How in the world did we end up in Prague and Vienna?
Every three years Joe’s job takes us to somewhere in Europe and this year it was Prague. His conference stretches over three days so we figured we would just tack on another country while we were already taking a 9 hours flight. I contacted Julie from Wanderfully Planned and explained our plans. We wanted to do 3 days in another place, travel day and finish with three days in Prague. She presented us with five different options that she suggested would be an easy afternoon of travel between each countries and after combing the list we decided to go with Vienna, Austria. Other honorable mentions were Berlin, Amsterdam, Munich, Budapest and Ljublijana. If you are considering a trip of any kind, I highly recommend hiring a travel advisor. I also highly recommend hiring Julie. She planned everything from our babymoon in Savannah, Georgia to our trip to Vienna, Austria.
Once we decided on adding Vienna to our travels the planning could really begin. I’ve known Julie long enough now that she knows what Joe and I love to do on trips but otherwise she would get to know what you like to do, what travel pace you enjoy, what are your interests and dining preferences. I swear this is not just an ad for a travel advisor but it went so well and this is really the “trip origin story”.
Julie sent us a whole list of potential options to add to our itinerary and joe and like to balance our schedules with having at least one thing to do each day every day but one. We decided on a full day private wine tasting tour of the Wachau Valley in Austria and a tour of the Schönbrunn Palace and Gardens. Julie also gave us three hotel options for Vienna (Prague was the conference hotel) and also booked our flights and our dinner reservations for the nights we had available.
So this is how the trip came to be, so let’s start with the day to days.
We decided to drive to Chicago O’Hare to avoid having to transfer planes from Grand Rapids. This way we avoided having any potential delays or “mechanical issues” and once we got to Chicago it was a direct flight to Vienna. We would 100% drive to Detroit or Chicago again to get a more direct flight. As someone who has lost a day or two of other trips courtesy of a delay from a 30 minute plane ride, it was worth it. Our flight took off at 4:30pm Chicago time and landed in Vienna on time at 8:30am. A car was waiting for us at the airport with our name on it to take us straight to our hotel (thank’s Julie).
Saturay
The hotel wasn’t quite ready for us since we were so early so we dropped our bags and headed across the street for some much needed coffee and some breakfast. From there we decided to walk the short few blocks to the Naschmarkt. This is Vienna’s largest open air market of food, flea and souvenirs. We spent the morning wandering the market finding great small, packable antiques to bring home. What I wouldn’t have given to lug another suitcase but alas I don’t think Joe would have been too thrilled to haul four suitcases on the train to Prague in just a few short days.
The prices at the market were in Euros but I found them to be very affordable considering here we were and the experience we were having. I do not speak German but knew enough words and manners to make my way around negotiation and asking prices. Like any market prices were all over the place. Some were higher end and some were a treasure hunt with great deals. I found a pair of binoculars in their velvet case with the name Otto engraved on them so naturally I had to buy them. I bought a bunch of cute silverware and serving spoons and some table linens. I wish I could have had more time but I could see Joe was getting hot and hungry. We wandered around and found a cute little cafe to have lunch in. They are everywhere so we just randomly picked one that looked good.
After lunch we wandered down to Volksgarten to see all of the thousands of roses in bloom. When I say thousands, i’m not exaggerating. It was absolutely spectacular. We hung out and relaxed a bit still trying to adjust to the time change and long flight. We made our way back to the hotel because our room was ready. We crashed for about 2 hours before heading to our dinner at Cafe Kandl. We shared a bunch of small plates and a bottle of wine (more on that later). We started off with their homemade sourdough and butter, the butter in Vienna… what are they doing. It was so soft and fluffy and full of flavor! We also had a plate of leg ham. It was topped with olive oil and sea salt and was incredibly tasty. After that we had their mushroom “faux gras” which was topped with a pickled radicchio. We then split the small plates of lamb shank and mushroom ravioli. Barely keeping our eyes open we walked the 13 minute walk back to our hotel and collapsed until 3am (thank’s time change).
Sunday
We decided to have breakfast at our hotel because it was so beautiful. The hotel had both a restaraunt, chez bernard, at the top and then a roof top bar as well. We didn’t get a chance to have a drink up there but we did get to go take in the view and it was spectacular. We had breakfast of coffee and fruit with pastries before heading down to the lobby to meet our tour guide.
We had a private tour of the Schönbrunn Palace and Gardens for about four hours in the morning before the day really got heated up. I highly recommend booking a private tour. Our guide was so knowledgable and we were able to ask questions and really get a feel of the history of the palace and the surrounding areas. The gardens at Schönbrunn Palace were just absolutely incredibly including a wisteria tunnel over 20 feet in length. Even though we were there about a week before full bloom it was still absolutely stunning. We started at the palace and then headed in to town to finish our tour seeing some of the historic government buildings. One of the unnerving things we were able to see was the “Hitler Balcony” where Hitler addressed Austria and it remains unchanged from that time. Made everything very very real very very fast. We continued the tour around the heart of Vienna and ended our tour in a lunch area where we found a random little cafe down a quiet street and had Weiner Schnitzel and a glass of wine. We found that if you wander further from main streets, you’re able to find a quiet place to land, relax and eat some good lunch. After lunch we went to the butterfly exhibit for the sole purpose of getting to tour the large glass greenhouse. It was absolutely gorgeous. My one regret is that we didn’t make it back to the palace to tour the twin greenhouse and gloriet. If we ever make it back that is exactly what were doing.
After the very hot greenhouse/butterfly tour (sorry Joe) we went to Cafe Demel which claims to be the original creator of the famous Sachertorte. Of course we had to try a few things and shocking, got another bottle of wine. They were kind enough to seat us next to the fan so yea we were going to sit there a while haha. After we had our fill we hit up the fine art museum. It was worth every single penny. the Museum was as beautiful as the art that it held. Marble everywhere, incredible paintings by world famous historical artists and a great cafe where we got affogatos to “cool off” before walking back to our hotel.
We were wiped out after a day of exploring the city and walking around in the heat so we opted for dinner again at the hotel restaurant. We split a bunch of different small plates before feeling crashed out and maybe just a bit jet lagged. We had another bit day the next day so we called it a night.
Monday
Breakfast was so relaxing at our hotel that we headed up there again for a repeat. The pastries were so good we couldn’t resist. Then we met our second guide, Andrea to head out of the city and to the Wachau Valley for a private wine tour. This was one of the highlights of the trip and I highly highly recommend exploring this area when in Austria.
Andrea was an extremely experienced guide who also teaches cooking classes in her home. We went to three small wineries throughout the day that had the most breathtaking scenery. I’m talking vineyards built into the mountains with gorgeous small tasting rooms and right across from the Danube river. It doesn’t get more romantic than that. We learned so much about the wine being produced in this part of the world and I feel like we left with a solid education of what sets the Austrian Rieslings and Grüner Veltliner apart form other parts of the world. We also didn’t leave until I was a bit giddy and pronouncing “Grüner Veltliner” perfectly haha. We took a lunch break at the absolutely incredible Hofmeisterei restaurant. This stop included a four course meal with wine pairings that one was one of the best meals I have ever had. It was approachable yet inventive and the ingredients were incredibly fresh. An experience I will never forget. We sat chatting about the local food scene and politics and what’s going on in Austria with our guide. It’s funny how wine and a good meal really make you feel like you get to know someone in just a few hours. We visited three wineries throughout the day; Weingut Knoll, Weingut Hirtzberger and Weingut Prager in Weißenkirchen. I don’t have a favorite because each one was so personal and unique in it’s own way. Each place had such a passion for the product as well as the growing region. Again, It was truly an experience I will never forget.
We returned back to the hotel and rested and got ready for dinner at De Fuchs Une de Trauben. This was the perfect spot for us to land for dinner. It was a light bite Tapas restaurant that was delicious. Joe’s favorite of course was the shishito peppers but it was good hearty local forward tapas. After such a big day of eating and drinking, light bites were perfect. We walked home sad that it was already our last night in Vienna.
Tuesday
Tuesday was the day we departed Vienna for Prague. We found out that our hotel had it’s own bakery so we went for a walk to grab again some pastries and hot coffee. We went for one last walk around Vienna while we enjoyed our coffee and then met our driver in the hotel lobby to take us to the train station.
Again, another plug for Julie who had the driver take us to the train station and get us on the correct platform to Prague. We booked the upper class ticket and our luggage was able to be stacked above our seats by the window. We were sat across a lovely couple from Mexico and six daughters. (they had a bit more luggage than us haha) They were going to about four different countries on a family trip. After we all settled in Joe and I popped our computers open and answered emails for the next 4 hours in an effort to stay caught up with the world back home. We didn’t miss much out the window since it was allllooooot of fields. We arrived in Prague around 3pm and were met by a driver ready to take us to our hotel. This hotel was the Hilton Prague which was nice but definitely was a conference center which makes sense because what brought us to Prague was Joe’s conference. It was clean and nice, good location but lacked the charm that our hotel had in Vienna. No matter though, we immediately dropped our bags and headed out for some sightseeing. We walked down to town to watch the astronomical clock chime and see the area before walking to dinner. After walking around the city for almost three full days, I can honestly say it’s most beautiful at dusk. The soft sun behind the historic, charming buildings doesn’t even feel real it’s too good.
We had dinner at Alma and it might have the award for my favorite dinner on the trip. My favorite thing we ordered was the sourdough toast with sheep cheese, pickled elderflowers, radishes a mix of herbs and parsley oil. It was perfection. The rest of the meal we split a few things and ended with a sweat pea ice cream. Was not my thing but we had to try! We walked back to the hotel and again, Prague at dusk might be one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever been.
Wednesday
This was our last day before joining up with everyone at the conference so we wanted to see as much of the city as we could We spent the day just walking around, eating in random cafes, drinking coffee and drinking wine. (Not a bad way to explore the city). We walked the bridge and found a tiny restaurant on the other side by the river and just sat and enjoyed the day. After a light lunch we walked back into the main part of town and walked around checking out the shops before heading to the hotel to get ready for dinner. It was HOT so a shower and wardrobe change was a must.
We had dinner at Field which was one of the more innovative dining experience I had not only on the trip but ever. They have achieved a one star in the Michelin Guide. Before this trip I don’t believe I’ve ever been able to experience a Michelin starred restaurant and now here I was on round two! Field offers either a 6 or 10 course menu with wine pairings (wine parings optional) but we thought eh “When in Rome! Prague” let’s do it. We opted for the 6 course menu which we could barely finished but each dish was so innovating and complex we couldn’t stop. I’m talking taking soup shots from shells, lemon smoke infused meat… it was dinner and a show. This was a great ending to our trip before the meetings started. We opted to walk back to our hotel for obvious reasons.
Thursday
This was our first day with the work group but we were able to tour the castle with the group after the morning meeting and then we had an afternoon of free time before dinner. The Castle tour was fine. It was EXTREMELY crowded and hard to hear the guide even with the earpiece. I would probably have opted to skip the tour with the group and explore on our own had I known but I’m excited we still got to see it.
We went to check out Marthy’s Kitchen near the dancing house. If this cafe wasn’t so far from our hotel I would have visited every day. They had incredible homemade lemonades and snacks. The cafe itself was gorgeous. We had one more hour to wander and found ourselves with a bottle of wine in the back courtyard of some bar called Wine Not. The wine we ordered was a Czech red wine and it was delicious. After we polished that off we headed back to the hotel to get ready for dinner. The group is so large that we were split into smaller groups and ours was sent to Grand Cru. The restaurant was closed for our group and for a large party the food was fantastic as was the wine. I feel like if a restaurant can serve a large group with fantastic food, then it gets two thumbs up in my book. We met up with our friends from the group at the hotel and had one more drink at the outdoor bar before calling it a night.
Friday
Sadly, our final day on the trip. Since Joe was in meetings all day I signed dup for the Garden and statue tour. I had coffee and a delicious breakfast pastry at the EMA cafe before meeting up with the garden tour group. This was one of my favorite activities in Prague. I took SO many inspirational photos. The gardens were so green and unique. I was so inspired to embrace more green open space and accent which is such a departure from the english and french style gardens I’m typically drawn to. One of the gardens we visited had white peacocks just roaming around the shallow pond pool. It was breath taking.
Another garden we toured was the castle gardens. We climbed levels and levels of steps and on each landing was tiny home gardens and unique greenhouses. I loved their use of dwarf trees and grapes in the landscape. The gardens we visited took us up so high the views were better (and more beautiful) than the castle tour took us on. It was a leisurely tour of about 15 people and it was a fantastic way to make new friends and get inspired.
After a morning and afternoon of garden walking we had a late lunch at The Blue Duckling. The Restaurant is a 16th century home that has been turned into it’s current dining establishment since 1993. The lunch was filling and delicious and I opted to explore after rather than take the bus back. I walked to a cute little antique store I found while researching when I couldn’t sleep and i’m so mad I didn’t write down the name of it! I also stopped at a thrift store just out of curiosity and I WISH I HAD A BIGGER SUITCASE. Oh well another trip. I walked about two miles in total and made it back to the hotel to have a happy hour drink with some friends before getting ready for the “farewell dinner” at the hotel. The farewell dinner was in the conference center of the hotel and was a meeting recap and group dinner. We said farewell to our friends and headed back to the room to prepare for our long flight home the next day.
Saturday
We flew from Prague > Munich > Chicago and it went on without any issues. I feel like that is unheard of for us!
To summarize it was an incredible trip and we were extremely blessed to be able to visit a part of the world I never thought we would visit. What I appreciated about Vienna and Prague was that it gave that unique European experience without the shoulder to shoulder crowds. Vienna in particular felt extremely peaceful and lovely. We kept remarking how quiet everything seemed. I felt like we were able to see everything we needed to / wanted to see within the allotted days and didn’t feel like we had to rat race around the country to squeeze it all in. I would love to go back to both places and be able to explore more of the countryside as it was just absolutely incredible. If you are heading to either of these beautiful countries, please feel free to reach out! I would love to share more ins and outs of the experience but I feel like the 0ver 3,000 words I’ve shared here has been enough for now.
XXOO Abby
