The next day we headed towards Austria to reach Vienna around
midday. After lunch, we had a tour of the city with a local
guide. I have to admit, I was a bit disappointed by Vienna. It’s
a fabulous city, but somehow in the back of my mind, I always
thought Vienna to be much more ancient and romantic than I found
it. To me it seemed incredibly modern and clean and that day it
was very hot—a 90 year record. That could have been
uncomfortable, but we didn’t mind, and we forged ahead on foot.
We specially were impressed with the National Library and the magnificent water fountains.
Strangely, my feelings about the name of the city had given me an intense
desire to wear all white. I got very passionate about it and as
my clothes were cool in the summer heat, I felt as if I truly
belonged to the city! We toured the old town where we saw the
changing of the guards at the Palace of Hofburg. We visited the
Castle of Schönbrunn, the Grand Gallery and the apartments of
Emperor Francois Joseph and Elisabeth (Sissi), before taking
dinner and rest at the Country Inn & Suites Hotel.
We were on our way back to Prague when our tour bus had a small
accident. It was because the bus had to back up to allow a giant
tractor pass us on the narrow highway. Apparently, while backing
up, our driver failed to notice a BMW waiting behind us. He
bumped into it and there were minor damages, a few scratches and
a broken front light, but true to BMW owners, the angry
passengers insisted that we file a police accident report.
It took over seven hours for the police to finally arrive, thus we
were forced to wait on the small highway from 3:00 pm to 10:00
pm. By then it was dark and our group was convinced we would
have to spend the night in the middle of nowhere—we were
surrounded with fields of wheat. Instead, we stayed and dined at
the Jasmin Hotel, just an hour off.
In the morning, we finally reached Prague and visited Hradcany,
a quarter of the castle of Prague. We visited the Cathedral
St-Guy and place St-Georges. While crossing the Bridge Charles,
our guide instructed us to touch the statue with five stars on
his head and make a wish for good luck.
Later we headed towards
the old town to see the Cathedral Notre Dame de Tyn, Cathedral
St. Nicolas and the town’s city hall. We continued on to see Carolinum, Place of the Republic, the Municipal House and the
Tour of Poudrière before ending our tour with dinner on a boat
cruising along the Danube.
It was a magical ending to a magical seven days!
Juliette Lac, Founder and Publisher
Edited by Vernita Irvin
Love Me Paris...
