Prague, The First Day

Our first sightseeing day in Prague started at 9 am at Wenceslas Square next to the museum. We walked across the sqare and then to more streets to get to the Estates Theater, where once the debut performance of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Don Giovanni took place. Our next stop was at the Old Town Square where we watched to the hourly play of the astronomical clock. Then we walked through the old town to Charles Bridge. Before we went up the tower, Eugen showed us the oldest part of the bridge.

After passing the bridge we walked along the river Vltava to the bridge Most Legií where we got back to the old town at the National Theatre. Now it was time for lunch. We had it in the Beerhouse of the restaurant “U medvídkù” (www.umedvidku.cz). After our break we walked again through the old town and through the Lesser Town, where we visited St. Nicholas Church, up to the Prague Castle. There, we viewed St. Vitus’s Cathedral, the Old Royal Palace, St. George’s Basilica and the Golden Lane with the Daliborka Tower. Still, we haven’t finished the tour! We took the tram and funicular up to Petřín, where we enjoyed the excellent view over Prague at the lookout tower. Afterwards we visited the mirror labyrinth. After this exhausting – but awesome – day, we had a grate dinner at Šárka’s place.

Trip to Vienna: Linz Texas Exhibition

Roof of St. Stephen’s Cathedral

Yesterday a few friends and I went to see the exhibition Linz Texas A City Relates at the Austrian Museum of Architecture in Vienna. After some traditional Austrian lunch at Siebensternbräu we walked up the stairs at the South Tower of St. Stephen’s Cathedral. The view from up there is fantastic; you can see pretty much all over Vienna. Here are the pictures! At about 3pm we started the tour through the Schönbrunn Zoo. Overall, just another lovely and culinary day in Vienna!

Summerticket Started

Since yesterday the summer ticket of the Austrian Federal Railways is valid, I’m quite busy with traveling. Our first trip led us to Leopoldsberg and Kahlenberg (in Vienna), one of my most favorite places in Austria. Have a look at the pictures! We enjoyed dinner at (my favorite) Asian restaurant Toka Lee in Grinzing. After dinner we split up – some went home; my three American guests and I went to Prater (see also prater.at and Wikipedia) to see the famous Giant Ferris Wheel (see also Wikipedia).

Our plans for today were quite busy: After their visit of the Schönbrunn Palace we met at Naschmarkt to have a Kebap for lunch. At 1pm we had a guided tour in the Vienna State Opera. Before we had the next guided tour at the Parlament, we walked to see Heldenplatz (Hero’s Square), Hofburg (Imperial Palace), Ballhausplatz, Bundeskanzleramt (Chancellor’s Office), Minoritenkirche, Burgtheater (Imperial Court Theater), University of Vienna and Rathaus (Town Hall). Straight after the Parlament we walked Kohlmarkt and Graben to St. Stephans Cathedral. After a short break at Starbucks in Kärtnerstraße, we took the tram to Belvedere Palace, which was our last thing to do before we had dinner at Reinthalers Beisl. It was a busy, but nice day!