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Eurotrip V

September 2015
A 15-day adventure by Postcards to Boston Read more
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  • Postcards to BostonEurotrip V
    Day 1

    Prague, Czech Republic

    September 10, 2015 in Czech Republic ⋅ ⛅ 59 °F

    We left Boston at 10:10 on a redeye last night. Arrived in Prague today at 1:40pm and got to the Questenberk Hotel via a prearranged transfer around 2:30. The transfer was very nice and we were charged a whopping $27. Probably expensive by Czech standards but we were grateful after a long travel day. We had a shower and a welcome drink with the reception staff on the hotel terrace. Our first beer was Pilsner Urquell, not the best option to start off our beer vacation. The hotel staff was very welcoming and gave us many ideas.

    We walked down the huge hill, across the Charles Bridge and through Old Town, meandering our way to Dish Burger Bistro for a 6pm reservation. This was recommended to me by Prague Foodie Tours as their favorite burger in Prague. On the way we got caught in the rain, the only rain we would see in Prague and the only time we were without our umbrella. On the way we got our very first trdelnik, a roasted dough tube covered with cinnamon sugar. So YUMMY!

    Dinner was good but nothing special. Myron got a burger with port wine caramelized onions and gran morovia cheese. Sherilyn got a burger with goat cheese, sundried tomatoes, fig jam and arugula. Both of us got garlic parm fries with house ketchup and garlic aioli. We walked back to the hotel which took about an hour and felt like it was uphill the whole way.    Read more

  • Postcards to BostonEurotrip V
    Day 2

    Prague, Czech Republic

    September 11, 2015 in Czech Republic ⋅ ☁️ 59 °F

    We had breakfast of a trdelnik and cappuccino to go. Myron got the regular one (cinnamon sugar) and I tried a coconut trdelnik. We walked down the huge hill and met Filip in Old Town for our free walking tour with Sandemann's New Europe. This lasted from 10am to 1:30pm with a beer break halfway through. The tour was very informative and went through the Old Town and Jewish Quarter.

    We had a quick lunch at Paneria Kaprova: Caprese panini for Myron and Spinach quiche and caprese salad for me. The food was good but nothing special.

    Nearby following lunch, we met up with Kathryn for the Castle Tour at 2:30pm, from the same company as the walking tour. We walked to the tram and took that up to the castle complex. The tour took us through the monastery, St. Vitus Cathedral and Presidential Palace. The tour ended at 5:30 and included a short coffee break. We enjoyed the tour and thought it was useful to have a guide to bring us through the complex but we wished we had a different guide.

    We wandered around the castle gardens for a bit and admired the views of Prague. Such a gorgeous city with it's red rooftops! After a quick stop at the hotel to get our jackets, we made our way to Pivovarsky Klub, which was recommended by a few bloggers and was on Anthony Bourdain. Myron got venison goulash with bacon dumplings and I got roast duck with bacon mashed potatoes. The food was fantastic and so cheap! The restaurant was definitely out of the way and took awhile to walk to, but we thought that helped keep it from becoming too touristy. We decided to walk back to the hotel so we could digest better!    Read more

  • Postcards to BostonEurotrip V
    Day 3

    Prague, Czech Republic

    September 12, 2015 in Czech Republic ⋅ ⛅ 61 °F

    We woke up late and were out the door at 9:30 (yes...we like to wake up early on vacation to get more out of our time here!). We tried to go to Cafe Savoy but the line was too long for us to justify. We got a table at Cafe Lourve. I got the Czech breakfast (ham, boiled egg, sliced cheese) and Myron got scrambled eggs. It was tasty but nothing special. Prices were a little high and wow...does everyone in Europe smoke?!

    We walked to Naplavka Farmer's Market which only runs on Saturday down by the river. All of the vendors we stopped at spoke absolutely no English but it was fun and we ended up with a baguette, cheese, plums and koloaches (sweet danishes)...all for 104 kC, or about $5. From there we walked to Vysehrad Fortress which was very peaceful but didn't have much to do. We had a picnic lunch on a bench there.

    Walking back, we stopped for gelato at Pure. I'm not sure what flavors we got because they weren't in English but it was just OK. The tram ticket machine we stopped at was broken so we walked to a nearby metro and took that to Malastrava station. We walked around and saw many outdoor sculptures and browsed street art. The John Lennon wall was very cool. We saw some people out paddle boating which looked fun so we crossed the river to go do that. There were a few companies available and 1 hr rental was 200 Kc. We had so much fun! We even got "drive thru" beer service at a waterfront restaurant for 102 Kc (AKA expensive! but worth it). From there, we walked back to our hotel and stopped at Angelato for more gelato - SO much better than the previous place!

    We had dinner at Strahov Monastic Brewery. It was pricey but the food was awesome and it was cool to have dinner and beer that was made by monks. The beer was very tasty. We were back at the hotel around 8pm to pack.    Read more

  • Postcards to BostonEurotrip V
    Day 4

    Vienna, Austria

    September 13, 2015 in Austria ⋅ ⛅ 70 °F

    6am wakeup call in Prague and checkout of our lovely hotel. We took the tram and metro to Praha hlavni station for our trip to Vienna. We had breakfast at the train station. In total, we spent 6524 Kc in Prague (not including hotel), which amounts to about $260 in 2.5 days.

    The train to Vienna was comfortable and approximately 4.5 hours long. We arrived a bit late at 1:20pm. We got some money from an ATM and took the metro from Vienna Hbf to Le Meridien on Opernring, part of the Ringstrasse. The location was very convenient and we got a upgraded room. After checking in and dropping off our luggage we stopped for lunch at a food stand. Myron got a donor durum and Sherilyn got pizza.

    Our first stop was a tour of the State Opera House (7.50euro each). Our tour was very informative and we had a fantastic guide. The stage is the largest in Europe and they have a different opera every night. The tour lasted about 40 minutes. Right around the corner we found Cafe Sacher where we stopped for coffee and dessert. I had a chocolate torte and Myron had apple strudel. We found this place to be hugely overpriced and overrated. Unfortunately we fell into this tourist trap!

    We walked around Old Town to St. Stephan's Cathedral and the Hard Rock Cafe. We bought a few souvenirs for people at home and just tried to soak in the atmosphere of Vienna. It was such a fun city...urban like Paris and New York but yet quieter and classier without a lot of high-rise buildings.

    Dinner was at Bettelstudent which was recommended by another travel blog. The food was tasty. I got pork medallions with mashed sweet potatoes and Myron got steak, french fries and steamed vegetables. We made our way back to Le Meridien to unpack and go to bed.    Read more

  • Postcards to BostonEurotrip V
    Day 5

    Krems, Austria

    September 14, 2015 in Austria ⋅ ☁️ 66 °F

    Early wake-up again! We walked the Ringstrasse and saw many landmarks along the way: Rathaus, Votiv Church and many others. We had breakfast at Struck of pastries and lattes. The food was very tasty for a chain restaurant. At 9am we went to the Vienna Explorer office for our bike tour of the Wachau Valley. Our group had a total of 12 people and 2 guides (Jose and Karin)

    We took the train to Krems and picked up the bikes. In total we biked about 15 miles. We biked along the north bank of the Danube through vineyards, stopping at various places for wine tastings. Our first stop was at Domane Wachau in Oberloiben. It was raining in the morning but slowly tapered off. From there, we biked to Durnstein for lunch at Durnsteinerhof. I got schnitzel on top of a salad and Myron got schnitzel with fries. We did some shopping and bough apricot liquor, apricot jam and some silver earrings for me. We also had time to stop at a blue church which was lovely and very peaceful.

    Our second tasting was in Weissenkirchen at the Mang family vineyards, who have been making wine since the 1200's. From there, we returned to Unterloiben where we stopped at the Graf family heuriger. This was a very cozy atmosphere in an outdoor garden. Most of the wines we tried (all but one) were white wines, because this is the predominant grape type that is grown in this region. We purchased some snacks in the train station and took the train and metro back to the hotel.

    Dinner was at Figlmuller for some insanely huge schnitzel with potato salad. The food was good and the restaurant was definitely like a factory! Ice-cream at Eis Greissler was a perfect way to complete the day! They have some unique flavors that were very tasty.    Read more

  • Postcards to BostonEurotrip V
    Day 6

    Vienna, Austria

    September 15, 2015 in Austria ⋅ ⛅ 64 °F

    Our day started early and we had breakfast at Aida Cafe near our hotel for pastries: apricot danish and apple strudel. We took the metro to Schonbrunn Palace to enter at 8:30 when it opened. We got a 48hr metro pass which was a great value. The Vienna metro system was extensive and we definitely got our money's worth. Schonbrunn Palace was not very busy so early and was a beautiful palace. The audio guide was one of the best I've ever had and I usually hate audio guides. The experience was infinitely better than we had at Versailles simply because it wasn't nearly as crowded. The palace also offered a guided tour in English at 11 but we didn't want to wait around for that. After a 40min tour of the palace, we walked around the gardens for about 2 hours.

    We made our way to the Naschmarkt to buy another picnic lunch. We ended up with falafel, talagio cheese, pita, strum (wine/juice hybrid), grapes, hummus w/couscous and chocolates. Total of 15euro spent for a wonderful lunch! We stopped at Resselpark near Karlskirche for our picnic and were very full by the time we finished. We loved the Naschmarkt but many vendors were selling the same things for the same prices. They did have a great variety of items but it wouldn't really make sense to shop around there. Just find a vendor you like and go with it. Most of the people spoke great English.

    We took a short walk to Belvedere Palace since we had some time to kill and walked around the grounds a bit. We did not pay to go inside. The gardens were a bit in disrepair but our baseline for comparison was rather high with our knowledge of Schonbrunn and Versailles! We had a 2:30pm PolaWalk tour with Thomas scheduled and met him at Karlskirche. We ended up being the only two people on this tour. We went to Karlskirche, State Opera House, Albertina, Butterfly House, Winterpalais, Volksgarten, Rathaus, Parliament and Votiv Church. We each took 8 polaroid photos and returned the PolaWalk office so Thomas could scan our photos to send us the digital versions.

    Again, we had some time to kill after our tour so we got hot chocolate at an Italian coffeehouse nearby. Dinner reservations at 7pm at Appiano Das Gasthaus, which was spectacular. Definitely our best meal in Vienna, and potentially the entire trip! Unfortunately the restaurant was closed due to medical issues over the summer and it seemed like they were struggling to get people back in the door after recently reopening. The food certainly didn't suffer! We started with a variety of breads with egg spreads and olive oil. Sweet potato soup with basil pesto was first. Appetizers: Spanish octopus with chive sauce and wild herb salad; and watermelon caprese salad (grilled watermelon with buffalo mozzarella and basil pesto). For entrees we got: Tuna Steak (special), and Boiled beef (with potato strudel, apple horseradish and chive sauce). Both were simply amazing. For dessert we got strawberry panna cotta with lemon sorbet. Even though it was an expensive meal, we would feel fine going to the restaurant in jeans and the service was excellent. We would definitely go back if we came back to Vienna!

    Walking back to the hotel, we got a little lost but eventually found it!    Read more

  • Postcards to BostonEurotrip V
    Day 7

    Bratislava, Slovakia

    September 16, 2015 in Slovakia ⋅ ⛅ 77 °F

    We made an impromptu trip to Slovakia today. This is something we had considered prior to leaving for Europe but didn't do any research until we were frantically trying to arrange transportation and things to do on the tablet the night before. Not an ideal situation and our lack of planning would become apparent. We walked to the pier and bought tickets for the Danube River Catamaran with Twin City Liner. They had advertised departures at 8:30 and 9:00 and we were shooting for the earlier time. They had us take the metro to another location and luckily we found the second pier. Cost was 35 euro each for the reserved seating (all that was remaining last minute). The air was foggy at first but burned off quickly and by the time we were really moving, we could actually see our surroundings. The trip to Bratislava was advertised as 75 minutes (which we had planned our day around), but actually took an hour longer than that (with no explanation). The sailing was comfortable and included a trip through a lock. The delay caused us to miss a walking tour we had planned.

    Anyway, we arrived in Old Town and walked to lunch at Bratislavsky Mestiansky Pivovar. We got a sausage appetizer, followed by goulash for me and Chrenovka (beef with horseradish) for Myron. The food was very tasty. The waitress spoke limited English but enough to communicate. The prices were very good.

    We walked to St. Margaret's Blue Church which was gorgeous. It was closed but we could still view inside and take photos. The church was one of the most beautiful we have seen. We wandered around the city, viewing statues, souvenir shopping, seeing the old city walls, castle, UFO bridge and views of Bratislava. We stopped for gelato at Koun which was very good. The graffiti and street art were very diverse and interesting.

    To return to Vienna, we decided on the Blaguss bus at 4:15, which was cheap at 7.50 euro per person and should have taken 1 hr. We had read good things about this bus but it arrived 20 minutes late and took 3 hr to make the 1 hr journey to Vienna due to border traffic from the Syrian migrant crisis. The police were doing random vehicle checks and traffic was backed up for miles! We ended up arriving back in Vienna at 7:25. We attempted to do laundry at Green & Clean but the machine was not accepting bills and was located in a residential neighborhood so we had nowhere to break our bills.

    Frustrated and annoyed, we headed back to the hotel where we got room service for dinner. We both got tomato & mozzarella sandwiches and french fries. We packed and went to bed at 11pm.    Read more

  • Postcards to BostonEurotrip V
    Day 8

    Salzburg, Austria

    September 17, 2015 in Austria ⋅ ⛅ 81 °F

    We checked out of the hotel in Vienna at 7:15am. We grabbed a free croissant from the front desk (why didn't we see those before?!) and took the metro to Westbanhof station for the train to Salzburg. If we were doing this trip again, I would look into the Westbahn train service which is much cheaper than the OBB service and both use the same tracks and take the same amount of time. We got an espresso and breakfast in the train station and our train was off to Salzburg at 8:30am!

    We arrived in Salzburg just before 11am which was too early to check in to the Sheraton. The train station in Salzburg was full of police due to the heightened border checks in the migrant crisis. It was a 15 minute walk to the Sheraton, who kindly secured our bags so we could go explore. We bought a Salzburg card from the front desk for 36 euro (48hr option). Our first stop was a walking tour at 12:15 which met in Mozartplatz. We didn't know the name of the guide but he was wonderful and the tour lasted 1 hour, going through Old Town and past many churches and sights. We had lunch at Zwettler's Wirsthaus for a delicious platter of meat, rice and vegetables. I had seen it offered at several places with outdoor seating so I'm not sure if it's a Salzburg thing.

    We walked around a bit in Old Town, Peter and Paul's Cathedral, Cemetery, and up the cable car to HohenSalzburg Fortress. We took a guided tour with an audio guide which was just OK but had nice views of the city. We took the footpath back to the city and hotel. We walked through Mirabell Gardens where much of the Sound of Music was filmed. We checked into the hotel and found out we were upgraded to a Junior Suite...our room was HUGE!

    We walked to the Green and Clean laundry since we had no luck the previous day. It worked well and was a little cheaper than Vienna...8 euro for both wash & dry, 48min cycle total. It was a little rainy on the way back but we had put all the clean clothes in our rolling suitcase so they stayed dry. After putting away all of our clean laundry, we had dinner at Barenwirt which was delicious. I got pumpkin cordon bleu (pumpkin stuffed with an herb cheese and ham then deep fried and served with balsamic reduction and cranberry sauce), and Myron got Styrian beef. We both got delicious Augustiner beer. Very good food, prices and service!    Read more

  • Postcards to BostonEurotrip V
    Day 9

    Salzburg, Austria

    September 18, 2015 in Austria ⋅ ⛅ 61 °F

    We got breakfast at Heart of Joy, a vegetarian/vegan restaurant. Myron got scrambled eggs and I got a boiled egg and croissant. We took the Bus 25 to Hellbrunn Palace trick fountains (incl in Salzburg card). It was a neat experience, definitely funny but I wish I wore quick-dry clothes because we did get wet! We toured the palace after the trick fountains tour and had an audio guide. It was a short visit. We took a 20 minute bus ride back to the city.

    Back in Salzburg, we went to Franziskaner Kirche, the largest cathedral in Europe. We walked through the farmer's market and bought steigl beers and pretzel sandwiches. We happened upon a trdelnik (the first one we've seen since Prague!) but it wasn't as good as in Prague because it was served cold.

    We took a local bus to Steigl brewery for a beer tour at 3pm (incl. in Salzburg card). This was a great value and included the tour, tasting of 3 beers, a free gift and lots of information! We have been on a lot of beer tours and found the information really useful. The 3pm tour is the only one in English. After the tour, we had more beers and ice-cream with some new friends from Toronto, Troy and Lisa.

    We headed back to downtown Salzburg for dinner at Zirkelwirt which was delicious. I got cheese spaezle (basically macaroni and cheese!) with salad and Myron got "mystery dumplings". Soon after we returned to the hotel for early mornings ahead!    Read more

  • Postcards to BostonEurotrip V
    Day 10

    Hallstatt, Austria

    September 19, 2015 in Austria ⋅ ⛅ 59 °F

    We took a very early train at 6:12am to Hallstatt via Attnang-Puchheim. We had breakfast of coffee rolls in the Attnang-Puchheim train station. The train was very user-friendly and easy to navigate. Upon arriving in Hallstatt, the ferry dock was a stone's throw from the train station and departs shortly after each scheduled train arrival. We had purchased the Kombiticket from OBB which included the train journeys x2, ferry rides x2 and visit to the salt mines. It took 5 minutes to get to the dock in Hallstatt and we arrived around 9am. There were barely any tourists there yet and it was lovely to explore the quiet narrow streets in peace. We walked around the upper streets towards the salt mines. The whole city is built into the mountain sides which was so interesting to see.

    The salt mine tour with cable car was great. It was a tad foggy/drizzly but it cleared up and stayed cool and dry. At the salt mine, we had to put on protective clothing. We took two slides down and it was super fun! At the second slide, a photo was taken of us on the slide down and we purchased it for 5 euro! Some of the light shows on the tour were kind of cheesy but overall it was a lot of fun. We bought some flavored salts as souvenirs for many people at home.

    Back on solid ground, we took more photos through the lower part of Hallstatt's streets and had lunch at Bacht's Polreich where we both had beer-battered pike perch which was caught in Lake Hallstatt. We were lucky enough to get outdoor seating looking out over Lake Hallstatt! We then rented a boat for 16 euro and got two beers to enjoy out on the water. It was very fun even though it was cool and cloudy.

    We took the ferry back and caught a 4:32pm train back to Salzburg. Dinner was at Barewirt again. Myron was jealous of my pumpkin cordon bleu so he got that and I got fried chicken and potato salad. We were both very tired and I wasn't feeling well after eating so much fried food!    Read more

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