Asanebo (Studio City)

We took an early morning 4 hours train ride to Vienna from Prague. Vienna is the logical destinations after Prague given the history and we would have gone to Budapest as well if there were more time and money. Though prior going, most of my friends’ reactions were either: “Why are you going there, there’s nothing to do in Vienna” or “Vienna? The place with all the canals and boats? (^^;; they’re thinking Venice)”. A little sad since the Habsburg Vienna was once one of the most influential empire and the cultural epicenter of Europe. Well those were the glory days. My initial impression when we arrived was that the city seems to be stuck in the 80s, particularly the train station and subways. Some of the sights were kind of run down and need some renovations. The old buildings in the city weren’t as nice as the ones in Prague or Paris, and the new and modern weren’t as exciting as some other metropolitan cities. But it’s still a city full of history and culture that’s interesting to explore (ex: you can visit the places where Mozart and Beethoven lived, the art school that rejected Hitler, Freud’s office…etc).

We weren’t so interested in the Habsburg legacy so we didn’t spend a lot of time in the palaces to see their grandiose bedrooms or jewelries. And it’s a pity we never got the passion for Classical music and opera like our father (who would have love to see a Wagner’s opera at the famous Vienna Opera House) which is what Vienna is most famous for. For us, the top 3 highlights of Vienna were:

1) Art museums (i.e. MusuemsQuartier, Albertina, Kunsthistorisches, Belvedere, MAK) It was a mind blowing experience to be able to see the huge collection of Egon Schiele as I am a big fan and the textures, colors and strokes are much more amazing to see in person. Though it was a mix feeling to see Gustave Klimt’s because his works have been reproduced so many times that the impact of the real things were slightly diminished.

2) the Fin-de-siècle Jugendstil art and buildings

and

3) Good food, coffee, cakes and old school coffee shops. Much have been written about them already and there’re still many other good places we weren’t able to try (for example, the highly recommended Flein was closed for the entire time we were there due to national holiday). Foodies must check out Meinl am Graben, also known as the Fauchon of Vienna. A gourmet shopping heaven that had us giggle throughout. Three spacious floors full of gourmet food, ingredients, meat and cheese, and rows and rows of chocolate and candies from all over Europe. There’s also a pretty cafe and restaurant inside, too bad we ran out of time and could not sample them.

There weren’t a lot of vacation apartment rentals in the city center and most of the hotels were expensive. As blogged before, we highly recommend the Hollmann Beletage Hotel. Their restaurant Hollmann Salon is a MUST go. We found Sacher‘s Sachertorte better than Demel‘s, but Sluka won as our most favorite patisserie.

You can check out more pictures of our Vienna trip on our flickr: Part 1 and 2.

Tags: Travel Report

We spend 5 days in Prague with a day excursion to Kutna Hora (about 1-1/2 hour drive east of Prague). Prague is a very picturesque town. I am glad to experience the city that cultivated some of my favorite artists like Franz Kafka, Alfons Mucha, Jan Svankmajer, Jan Saudek…etc. Perhaps it’s spring, the colors in Prague appeared more vibrant than anywhere I’ve been. It’s as if someone dial up the saturation button all the way up.

5 days were plenty enough to see all the touristy stuffs plus going off the beaten path. I especially enjoyed the Mala Strana and the Prague Castle area. Old Town was charming too, though I think they cleaned up the Old town Square a bit too much that it kind of felt like a movie set.

I never got tired of seeing this breathtaking iconic view of Prague. I felt like I was in a storybook most of the time. Everything was so quaint and pretty: decorated windowsills, allegorical house signs, whimsical puppets and cute wooden toys. There’re also plenty quirkiness (ex: decor at restaurant, a giant chair, sculpture) and weirdness (ex: crazy Bone Church at Kutna Hora, grotesque wall at Wallenstein Palace, Micro-miniature Museum, Kafka Museum). If I were to describe Prague in 3 words, they would be quaint, quirky and weird.

We went to an old bookstore to look for old Czech children’s books (one of our favorite things). The moment we stepped in, the owner lady pointed to a tiny room “Children’s books are over there.” How did she know? 😉 We also saw a great comprehensive Gregory Crewdson exhibition at the Rudolfinum.

Although not what it once was, Prague is still quite affordable compare to most western European cities. The hotels were expensive though (not much mid-range ones), so I highly recommend staying at a vacation apartment. We stayed at this apartment at Mala Strana and for four people, it was a great deal. The apartment was huge, modern, clean, comfortable and got a pretty good location. It’s close to the Prague Castle and quite close to the Charles Bridge.

We walked everywhere in Prague, it’s such a small easy navigate walkable city that you don’t really need public transportation. We took the subway a few times and it’s very convenient (and it got much better information graphics than Paris’s metro). The subway uses the honor system (well supposedly there’re people who check but we never encountered) so we took advantage of it when we didn’t have loose changes ^^;;

Like we mentioned in the Prague restaurant entries, we were pleasantly surprised at the quality of Czech cuisine in Prague given what we heard. My bf Jon who stayed at Prague in 1998 said it was a much different scene back then. I’m glad it’s different now. I would recommend all the restaurants we blogged, especially Klub Architektu, Cukrkavalimonada, and Cerny Kohout. We didn’t get to try but I read about La Degustration on New York times and supposedly their 7 courses dinner is amazing. Hopefully I’ll get to try it someday, before Czech Republic switch to euro.

You can see more pictures of our Prague’s trip on my flickr: Part 1, 2 and 3.

Tags: Travel Report