There are truly amazing fares from Israel to Europe in winter. I had found flights for friends of mine for $75 round trip on Wizz Air. After my wife found out I was quickly finding myself at the computer to purchase flights for ourselves. I did not tell her where we were flying to and all details of the trip were kept hidden. Here are the details broken down as best I could.
Spent M"S in the Criwne Plaza city center it deserves ever single star (5 of them) that they have. Fantastic all around!!
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Sunday Morning we took the train to the airport (2 stops), I bought Wizz Priority (101 Sheqel) that includes priority boarding and one carry on, as well as a front seat X leg room seat (160 sheqel) Yes that is more then the ticket cost but boy for someone who has gotten used to flying business this was the only way I was gonna last.
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Next time this might be my seat......
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There are no lounges in Terminal one but I found a place to charge my phone and pass the time until we started boarding. The flight was completely full with multiple Ski tours for frum people which was quiete nice. The flight was enjoyable and soon enough we were landing into Vienna.
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I booked us 2 nights in "Der Wilhelhof" which was located a 5-10 minute walk from most of the kosher locations as well as the Stadtempl (12 minutes). I was looking for a 4+ hotel in the jewish area that was not gonna break the bank and this was perfect. It was in the $125 range and had fantastic reviews.
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Arriving in the afternoon gave us some time to get to the hotel, go to Meah Shearim to eat and then I booked a night ride on the ferris wheel which was iabout 5 minutes from the hotel. Meah Shearim is still every bit as good as I remember from the last few times I was there. The Chicken soup was 5/5 the Sushi as always is out of this world. I got 2 chinese dishes which were also amazing and their fries are great as well!!
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The Ferris Wheel was nice but it was so cold even in the closed carts that it was hard to enjoy fully and I would recommend doing this by day as the views at night where not that great (though there was no wait so that is nice.
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In the morning we davened at Stadtempl for Shachris, they used the only Torah that survived the war (in Vienna) for Krias Hatora (Rosh Chodesh), I got an aliya and it was such a powerful moment in my life. The thought of who donated it and who leined from it in the past is just powerful!! After davening they showed us around the shul and the small memorial they have.
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After davening we went to Ohel Moshe for some Heimishe eggs and bagels and bought milk for future coffees. The food there is ok for breakfast and it definitely did the job.
After eating we went to the Imperial Treasury/Hofbburg Palace it was a very nice tour inside to see the treasures and clothes they wore 800-900 years ago. There is definitely a Christian presence that is felt there but I walked through those rooms quickly.
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We walked back from there to Novellino strolling through most of the old city. We ordered a salad and a pizza there both were decent though it is more expensive then I liked.
We then rested until Mincha/Maariv at the Stadtempl, and then headed to Aleph Aleph for supper. We got the soup (chicken and vegetable) and ordered a Shnitzel which came huge and big enough for both of us. For dessert of course we got the Strudel.
After supper we walked to the opera house for a Vienna Orchestra performance which was out of this world. It was about $45 each and lasted a little over 90 minutes. Was worth every penny I spent. I Ubered back to the hotel as it was just freezing outside and it would have been over 30 minutes to walk back.
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Tuesday we woke up headed out early to breakfast at Shefa which was about 3 minute walk from the hotel. Shefa is fantastic in terms of a full grocer that would make many small stores in Israel be ashamed. They had a butcher section, a fish section, roasted nuts section, bakery items and of course regular shopping as well. probably 5-6 aisles of stuff outside teh Fish/meat stuff.
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After breakfast we headed out on the Hop on and off bus to go see the sights around the city. Eventually making our way to the Schonbrun Palace. I had done this tour in the past and felt it was a real waste of time and money so I convinced my wife to take pictures on the outside and do a little tour of the grounds. As we were leaving a sign caught my eye with pictures in full costume. Definitely a unique activity and the backgrounds and costumes were superb. The cost was 29 EUR for 10 minutes of ictures using your phone. IF you wanted professional it was $60.
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After the tour we headed back to the hotel for our luggage ran to shefa for lunch (food was much much better then breakfast), we had Pizza and a Tuna sandwhich. From there I surprised my wife with a trip to Prague. I bought 2 business class seats on the express train into Prague. We got the closed 4 seat compartment to ourselves for about 2 hours before the other passengers showed up. It was absolutely worth the little extra money for the upgrade. I believe I paid $78 total for both of us.
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Once in Prague we walked to our hotel which was in the old city right outside the jewish quarter, at a place called "The Dominican" this is a great place that really lived up to the European style hotels and beds. The staff definitely had looks when I walked with my Yarmulke but too bad on them!!
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For supper we went to Dinitz we had the Steak Sandwhich and teh Chicken Sandwich. The servings definitely shrank from the last time I was there but the food was still fantastic!! We walked the square back to the hotel and headed too sleep.
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In the morning we headed out to Charles Bridge and pictures of the Prague Castle. It was ice cold and we could not spend too much time outside.
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Once the cold got too much we headed to Chabad Shelanu for Breakfast. We got the Tuna melt and the pancakes both were very good!!
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I then booked a tour of the jewish quarter which was supposed to be a one hour tour but we were the only ones that signed up so we got about an hour and half in depth explanation of the cities Jews that lived there. It was fascinating and I highly reccomend it. One thing which I never heard before was that the cemetery which looks like it is on a hill compared to the rest of the area. Is actually a hill because when they ran out of room to bury yidden who were niftar they had to bury them one on top of the other. There are over 6 levels of bodies one on top of the other!!!
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After the tour I paid (like a sucker) to go daven at the maharal/klei yakor, went to the different shuls and jewish sights there are to see.
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One new thing that has happened over the past month is a new kosher store that sells this out of this world dessert that you see EVERYWHERE in Prague. This place got a hechsher and the desert is freaking amazing. It is a cinnamin twist hallowed out with nutella chocalate and vanilla ice cream with strawberries. There are other types to choose from as well. This place is located across the street from the Maharal shul.
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After we finished all the touring we went to Chabad for mincha/maariv and ate supper at "The Grill" we got a steak skewer and shnitzel both were fantastic. After Supper we grabbed an uber to the airport where I took my wife on her first "business class" flight to Zurich where we had a 13 hour layover heading to Israel.
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I stayed in the Radisson Hotel Airport which was fine but we did not get the room I paid for but I was too late to fight about it.
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The next day (today) my wife got to enjoy the real J class of Swiss Air on the A330-300 to Israel, I might be in trouble now for future flights but hey it was definitely worth it!! Thank you for reading!!
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There is still a lot of hate when people find out you are jewish and I really debate with myself each time I travel to Europe but sometimes you need to get that kick in the gut every once in awhile to remember we are in Galus.
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