Having a baby a mere 2 weeks before the start of bein hazmanim, I pretty much wrote off any sort of trip. It was to be the first summer since we got married that we were going to simply stay put. However, being bitten by the travel bug as I am, as bein hazmanim progressed, the itch kept on getting stronger. We decided to make a go of it, and planned a “light” trip to Europe to see some of the cities we had missed in our travels. My travelling through Europe until this point had been focused on seeing countries. I had always wanted to see Prague & Vienna so we decided this would be the perfect opportunity. I searched around for flights and found a charter airline flying to Prague for $350 a ticket. Not too bad considering we decided to go a week before we actually left. And off we were, with our 5 year old, 2 year old, a new 3 week old baby.
Our flight on Friday morning was on Travel Service/SmartWings at 9:10am which got us into PRG at about 12:15pm. After eating some lunch, feeding the baby, renting the car etc., we hit the road at about 10 to 2. Driving was fairly easy, and we drove it in under 3.5 hrs plus a half hour for breaks, and we arrived in Vienna at around a quarter to 6. TIP: If you are ever considering doing some serious driving in Europe, it’s definitely worth your while to learn how to drive stick.
Something to remember, we picked up the car in the Czech Republic, and the car had a sticker on it from the CR. When you cross the border into Austria, you need to buy a sticker to put on your windshield to be able to drive there. Any gas station should sell them, and they cost around 10 Euro for 7 days IIRC.
Our first stop was at the kosher restaurant, Alef Alef. As far as Shabbos meals, this is pretty much the only option, and they require prepayment. To our horror though, they were closed when we got there around 6. As it was late, (shekia was around 8:45pm but davening is at 7 with the meal directly following) we rushed to the hotel, the Imperial.
As our plan was to be in Vienna for four nights, I broke one of my rules and booked 2 nights at the Imperial, and 2 nights at the Bristol, both Luxury Collection hotels. The Imperial, the nicest hotel in town, was too expensive to book for all the nights, even at the SPG C+P rate, and to stay at the Bristol all 4 nights also wasn’t an option, because after all, how can we go to Vienna and
not stay at the Imperial? So we decided to do 2 and 2.
The Imperial definitely lives up to the hype. It’s truly a beautiful hotel, as the former palace of a prince. When the Queen of England visited Vienna, she was put up at the Imperial due to lack of nicer accommodations. The service was impeccable as well.
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