Central Europe Tour:Day 05 - Prague to Vienna

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Today is the day we leave for Vienna. Since we had reserved tickets for the 2:39 PM train, we planned to at least complete one additional sightseeing item in Prague. Our initial plan was to go to "National Museum'. When I checked online (some folks mentioned this yesterday as well), the main museum is closed for renovation and only annexe buildings were open. We decided to skip the museum and go to Petrin hill instead. This is in an excellent location close to the Prague castle. Gardens, observation tower, observatory, restaurants and other attractions are in this area. There is a small cable car that takes you up from the street. We had to finish our showers, pack and finish our breakfast before the check out. We requested the front-desk to hold on to our luggage. They were also kind enough to order a taxi for us by 1:45 PM. The train station is only 4 kms from our location. It was a sunny day with few clouds and not cold. We went to the metro station and got 4 tickets for the tram #22. We got down after crossing the Vldana river. The tram car honors the same ticket to go up the hill. After alighting from the tram car, we walked through this beautiful rose garden. Huge roses in all kinds of colors. After taking some pictures here, we went to the observation tower. This is a Eiffel tower modeled small tower on the hill that allows tourists to view the entire city. We bought tickets for this. There are 300 steps to climb. The view at the top of was very good. All of Prague was visible, especially the downtown area with bridges. After this visit, we wanted to view the Observatory. Unfortunately, they were not open during the lunch hours. They have shows during night times. We walked down to the street level (instead of using tram), as the path was very scenic and weather was perfect. It would be another 30 minute walk to our hotel crossing the river. By the time we reached the hotel it was 1:20 PM. We wanted to get something for lunch so that we could even eat that in the train. There was a coffee and snack shop adjacent to the hotel. We packed sandwiches from here before checking out our luggage from the hotel. By now, I have exhausted all my Czech crowns. We had asked for a taxi that can take credit card. After the driver dropped us in the train station, his card reader would not read my credit card. This guy was kind enough to walk with me into the station. We found an ATM machine and I got enough money to pay him in crowns. This train was leaving from Prague and the final destination is Vienna. After they posted the platform number in the big board, we walked to the platform. We were one of the first ones to get to our assigned seats. But in the following 20 minutes the train would completely become full. The train left on time at 14:39 PM. We ate our sandwiches and the kids promptly went to sleep. People got off during 2 or 3 major stops within Czech. Vienna is in a corner of Austria close to Czech border. By the last station in Czech, the train was relatively empty. Another hour and we were in the outskirts of Vienna. Vienna has more than one main train terminal. There is heavy rebuilding work going on at this time. We got out of the station and hailed a taxi. I did not have enough Euros in cash to pay the driver. So I requested the driver to stop at an ATM to withdraw some cash. We reached the hotel Marriott which in the downtown (tourist district) of Vienna. It is located in an excellent area walkable to major attractions. We were welcomed here as Gold members and the manager at the front desk said that we are getting a free upgrade. As part of membership, we also have access to executive lounge where some type of snacks and drinks are available all through the day and evening. We did not realize that the upgrade would provide us with a park suite (600 Euro worth) with dining chairs, sofas, mini-bar access etc. This was a pleasant surprise. After enjoying the view of the park opposite from seventh floor, we went to the hotel cafe to finish up our dinner. They served us an item not in the menu since they have been handling some guests from the middle east - Vegetable curry. Anticipating a great stay in Vienna we went to bed this night.

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