Elisa's Easter in Picturesque Prague & Imperial Vienna - Part 1

Leaving New York for Prague/Vienna Trip April, 2014

 I guess by now, you get that Tanya and I are big believers in taking our kids traveling - if not everywhere we go, at least, anywhere without exception.  As far as overseas trips go, I decided a long time ago, I wanted my girls to have as many travel and cultural experiences that we were able to give them.  To me, visiting foreign countries with different cultures, languages, cuisines and architectures is worth so much more in my kids' development than they could ever learn from school.  So, off we were on another European vacation this Spring during Easter break - this time to Prague and Vienna - and what a truly magical one it was!  I had never been anywhere in Eastern Europe, but I had always been fascinated by pictures and travel videos with this part of the world - Prague, in particular.  And of course Vienna,  with its rich history as the seat of the Habsburger Holy Roman Empire and music capital of Europe, this was sure to be spectacular vacation! I've always had a very romantic feeling towards Prague and Vienna and last summer while on our "Cousins Road Trip to Gettysburg & Williamsburg", as I was doing some travel research online late one night, it hit me that I was going to just plan and book these destinations! And that's precisely what I did!  I ran the idea past Tanya because I thought it would be a blast to do the trip together, but unfortunately, the timing didn't work for her - which was very disappointing for both of us.

Now JSYK, I am a bundle of contradictions in my travel style.  On the one hand, I am almost always insistent on going first class by air and rail when traveling internationally. However, when it comes to accommodations, I am completely willing to be alittle more risky and adventurous!  For this trip, I decided I was going to try the "apartment rental" route for our stays in both Prague and Vienna. After a brief discussion about this with my travel agent of more than 20 years, Stephen Slovenski, he highly recommended Airbnb as a reputable resource for finding apartment rentals.   Tanya and I will both focus more on "Vacation Apartment & House Rentals" in later blogs, but for now, let me just say that I had a very positive experience using Airbnb for the first time on this trip, which I will soon expand upon.

Our flight was great, but then again, what's to complain about when you are traveling business/first - priority check in, access to the lounge, flatbed cocoons, private rest room, a staff of flight attendants fussing over you, and more food than you can eat. (JSYK, Delta (and their affiliates) is my airline of choice when traveling internationally.  First of all, I like to build my frequent flyer points and Delta accepts the transfer of American Express  Membership Rewards points)  Now, to the topic of taking kids to Europe - many of my friends say, "why would you take young children to Europe? They are too young to appreciate it."  I couldn't disagree more!  And I know that Tanya shares my views wholeheartedly.  World experiences are invaluable as I said earlier, and I've seen how it builds a sophistication and worldliness in my own kids and those of Tanya's,  that can never be acquired not venturing too far from home.  So, now  I am going to brag a little ; I cannot say enough about how proud I am of my two youngest girls when it comes to air travel.  At 7 and 9, they are quite sophisticated travelers. No complaints. No whining on long flights.  They bring their own carry-on bags with blankets, neck pillows, reading and activity books and busy themselves with the TV entertainment.  They have even been known to get some rest! Of course, having said that, (even with all my proud mommy emotions), I am fully aware that one cannot go dragging a 7 and 9 year old into six ancient churches in one day - that would be complete torture...for the parent!  So, I will preface this piece with the fact that a tremendous part of my family trip planning and research ALWAYS involves creating itineraries that are centered around two things:
1) Great sites and activities that are age appropriate for my kids; and 2) Activities that are in what i call 2-3 hour "bites" (which is about the length of kids my ages attention span.)

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Gianna & Kelsey in-flight to Prague

Our flight had one stop over in Amsterdam - thank goodness for being able to relax for the 90 minutes in a comfy lounge!  As I told you, I had never stayed in private apartments before, but part of my strategy was to be economical on the accommodations end, so I could travel in luxury and have everyone arrive well rested.  I'm a firm believer in checking ALL the reviews posted for each listing and when I found listings that were 5-stars on a consistent basis, those are the ones I narrowed my choices to until finalizing.  In the case of Prague, there were three deciding factors. The first was the photos of the apartment itself, the second, was consistently great reviews; and third, was location.  One thing that I've come to appreciate with my Airbnb experience is that unlike a hotel, where you are dealing with a corporation and employees, when you rent someone's apartment, you are naturally building a relationship with a local.  When I finally settled on an apartment - actually the only one that was right in the middle of the Old Town Square, I decided to book it.  The price was unbelievable too -- a 2 bedroom apartment with a full kitchen, dining and living area was only $719 for three nights! Add to that, the rental agents, "Marek and Dominik", were absolute pleasures to deal with.  They were responsive, helpful and to make things even better, Marek was a New York Giants Fan!!  I felt very comfortable booking after chatting back and forth a few times. Many of the owners/agents, will provide transportation for you to and from the airport and/or train station, at a reasonable price, which was the case for us. We arrived into Prague at 1:40pm local time and I was able to capture this very cool photo from the plane as we made our descent. I can't tell you how nice it was to be greeted after 13 hours of travel by Dominik, a friendly face of someone I had gotten to know through email!  

My view from the plane making our descent into Prague, Czech Republic

Dominik loaded up our luggage in his car and drove us to our home for the next 3 nights.  His English was amazing and he gave us quite a good overview of this historic city, as well as wonderful restaurant and touring suggestions.  For instance, it was he who told us that most of all the sites in Prague were reachable on foot, with no real "need" to travel by tour bus.  I'm so glad we followed his advice! His sense of humor meshed with our's perfectly as well!  I had a vision of Prague from books and videos and movies, but it was even more than I expected.  I loved everything about the oldness of this city, from the cobblestone roads to the buildings and squares.  Truly a storybook city! Everything was so beautiful as we drove into the Old Town (Staré Město)!  We pulled up to the apartment (well, actually alittle to the side of it, since the apartment itself was right in the middle of the Old Town Square!) and the cobblestone streets were just so awesome!  My family thought I was nuts for taking pictures of the streets at various places we walked, but even Kelsey thought it was really cool and "must have been some job putting all the stones down."  The apartment was in a 14th Century, refurbished building. From our living room/kitchen window and master bedroom window, this is the view we had!!! Whats more, at night, it felt as if we were right in the middle of the festivities going on below.  If you are looking for a quiet location, this is probably not the right place for you, but for us, we wanted to be right smack dab in the middle of the action. The laughter of people below, the music playing till rather late - even the hoots and hollers of drunkin' locals at 2am was a delight.  That is the good news - the "unexpected" news was that we were on the 4th floor of a walk up and we certainly got a work out each day!  

View of Old Town Square, Prague, from our apartment window

View of Old Town Square, Prague, from our master bedroom at night!

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Our visit coincided with Holy Week, leading up to Easter. The square was filled with the Easter Market, bustling with tents of food and merchandise vendors, as well as a large stage with a multitude of performers of all ages, singing and dancing and playing traditional Czech favorites.  It was like a giant, medieval carnival, walking through this market square.  The weather couldn't be better our first two days in Prague, which made walking around such a joy.  We stopped to watch one of the market shows featuring traditionally dressed little girls dancing as we snacked on freshly made potato chips served to us in a cone shaped paper container.  They were so yummy and crunchy! The market square was flanked by four sides of buildings, shops and cafes, including the 14th Century refurbished building we were staying in.  One of the things I loved so much about this experience was being part of the outdoor cafe culture. We had all of our meals outdoors either in the gorgeous sunshine or under the protection of large umbrellas, during our third day, when it rained.  At night, all of the restaurants were set up with large heaters to keep diners warm, as well as blankets on the backs of every chair for additional warmth and coziness!  The service was quick and immediate, which made it great for the kids, but then, we were left alone to take as long as we wanted to relax and enjoy our meal and conversation. After a long day of walking around the Old Town to the Charles Bridge, over to the Lesser town…and back, poor Kelsey fell immediately asleep at dinner. This was no problem, since we merely covered her up with a blanket and let her relax for several hours, while Tedd, me and Gianna enjoyed a great meal (and the music in the Square) including, probably the best apple strudel I ever ate!  When she eventually woke up, the waiter was more than happy to bring her a plate of homemade fettuccine even though we were well past coffee and dessert.

All the sights were amazing - seeing the world famous Astronomical clock in Prague Tower in the center of the old town was surreal, and even more amazing was waiting with a crowd of other tourists, for the on-the-hour bell tolling and display of the 12 Apostles to spin around.  (By the way - we don't know that lady in the picture to the left of Tedd lol)

Astronomical Clock in Prague Tower (look at that cobblestone!!)

Because tourism is such a big part of Prague, it was not hard to find any of the famous attractions because there was always a group of tourists headed in the direction of one we were trying to find.  This strategy worked especially well for "finding" the Charles Bridge.  It was hard to believe we were actually on the Charles Bridge. I had seen so many pictures and watched numerous videos featuring this world famous bridge!  Even the kids, with their intermittent complaints about walking, enjoyed the Charles Bridge journey over the Vltava River. The bridge was lined with vendors and entertainers on both sides amidst the beautiful bronze statues of Christian religious figures including the famous Holy Crucifix and St. John of Nepomuk. Some little tidbids of trivia for you - the bridge is 621 meters long and nearly 10 meters wide.  It rests on 16 arches shilded by ice guards and is protected by three bridge towers, two of them on the Lesser Quarter side and the third one on the Old Town side.   The Old Town bridge tower is often considered to be one of the most astonishing civil gothic-style buildings in the world. It is so beatiful to see the continuous alley of 30 statues and statuaries,that decorate the bridge. They depict various saints and patron saints venerated at that time. Most of them baroque-style, were originally erected between 1683 and 1714 but beginning in 1965, they have all been replaced by replicas, with the originals in the lapidarium of the National Museum. 

Walking through Old Town, Prague

The famous Holy Crucifix statue on the Charles Bridge

We all delighted in a puppeteer as well as an accordion player on the Bridge!  Although we did not buy a great many souvenirs on this trip, we did purchase a beautiful hand drawn picture of the iconic buildings of Prague including the Charles Bridge.  From the Old Town over the Charles Bridge, brings you to the Lesser Town (Mala Strana), another area filled with shops, eateries and sites.  One of the places I was so eager to see was the Church of Our Lady of Victory, where the famous Infant of Prague  statue is housed.  Although no photos were allowed inside, we managed to get a great picture outside.  (Notice how thrilled the kids look...NOT) After going inside and seeing this iconic statue and saying quiet prayers, we walked back out and right across the street to a small religious store.  It is here that I bought a number of Infant of Prague mini statues for myself, all three of my daughters, my sister Danielle and my mom.

Church of Our Lady of Victory in Prague Lesser Town, home to Prague Infant Jesus

We also took the incredible walk up to Prague Castle.  The kids were not too thrilled about this schlepp, but were slightly comforted in the knowledge that we would be stopping back at a small chocolate shop on the way down that we passed on the way up. The Castle was quite impressive both from the front and the back and again, I could not get over the cobblestone streets!  The view of the city from the Castle was breathtaking.

View from Prague Castle

At Prague Castle

On our last day in Prague, we ventured to the New Town (Nove Mestro).  Another little bit of triva:  Czech king Charles IV founded New Town in Prague in 1348, and it was the largest building site in medieval Europe.  Today, it is home to a number of not-to-miss sites including the National Theatre, Wenceslas Square and The National Museum.  This area was only a short walk from where we were staying in the Old Town, and we enjoyed a fun excursion in the rain.  We walked along the market area leading up to Wenceslas Square and the kids enjoyed buying candy at one of the vendors.  We ate at the most adorable place right in Wenceslas Square called, Vytopna Railroad Restaurant.  What was so unique about this place was that it was lined with toy train tracks throughout , with a "train" station theme.  The train delivered all beverages to your table.  The kids (and me and Tedd) got an absolute kick out of this place.

Buying Candy in Wenceslas Square

Me and my girls in front of the statue of St. Wenceslas

Our three days in Prague were not enough, but they had come to an end. I was so very sad to leave, but comforted with the excitement that we were off to Vienna!!  Dominik took us to the train station, and we bid farewell to Prague...at least for this trip!  
~Elisa

Saying farewell to Prague and our new friend, Dominik with our gift for him and Marek - History of the New York Giants Video

See Part 2 of Picturesque Prague & Imperial Vienna
 - Family Day at The Spanish Riding School, Vienna


Airbnb Apartment Rentals: www.Airbnb.com
Vytopna Railroad Restaurant: http://www.vytopna.cz
Church of Our Lady of Victory, Lesser Town, Prague: http://www.prague.net/church-of-our-lady-victoriuos