there. Use the button to adjust the map’s position and zoom.)

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