Prague to Vienna

Before moving on to Austria, here's the photos of Czech money we've been using. Called koruna in Czech, but crowns in English, the current exchange is about 16 crowns per dollar. These are the paper denominations; I don't have photos of the coins yet, although Joren has a full set stashed away to bring home. We spent all the bills.

Also, I wanted to show my feet on hobblestones around the Prague prime meridian (15 degrees east of the Greenwich Prime Meridian). Every inch of old European streets is covered with cobblestones, a very hobbling experience for those with bum legs. Actually, the leg is doing well. I've certainly been walking many miles every day.

Friday marked the end of our Prague trip and the beginning of our Vienna adventure. We risked our toes on the fast escalators with luggage and whipped over to the nearby train station to catch a EuroCity train to Wien with only a few stops. Unfortunately, our hotel in Wien is near the south train station, which is completely closed for reconstruction, so we had to go to another train station and then find a taxi to take us back south to the Imperial Riding School. Well, the public rooms of the hotel were formerly the Imperial Riding School, at least.

After skipping lunch on the five hour train ride, we were famished. The hotel directed us to a nearby brewery/pub with traditional Austrian food, Salm Brau. Joren opted to try the Viennese version of snitzel (made with veal instead of pork) and served with parsley potatoes and cranberry sauce.

Keenan ate the stelze, a haunch of ham with bread dumpling, beer cabbage, mustartd and horseradish.

I opted for the seasonal special, asparagus topped with ham and cheese, served with parsley potatoes.

We ate dessert, too, chocolate cake for Joren and a shared apricot/cheese strudel for Keenan and me, before we waddled over to the Belvedere Palace, directly behind the restaurant. We climbed the long slope of the garden, checked out the location of the old menagerie, peeked in on the wedding taking place in the palace, and then walked the long way round back to our hotel. Another day, earlier when they’re open, we’ll go back to view the Klimt paintings there, including The Kiss.