I’m not that good at writing, so I’ll keep it to bulleted points with ratings and short notes where applicable.
Background: Dan posted cheap flights to Paris in February 2018, so we grabbed some, even though the flights we booked were over 6 months in the future. I believe this is the only time I had flights booked more than a month in advance. We travelled in late August, and spent 4 days in
Prague, 2 days in
Nice and
Monaco, and 4 days in
Paris.
Flights:• EWR to ORY on British Airways
- This was a paid ticket- $410.76 per ticket (Thank you Dan!)
- They moved the timing around on our flights a few times. We tried getting some sort of upgrade/refund for the time changes, especially since we were set to land on a Friday and still wanted to make it to Prague before Shabbos, but unfortunately, we were unsuccessful.
• CDG to PRG on CSA
- This was a paid ticket
- We were nervous as it was Friday. At check-in they told us that only one of us had been ticketed, and I would have to go on stand-by. We immediately asked to speak to a supervisor who was able to get me a ticket. She also checked all our bags without weight restrictions for our troubles.
- CDG was a mess. At the gate there was standing room only, with multiple flights departing from the same gate and frequent delays. Bh we made it onto our flight with enough time to spare before Shabbos.
• PRG to NCE on CSA
- This was a paid ticket
- We continued our trip and headed to Nice.
Hotel:• Hotel King David Prague- 3/5
- The hotel is outdated and not overly comfortable. Given the choice though, I would probably still choose this over any other hotel in the area, because of the food. They offer a nice spread every morning for breakfast. We also ate the Friday night meal here and it was wonderful.
Method of Transport:• Walking
• Uber
Food:• Friday Night- King David Hotel- 4/5 (for the food)
• Shabbos Lunch- Chabad- 3/5
- We slept in on Shabbos morning and by the time we made it to Chabad, the meal was over. They were gracious enough to offer us some food. It was standard fair and not very good although I’m sure we would have had a nicer experience had we made it there in time.
• U Milo Kosher Italian Dairy- 3/5
- The restaurant was new at the time, so the service was lacking. The food was ok.
• Chabad Kosher Grill- 3/5
• Chabad's Shelanu Kosher Restaurant- 3/5
- The food was ok, but the service was SLOW. We wanted to catch the last bus to Terezin to tour the camp, but it took them so long to get our food ready that when we arrived to the bus stop one minute early, we had already missed the bus…
Activities:• Old Town Square- 5/5
- This is the first time I truly felt the medieval era. There was something about standing near these foreboding Churches and black Towers that lets you be transported back in time.
• Wittmann Tours- 3/5
- This was a walking tour of the city that included the Jewish Cemetery (4/5), the Jewish Shuls (4/5), and the Jewish Museum in Prague (4/5). Our tour guide wasn’t Jewish, so his stories didn’t have much ta’am although he was in his 90’s and had memories from before the war which was both fascinating and sad at the same time (my grandfather lived in Prague before the war and was forced to flee)
• Charles Bridge- 5/5
- Absolutely beautiful. A lot of history connected to the place, especially to the sculpture of Jesus with a pasuk written around it. Lots of street vendors as well as beggars with their face down supposedly due to the shame at their situation.
• Prague Castle- 3/5
- We didn’t spend enough time here, and the tour was rather dry. I have a feeling that a good tour guide could up that rating to a 5/5…
• Hop on hop off tour- 2/5
