I enjoy train travel in Europe.
Why? It is easy to get from city-to-city, the trains are modern and on-time, and the entire travel experience is less stressful than dealing with airport security and flight delays.
The train ride from Vienna to Prague was a little over 4 hours. Andrew got us seats with a table between them so that we could work (which he did) or re-watch Season 2 of Reacher (which I did).
Once we were in Czechia (the new name for what was previously called the Czech Republic) the train steward came by and asked if we wanted anything to drink or eat. I ordered two breakfast beers for us to enjoy on our train ride.
I paid with a credit card – and the charge came through at a whopping $2.10. That was not $2.10 each – that was our total bill. It turns out that a U.S. $ goes along way in Czechia.
After arriving at the train station, it took as a little bit of time to figure out which exit to use to hopefully catch an Uber to the Marriott hotel.
The weather in Prague was in the teens and actively snowing when we arrived. While it might have looked beautiful outside a window in a warm restaurant – Uber wasn’t really running. Andrew looked at his phone and mentioned that we could walk through the snow since the Marriott was only “a couple of blocks away”.
After a hike to our hotel through the snow across cobblestone sidewalks (not the best for roller bags) – we checked into the Marriott which will be our home for the next couple of days. Note – it was a bit more than “a couple of blocks away”.
Dinner was close by at the Imperial – another recommendation by one of Andrew’s colleagues. The restaurant was built in the early 1900’s in an art-deco style and the wait staff all wore formal attire.
The dinner was one of the best we have had on this trip – Andrew had a stuffed quail and I had a duck confit dish. We also enjoyed soup and a drink each.
The bill at the end of the meal was a little over 2000 Czech Crowns. I paid having little idea of how much that was in terms of U.S. $. With tip our dinner was $96 – and in the U.S. this dinner would have been at least $300 in terms of quality and service.
Interestingly, Czechia is a member of the European Union but has never adopted the Euro as their currency and continue to use Czech Crowns. The Czech banknotes are very colorful ….
Tomorrow – we start our tour of Prague beginning with a medieval castle. Until then …
Kirk’s Travelogue 