Prague & Vienna - Is This Real?
For months Kath and I had been planning our fall break, since we arrived to Paris in August we brainstormed possible places to visit for our vacation break…aka four day weekend. Finally, around the middle of October we decided we would be going to Prague and Vienna, and we couldn’t be more excited as we started organizing the trip and counting down the days.
The plan was simple, Prague from Friday to Sunday, Vienna from Monday to Wednesday morning. So here’s our story, our adventures, and our shenanigans from our November break.
Day 1: Friday we began as our usual Parisian day, we went to class and headed to the airport right after to catch our flight to Prague, Czech Republic. We arrived in Prague around 9pm, from there we took a cab to our hotel to settle in and rest a bit. After some research and yelping, we headed out to a bar called Bonivant’s. We decided to walk, after the concierge told us it was a 15 minute walk to old town…false it took us 1 hour due to our choice of getting lost and seeing the city at night. Nothing like a chilly evening, with few people out and a city at your hands. We crossed the famous Charles Bridge which allows you to see the castle as well as the city, and as we took pictures and enjoyed the views we noticed even the locals were there to enjoy the city at night.
Bonivant’s, not only was it recommended by the New York Times, but it was also full when we arrived around midnight. The place was very Old fashioned inspired, the waiters all dressed up with button ups and red ties, the music classic and the decor that of the 50s, it was all well put together to create a classic. We ordered a chili con carne (which was part of their tapas of the day) and then two fancy dancy cocktails that had a lot of ingredients that were never translated to English for us…mystery led to delicious and we enjoyed our night in the traditional bar. The most interesting thing was that coming from Paris where we usually pay a lot for a cocktail–specially one with so much sophistication–Prague was very cheap and our drinks turned out to be about 5 euros each. From there we skipped the rest of the Friday night partying and went back to the hotel…the weekend had yet a lot of exploring to be done.
Day 2: Saturday we woke up with alarm to make sure we had a productive day, but no productive day starts without a healthy breakfast and we were definitely hungry for it. We went to the famous Café Savoy, a place where pastries and breakfast and fancy combine to make you feel like a royal having tea time. The place was full and lucky for us we got there right on time to get a table.
Both Katherine and I had that hungry big breakfast craving and so our order went as follows: two House cafe au lait (their special touch was that they put chocolate and cinnamon in it), two omelettes (one with ham one with spinach) and an order of french toast, ohh and a freshly squeezed orange juice. Shortly after we understood why the place was so famous, the food was made to perfection, a breakfast with such peculiar tastes that actually made you want more. Then, if you go down the stairs in the restaurant, there is a glass that let’s you see the pastry chefs right at work, I got very excited they had the utensils of professionals and I was just eager to get in there and bake.
From there the walking began, we crossed a bridge to head over to old town, but as we were crossing the bridge and seeing the scenery all we could say was, “Wow! Are we in a movie?,” Prague has the feel as if you are in the set of a movie, as if everything is just set up for you to see. Many buildings and areas are very well taken care of, and therefore give you the impression that Prague is untouched. The time of year also affects how you see the city, although Prague is a city that will be beautiful all year long, it is called out to be seen in the Fall, when the trees are many different colors and they complement the buildings that also vary in shades of pastels. Truly, picture. Perfect.
We continued to walk along the side of the river and eventually reached Old Town. The first thing we saw was the buildings that lined the square, each a different color and kept up to perfection. In front of these buildings was a crowd of people intently looking towards a wall to see the Astronomical Clock, this clock shows the astrological signs, as well as a hand on the clock that has a sun, a moon, and a hand that points to the time. The sun and moon point to different signs and overall the functions of this clock are very interesting as you stand there trying to figure it all out.
From there we decided to go up the clock tower to see the city from a “birds eye”. Right next to the clock you can get your ticket and go up the tower (either by swirled ramp or elevator).The top offers exquisite views, you get to see a 360 view of Prague and all it’s landmarks. We made our round, took all pics and selfies and headed down to old town for a snack.
We went on to the food stands and tried some of the local street food, first we had a beer and Halušky, which is a potato salad with cabbage and bacon. Then we found more potatoes, the kind like the ones they serve at a fair, these were on a stick and fried and sprinkled with salt and chili…gosh it brought me back childhood memories and I was so excited to eat them.
After that, we left room for dessert, if you are in Prague this is a must, in the same food stands there is one with Trdelník, a pastry with sugar, vanilla, toffee and almond. To me it tasted like cinnamon, and therefore I Loved it!
From there the snacking ended and we were off to walk the street of Parizska, a street with all the luxury brand stores and gorgeous trees that lead the way to the river. From there we reached a place called Palladium, an indoor mall full of shops and international restaurants. We had a coffee there to gain back some energy and continued our walking. Eventually we reached the hotel to change, take a breather and get ready for the night.
The night had exciting plans, we had received the recommendation of checking out a club called Karlovy Lazne, which claims to be the biggest nightclub in Central Europe. But before the partying began we went to a restaurant called School for dinner. The name may make you think this place isn’t serious enough, but the place was very good. The inside was nice, modern with white walls, some pops of color with gray, green or purple velvet chairs and the kind of lighting that makes you feel like you are cozy inside while it’s cold outside your window. We got ourselves a table (thankful we didn’t need a reservation).
The menu and their concept was cool, for one I found it interesting that you could order a bottle of wine, and if you didn’t finish it you only get charged for the amount you drank…pretty neat. So we gave it a go, we ordered a bottle of an Italian wine to share between Katherine and I…quite the challenge we gave ourselves. And to eat, we both got the rib-eye steak (one medium well and the other well done…which provoked a puzzled look from my waiter because I’m the only freak in Europe ordering a well done steak).
The steak came with potatos, some green beans wrapped with bacon and a pepper sauce on the side. It was delicious, specially with the company of our plentiful wine that was gonna last us through the night haha. For dessert we treated ourselves to the “we walked all day present” and ordered the chocolate fondant (aka a chocolate lava cake) delicious! And believe it or not, as we finished our dessert, shared a few more laughs and discussed the trip thus far, we finished our wine bottle…we are becoming European huh
From there we were lucky the club was across the street and we lined up for about 10 minutes and then went in to see the famous nightclub, we quickly understood why it was the biggest, it had 5 floors, each one with a different style of music: -1) radio hits, 0) ice pub, 1) dance music, 2) electronic, 3) oldies, 4) R&B and Hip Hop. We had quite the fun roaming the floors, dancing a bit to each style and people watching for a few hours in the club. Day 3: On Sunday our plan was clear, visit the Prague Castle, explore calmly the rest of the city and then grab our train to Vienna in the afternoon. We began by checking another famous cafe for breakfast called Café Louvre, it was full of both locals and tourists and the ambience was that again of a classic, cozy café, story tells this 100 year old cafe once was the breakfast place for Einstein…crazy.
After the cafe we made our way to the castle via tram, we found it interesting how easy it is to get on those trams without tickets, we got on expecting to pay for one and there was nowhere to purchase your pass. Works great, but be careful cause you could actually get fined for not having a ticket if they do a security checkpoint.
The castle is what you typically expect from European royals, it is huge, with different buildings and a big church in the middle. Though our take on the castle was that the inside didn’t have too much to offer, it was mostly the outside and the views that we loved. After walking around the castle and feeling our noses freeze, we headed back down to the city to have some lunch before catching our train to Vienna.
Day 4: Oh Vienna! When you think of Vienna, you have to imagine the city of classical music and charm. This city has a lot to offer if your passion is music, and the city itself is very charming. Monday was our first full day in Vienna, so we decided to go see the palace before anything else.
We took the metro and arrived at the front door of the Schönbrunn Palace, it’s very similar to Versailles in the sense of architecture and the gardens, but this Palace was also one of a kind. We went inside and chose the audio tour to actually understand where we were.
About an hour in, after seeing all the royal rooms and the history behind the place, we went down to the gardens. Now, by now I’ve realized I have an obsession with fall colors or perhaps just the scenery. This time, it was no exception, the trees that adorned the gardens were in the most beautiful shades of orange and yellow. It was as if they were fake, just placed there to look pretty. We roamed the gardens and took endless amount of pictures, none of which do the place justice.
By the time we were done at the palace, the sun was setting at an early 4:30pm…a tad depressing because it makes you think it’s much later. We headed back to the hotel to put on some layers and went to the historic town center. We enjoy the walk in the brisk air of Vienna, grabbed a place for dinner, and walked around some more of what the city had to offer. To end the night we sat down in a bar/cafe for some desserts and hot chocolate, and with that called it a wrap.
Day 5: Tuesday was our last day of break, so it was the day to see the rest of Vienna in the daytime. We started early and headed to the Ringstrasse, a ring to see all the monuments and important buildings in historic Vienna. Among them was the Parliament, the National Theater, the History Museum, Hofburg Imperial Palace, etc. Right in front of the Rathauspark, was a little park in which they were setting up a Christmas market, it was a gorgeous peaceful place where families took their kids or people went for a relaxing stroll.
From there the walking continued, until we mapped our way to the famous bakery in Vienna called Demel, like many of the classic bakeries this one was no exception in its original and traditional feel.when you walk in you see their boutique as well as their pastries, once you walk to the back there’s a glass wall that let’s you take a look at the bakers as they’re preparing all the bakeries’ treats. We sat there for some dessert and tried the famous Austrian Sachertorte, a cake that any chocolate lover finds heavenly, it’s a taste of rich chocolate and a unique texture that few cakes have. Very recommended.
From the main town we headed over to a mile long market that offered not only more food options, but also local shops with specialties. We walked through the naschmarkt, a market in which you see everything from flower stands, to noodles on the go, to cheese and meat stands and even full on restaurants. We passed by and were called to the stands like in any market, but imagine Kath and I not speaking a single word of German and walking amongst all these stands with men yelling stuff to us…entertaining but also a tad confusing haha.
After wondering around it, we took a metro to the area by the station called Prater. In the area they have small amusement park/fair. It was mostly closed because of the season, but the big Ferris wheel was open, and we wanted to try it out and see the panoramic views of Vienna, so we gave it a go.
With that. We realized we covered everything that was in our itinerary, all that was left was a local meal so with one more metro we were back in the town center. Thankfully we found a place that didn’t close for the break between lunch and dinner, and they allowed us to have lunch at 4pm haha.
The order was simple, sticking to the local dish we ordered the wiener schnitzel which is a breaded veal steak with a side of potato salad, and a beer from a local brewery. I’m not the biggest fan of veal, but coming from Mexico where “milanesa” breaded chicken breast is a typical dish, I quite enjoyed it.
From there it was back to the hotel to pack and attempt to get some rest. Our flight to Paris left the next morning at 6am so our plan for the evening was packing, napping, and having a late dinner in the Asian Fusion restaurant next to the hotel. And so it went, at midnight we were back in the hotel attempting to nap until 3am, with that we wrapped fall break and I’ve gotta say, it was quite the successful trip.
Be Back Soon,
