Wednesday 5/16.
Our hotel is a short walk away from Milano Centrale, and from there we
took the MXP Express to get to the airport.
There wasn’t much formalities as we were traveling Schengen
countries. As we were at the airport a
bit early, we could use the Lufthansa lounge before flight departure.
Flight OS508 to Vienna used a small commuter plane
(Embraer 195 which seats over 100 people.)
I was a bit worried that our luggage wouldn’t fit in the overhead
compartments; it did. The flight was
uneventual, and we got in on time.
Glimpses of snow covered mountains on our way from Milan to Vienna.
For Vienna we decided to buy a CAT ticket to town. Another 19 euros made that into a 3-day
transportation pass. The hotel had one
room for us when we showed up, and the other room was ready quite soon after
that. Imperial Riding School Renaissance
is a short distance southeast of the city ring.
Even though there was construction along the major tram route we took,
transportation didn’t prove to be a problem at all.
The Opera for tonight was Don Pasquale. After which we spent some time taking night
shots around the opera house. When we
ended up at the Musikverien, we noticed tomorrow there would be a concert by
the Vienna Symphony, conducted by Manfred Honeck. It isn’t quite the Vienna Philharmonic, but
we decided to go nonetheless.
Vienna State Opera.
Foyer.
Accommodations: Imperial Riding School Renaissance Vienna
(3 nights.)
Thursday 5/17.
Staying at a Marriott property with Gold status allow us to have
breakfast and snacks at the Club. We
took full advantage of this benefit throughout the trip, even though eggs,
bacon and sausage every morning can be a bit monotonous. In any case, for the next couple of days we
would have a late breakfast and then do something during the day, followed by a
musical event.
Today the Yangs visited the Museum of Art History, while
Anne and I called on Leopold Museum. The
museum has a interesting collection of (mostly) Austrian art (impressionist
onwards). We spent about 90 minutes, and
could only begin to appreciate the collection.
Zoran Music spent time in a concentration camp due to his refusal to join the Nazi party. A disturbing painting depicting what he saw while a prisoner.
We passed by the Attersee on a prior trip to the region. There is a bust of Klimt in Unterrach. This was painted by Klimt.
Leopold Musuem: Klimt painting of Life and Death.
Interesting sculpture. On the plate at the left is a cute portrait.
For (late) lunch we went to Figlmuller, the place for
Schnitzels. It was okay, but we told
ourselves in the future two people can share one order, and perhaps try
something else. This was followed by a
quick visit to St. Stephen’s Church.
This time no one was pickpocketed, although the church could still use
some heavy cleanup work.
The Vienna Symphony put out a great program of
Beethoven’s Emperor Concerto and Shostakovich’s Fifth Symphony.
Ceiling of Musikverein Great Hall. The paintings are Apollo and the nine muses. These two muses are holding masks in their hands, not severed heads.
Friday 5/18. The
morning trip was to Beethoven Museum in Heiligenstadt, which lies just outside
the Vienna ring. Beethoven may or may
not have visited the place in the early 1800s, but he did write a “Heiligenstadt
Testament.” Somewhat like “Washington
slept here.” In any case, it was
somewhat informative, and it was a pleasant outing.
PHOTO: Beethoven House
Beethoven House. While the composer did write a "Heilingenstadt Testament," it is unknown how much time he spent in the area, let alone at this location.
We found out Volksoper was performing Offenbach’s “Tales
of Hoffman” and decided to get tickets for the show. The experience was okay. That the surtitles were in German only made
the action a bit puzzling. There were
many empty seats. Volksoper and Wiener
Symphoniker are the young siblings, I guess.
Volksper. Evidently one of the current productions is The Wizard of Oz.
Curtain Call at conclusion of The Tales of Hoffmann.
Saturday 5/19. We
took the tram to the upper entrance of Belvedere, which is located close by,
and walked down the garden. We have been
visited the museum twice before, but never the gardens. Photos on the web show many colors and a neat
layout, actuality today wasn’t nearly that pretty: the patterns are there, but
we saw only green, and quite a few weeds.
The Belvedere. It was a bit surprising that the grounds looked like it could use some detailed landscaping work. It wasn't nearly as nice as what one sees in many photographs.
Late check out is one of the benefits of Marriott Gold
Elite, so we left the hotel at 2 pm. Our
train at 3:10 pm to Prague left Vienna Central Station on time, and we are now
a little over an hour into the 4 hour journey.
The train – at least the car we are in – is surprisingly empty; the
other intercity trains we took were more crowded.
One word to be said about the transportation systems in
Zurich, Milan, and Vienna: they were simply easy to use, and mostly based on
trust. Other than for trips to the
airport, we were not inspected once for possession of valid tickets. We might have seen inspectors one time for
the many local trips we took.
Turns out when the train got to the Czech Republic more
passengers would come on, but there were still empty seats to be found
throughout the journey.
The station was a bit overwhelming for first time
visitors. We followed a sign for CDTaxis
and initially didn’t see any. One soon
pulled up, the driver spoke good English, and we were off. He charged us 30 euros for the 15-minute
journey to the hotel, which was fine with us.
Our hotel is small, with 22 rooms, some “apartments”
(more like suites). It was about 8 pm
when we checked in, so we went to dinner at Santini Gardens, a place down the
road and recommended by the hotel front desk.
The food was good, and cost about US$60 for the four of us (we only had
a main couse each).
A street near our hotel. It is located near the American Embassy, cars have to be searched before they are allowed to drive into the area.
Plaque located at the hotel describing its historical significance.
After dinner we took a short walk to Charles Bridge.
Our first dinner was at this restaurant down the street from the hotel.
First view of the Charles Bridge, a 15-minute walk from our hotel.
Accommodations: Appia Hotel, Prague (3 nights.)
Sunday 5/20.
Breakfast at Appia is served in the attic framed by rafters that may
date back a few hundred years. The hotel
is built on a historic site.
Our first order of business was to head down to the tram
station and buy day passes: it took a few tries but we were ultimately successful. We then took the tram, transferred to a metro
(subway) to get to Karlina Music Theater to try to get tickets for Turnadot
tomorrow evening. The place was closed,
and while having coffee at McDonalds’s nearby we decided to skip the opera as
it would mean a late night Monday, and we would have to leave our hotel Tuesday
morning at 4:30 am.
Our next stop was Republic Square where the Municipal
Building was located. Inside the large
building is Smetana Hall which hosts concerts geared towards tourists. We decided to go for the 1 hour concert this
evening, more for experiencing the venue than for the actual performances.
The Jewish Synagogue located in Old Town Prague. There is also a Jewish quarter in the city, we didn't get to visit.
Sale of cannabis products is evidently legal in Prague. We saw many stores displays such as this.
The not so pretty aspect of too much tourist traffic. This was shot on the Charles Bridge.
If one looks up, many sacred statues are erected along the bridge. People seem to pay serious homage to them.
Panoramic view of the Vtlava (Moldau) from the Charles Bridge. The line in the river is a small drop in the water level. There are channels on the sides for boats to navigate (not sure if through locks.)
We chance upon this Franz Kafka Monument while transferring between the tram and the subway.
We then followed the Royal Route/Coronation Way which led
back to our hotel. The Astronomical
Clock unfortunately is under repair so we couldn’t see it. There is a lot of talk about architecture in
Prague, and how buildings designed from different periods blend together. I simply do not know enough about architecture
to appreciate it.
Before the concert we went to have dinner at Nordsee
(they are everywhere) at the Palladium Shopping Center.
Smetana Hall located in the Municipal Building. Curtain call after the one-hour concert by the Prague Music Orchestra.
Elaborate interior of Smetana Hall.
Monday 5/21. Late
breakfast as usual this morning. The
Prague Castle is a 10-minute uphill walk from our hotel, we chose to walk
downhill and take the tram up. First
stop was the Royal Garden; it was mostly green this time of the year, not too
many flowers in bloom yet. Both the
garden and the castle grounds are free to visit, but the line for tickets to
visit special exhibits, including the inside ot St. Vitus Cathedral, was very
long. While we were waiting, Anne wanted
to see if there were books she could pick up at the bookstore, and found out
with cash she could get tickets at that register. That saved considerable time. The Cathedral, however, had a long line of
people waiting to get in, so we saw some of the other exhibits first. Prague has a lot of history behind it,
starting with Slavs in the sixth century (not sure I remember this right), and
the cathedral was first built in the 10th century. The current one was finished in the 1340s,
and bears a lot of similarities to the Notre Dame in Paris (built about the
same time), including the use of flying buttresses. When we circled back to the Cathedral, the
lines were still long, so we skipped it.
The Yangs wanted to head back to the hotel, so we parted ways.
After getting a coffee at the bottom of the mountain, we
proceeded to catch a 50-minute boatride on Prague Boats, with narration in many
languages. We knew most of the landmarks
anyway, so the announcements quickly turned into background noise.
An hour long boat ride gives one an overview of the town along the river.
The famous "golden gate" at St. Vitus Cathedral of the Prague Castle. a mosaic from the 14th century depicting the last judgment.
The apse and altar of St. Vitus Cathedral.
The Prague Castle skyline is dominated by the cathedral which bears much similarity to Notre Dame of Paris.
We then headed back to the castle, and this time the line
was much shorter. Not having studied
this cathedral in detail, it seemed like every other large cathedral we had
seen. Actually it looked quite similar
to Notre Dame, and the styles are described by Wikipedia as Gothic and French
Gothic.
Petrin Tower lays claim to be the tallest point in
Prague, so we headed to Petrin Hill, which involved a ride on a funicular,
covered by the day pass. We were hoping
Petrin Hill would give us a good view of Prague, but the walls and trees were
in the way. Instead of walking to the
Tower, we decided to ride the funicular down to the intermediate stop where
there were enough openings in the tree for a glimpse of Prague.
Funicular to the Petrin Tower.
The view from Nebrozizek, an intermediate stop for the funicular, is better than from the top of the hill.
Anne wanted to go re-visit Republic Square, now that we
knew the large black statue was that of Jan Hus, a religion reformer before
Martin Luther. Dinner was at the Czech
Restaurant in the Palladium where we ordered the mixed grill which was enough
to feed us. We were not looking for fine
dining in Prague, and I must say the two “good” dinners we had were just
so-so. Most of the restaurants were
quite quiet, with the exception of the Chinese and Japanese, the latter
offering all-you-can-eat for a fixed price.
Our other two dinner in Prague were at restaurants in the Palladium, a shopping center next to the Municipal Building. Nordsee is a chain that serves reasonable quality food at reasonable prices.
One can also eat at a sit down restaurant. Old Prague is one of many at the Palladium.
Mixed grill, dumplings, and roasted vegetables.
One unique feature of Prague is architectures from
different periods meld together well, including a cubist building. We dutifully went and looked at it before we
headed back to the hotel.
An architect student may find the blend of styles in the city amazing. I note them, but don't appreciate them. This building is named "Black Madonna" for obvious reasons.
The Cubist building was built in the 1920s.
Cubist art for sale in the Cubist building. The reflection is of the building across the square.
Tuesday 5/22. Our
flight from Prague was to leave at 6:50 am, so we woke up at 4 am to catch a
pre-arranged taxi to the airport at 5. The check-in process was easy enough that we
had time to stop by a Priority Pass lounge to grab some breakfast before boarding. The hotel had packed breakfasts for us, but
they were carb-heavy.
At the Brussels airport our plane stopped right next to a
United plane, but we had to walk down a ramp and board a bus to get to
immigration before getting back to the United gate; the process took 25
minutes, including a 12-minute walk.
The flight on a 777 had a light economy plus section, I
had a whole row, others had empty middle seats.
After watching a movie (Star Wars Episode VIII – The Last Jedi) I
managed to get a couple of hours sleep.
Without checked luggage, and with Mobile Passport, Anne
and I were out of immigration and customs in less than 10 minutes. Since the Yangs and we were sharing a ride
home, we had to wait for their luggage to show up; today it took forever
(perhaps 45 minutes.)
After we got home, it was a quick shower, some repacking,
and we were on our way to Lancaster, PA for a Hope event. We wouldn’t be sleeping in our own bed
tonight.
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