Spending Christmas in Europe is something we always wanted to experience, and we finally got our chance!
An unexpected opportunity presented itself and we grabbed it to head out to Prague and Vienna for a week. The timing was perfect to celebrate both Christmas and Jaunine’s birthday in one fell swoop and we intended to make the best of it. The fact that we had to move from a very warm climate (despite it being winter) to cold winter did not distract us – in fact, it added even more excitement to it.
Mention Vienna, and music immediately jumps to mind. We therefore just had to arrange attending a Strauss and Mozart concert while there. Fortunately the internet makes arrangements like this quite easy, and with all arranged we were ready to roll!
First stop was Prague which we reached at midnight after a six hour flight from Abu Dhabi.
Needless to say that our first day was chilly to say the least, and we were welcomed with overcast and below freezing point weather – no problem!
Jaunine adapting to -3 Celsius 🙂
We had a full day and evening to explore Prague and we made the most of it despite the cold weather.
In the centre of Prague, right at the Wenceslas Square, you find the Lucerna Palace and inside its atrium a strange statue, called “The dead horse”. The rider is King Wenceslas and this is the work of David Cerný, a Czech sculptor who is known for his provocative creations.
Prague becomes alive at night with it’s vibrant and busy Christmas market – an experience not to be missed.
Plenty to taste and enjoy!
After spending a mere two nights and a day in Prague it was time to head out to Vienna, which was a very pleasant 4-hour train ride away. That gave us the opportunity to see some snow in the Czech countryside.
Jaunine shot the following three images through the window of our train that was trundling along at up to
160 km/h !
The weather in Vienna was no better than in Prague, meaning it was overcast, cold, with the occasional spell of rain. It felt like a normal winter day back home in Cape Town and it was certainly not going to hold us back. We had tremendous fun in Vienna!
A drive out in the Austrian countryside took a whole day and we enjoyed it thoroughly.
Experiencing the snow was of course a must-do 🙂
Everything was not about snow, we also had a birthday to celebrate. That we did in style when we discovered a lovely champagne bar 🙂
A toast to Birthday Girl!
There was also much to see in the city :
A visit to the Sigmund Freud museum.
Freud’s waiting room
Street performers.
Jaunine spotted and photographed this beautiful lamp.
Vienna being synonym with the waltz, we (meaning I) just had to see Strauss’s monument.
Johann Strauss.
The Blue Danube
And then there were the Christmas markets – many of them. We managed to visit a few and sampled some excellent wurst and glühwein.
The main Christmas market.
Vienna in festive mood!
Our newly discovered champagne bar also served as an excellent place for our Christmas lunch!
Champagne and oysters for starters.
Scrumptious pasta topped with sublime fresh truffles as a main course.
Champagne for dessert.
All too soon our time in Vienna came to an end and we headed back to Prague for our last day.
Last night in Prague – a room with a view over the square.
Jaunine spotted this hidden underground restaurant, away from the hustle and bustle outside – ideal for our last night’s dinner.
Excellent sausage on mashed potato 🙂
Our week passed all too quickly but we had such a good time that we hope to return again to these wonderful cities.
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