On
Monday April 2nd Mike and I arrived in Vienna bright and early from
our overnight train. We only had
about 5-6 hours in the city so we decided to mostly walk around and take the
subway everywhere to see as much as we could. We walked around the old town, and saw the beautiful
architecture and gardens. We
walked by the Hapsburg Palace but sadly couldn’t go inside since we didn’t have
enough time. Next, we went to the
Schonbrunn Palace and walked around the grounds and Easter market there. I wish we had more time in Vienna
because it looks like a gorgeous city to see in more detail with many palaces
and museums to visit. After lunch,
we then took a train to Prague.
Prague
ended up being our favourite part of the whole trip, and is probably my
favourite city I’ve ever visited, tied with Hawaii.
When we first got there and checked into our amazing hostel, we walked
around the Easter markets and old town.
Right away I was in love with the Easter markets. They offered many different types of
traditional Czech food, which were ALL amazing and relatively cheap.
On
the Tuesday we had 2 3 hour-long walking tours of the city. We started off with the free walking
tour, which made me LOVE the city.
Our tour guide was superb at her job and told us all about the history
of the city. I didn’t know much
about Prague’s history so learning about it was definitely very
interesting. Mike already knew
about it so he ended up teaching me about it further after the tours. During the tour we saw the Old Town
Square and the famous astrological astronomical clock. We also saw the Estate’s Theatre where
Mozart conducted the premiere of his opera Don Giovanni in 1787. We walked to Wencenslas Square and
learned about the modern history of the country including the Velvet
Revolution, which happened within that square and led to the fall of communism
in the country in 1989 (so recent!).
We then saw the powder tower, the Spanish synagogue, and Old New
synagogue, the Metronome, and Prague Castle. Afterwards, we did a 3 hour tour of the Prague castle and
surrounding area where we had a panoramic view of Prague, saw the TV tower with
babies on it, St. Vitus Cathedral, the castle district, changing of the guards,
and a monastery. That evening we
had dinner overlooking the Charles Bridge on a boat restaurant on the river
during the sunset. That pasta we
had was the best pasta and food we had on our whole trip. It wasn’t too expensive either and
definitely was a highlight of mine of our time in Prague.
The
next day we saw the memorial where Jan Palach set himself on fire in 1969, the
Museum of Communism, the giant baby sculptures in a park, and the Lennon Wall. We then went inside Wallenstein’s
palace for a while and saw white peacocks. We also saw two peacocks mate in front of 20 people! Next we walked up to the 75-foot tall
metronome, which was ereceted in 1991. It stands on the spot where an enormous monument of Soviet Leader Joseph Stalin once stood but was destroyed in 1962 by dynamite. It represents a separation from communism, pacing time toward the future. We then
walked to a beer garden in a park and had beer and ice cream on a patio, which
were both super cheap. Next we
went to my favourite part of the city in the old town square and listened to
traditional Czech music while traditional Czech dancers were performing as part
of the Easter Market. We then got
fried cheese, nuts, and a deep fried garlic and cheese bread thing that is
apparently a traditional Czech food.
The food was AMAZING. Next
we went to the top of the Old Town Hall Tower to get a view of the city at
night. Finally, we ended our night
by going to a rooftop patio overlooking the old town square and getting drinks
and ice cream as a treat. The day
was definitely a good one.
The
next day was our last full day in Prague.
It was cold and rainy but that didn’t stop us from exploring more of the
city. We saw the dancing house,
walked up to the little Eiffel tower, went in a mirror maze, and wandered back
down to some shops. We then went
to the Easter Market yet again (because I loved it so much) and saw some farm
animals there this time. We
mingled around the vendors, then did some grocery shopping and went on the
internet at the hostel and then back to the old town square for our final night
there.
