Nolan visits! (Prague & Vienna)

Nolan was here this past week, on his spring break, so we spent some time in Vienna and also travelled to Prague, Czech Republic!

He got here last Sunday, after a long day of travel - via the inaugural flight from Chicago to Berlin! I picked him up at the airport and we headed back towards my area of Vienna - grabbing a sandwich and heading back to my dorm so he could shower and take a quick nap. We went out to dinner at a local brewery for my birthday, and walked around the city center a bit - it was freezing though, so we didn't last long!

We left bright and early Monday morning for Prague, only a 4 hour bus ride from Vienna. We were on a double-decker bus and somehow snagged the front row on top, so we had great views of the countryside along the way - although we both slept for a little while! (When in Vienna, we have to share my twin sized bed... neither of us ever got a very good night's sleep.)

We arrived in Prague around noon, and navigated our way towards the Old Town. We found where our hostel was, although we couldn't check in for a while and walked around for a while looking for somewhere to warm up and eat some lunch. We ended up at a tiny, authentic looking restaurant (named "Restaurant"...) and each had some goulash in a bread bowl and a beer!

After checking into our hostel we headed back out to explore some more for the rest of the afternoon. It was very cold out, but we saw a lot of the city and got a feel for where we wanted to spend more time in the coming days. We ate dinner at an Italian restaurant/wine bar, and then spent the rest of the night at the "Prague Beer Museum". It is not much of a museum, but more of a pub where you can try different kinds of beers. You can get a sampler and choose 5 or 10 beers from their 25+ choices. I know very little about beer, so it was cool to get to sample different kinds - Nolan enjoyed it too, this is definitely our kind of museum!

The Beer Museum

Prague is actually a very small city - easily walkable and compact. On Tuesday morning we did a "free" walking tour (you tip what you feel the guide deserves at the end), that lasted almost three and a half hours! Mike, our tour guide, was a funny, British guy that kept us learning and laughing even when we were freezing! We got to see almost all of the city, and actually understood now what we were looking at. There is a lot of history in Prague, especially since the city has been a part of many different empires, countries and republics in the past. Also, because of how far east Prague is in Europe, it was almost untouched during WWII, so many of the iconic buildings and churches are incredibly old!

Old Town Square, Easter Market

We went to another authentic (yet, touristy) restaurant for dinner and then headed to a nearby pub - mainly because we read online that it had a fireplace and we were still chilled from being out in the cold all day! The pub was playing a soccer match, we were seated directly next to the fireplace, and the beer was cheap - this officially made Nolan fall in love with Prague, where he now plans to move to eventually or at least visit for two weeks next year!

We didn't leave Prague until early Wednesday evening, and the weather was much nicer Wednesday. We headed across the river to hike up to the Prague Castle. We didn't pay to go in, but we were able to walk around, enjoy the views, and even see the changing of the guards! The castle is a huge complex, as one brochure we saw said, "Probably the Biggest Castle in the World" - and it probably is!

Overall, Prague was awesome! I can't wait to go back with my parents in a month. We loved how small it was, yet were never bored or ran out of stuff to see. One of our favorite parts (where we ate lunch and snacks multiple times) was the Easter market set up in the Old Town square. It reminded us of the Christkindlmarket in Chicago. There were stands selling trinkets and food.

Trdla Stand at the Easter Market

We spent Thursday being touristy in Vienna - we went to the market in the morning and walked around, and then headed to the Kunthistoriches Museum. We spent a majority of the afternoon there - it is an art museum that has tons of exhibits, our favorite of which was the Habsburg's personal art collection which is now there permanently.

Kunthistoriches Museum

On Friday, we spent his last day visiting one of the Habsburg palaces in Vienna and walking around the first district some more. This was by far the warmest day we had while he was here, which was perfect for walking around. It even got somewhat sunny in the afternoon - a rare treat here! We went to Schonbrunn, the summer palace of the Habsburgs - famous for its gardens which were just beginning to  be groomed for spring. The tour itself was somewhat disappointing, but we were able to walk around outside in the weather and hike up to the point where you can see most of the city.

Schonbrunn

Afterwards, we headed towards the center of the city and walked around some more there. I took him past the city hall, parliament, and the other Habsburg palace before stopping in a few souvenir shops and heading home.

For his last dinner, we went to a very authentic Austrian restaurant, two stories below ground in an old cellar from the 1100's! He finally got his Wiener Schnitzel, and we had a few drinks before heading back.

Last Dinner at The Twelve Apostles

We left for the airport at 3:45 this morning, and he should be landing back in Chicago very soon. We had a great week, with the highlight definitely being Prague - it could be in the running for my favorite place in Europe!