Austria & Prague

Austria & Prague: January 2017

I hate winter, I really do. But when my dad and step mum came all the way to London to visit me, venturing out of my heated flat and traveling to some new winter destinations became suddenly appealing. Unfortunately this is entire trip was done on crutches as a result of a Christmas party foot fracture, it was seriously challenging to take all these pictures and to just get around, but given how the injury was sustained I couldn’t feel too sorry for myself! It also meant the skiing in St Anton was off the cards for me. Luckily I hate skiing (sorry dad).

Prague

I loved Prague! So much so I went back for a second time. It is definitely one of my favourite cities in Europe. Everything is dirt cheap – beer, accomodation, food and even Uber! The city is small so easy to get around and to explore and so damn picturesque. Going into the different smoke filled bars, which are usually down narrow stairs and dimly lit feels like a step back in time with all the furnishings and the price (a pint will set you back around 1-2 euros).

Every cobble street is begging to be explored and photographed. The first thing we did was a walking tour (not sure why we thought this was a good idea on crutches) but I hobbled along. The walking tour was fantastic! I hate walking tours, museums and history normally but the guy who took our tour was so good. From stories about the famous old clock tower, to random facts about the history of the city and so much more I was won over! That night we enjoyed a dinner at a fancy vegetarian restaurant with all the bells and whistles and barely spent £80 between 3 of us.

The next day we headed over the other side of the famous Charles Bridge, which is a beautiful sight in itself. We visited Prague Castle, which was pretty cool. The best part for me were the sweeping views over the wintery city and river from the castle. We enjoyed mulled wine from the cafe in there on the balcony which was amazing. We explored more streets on this side of the bridge, which felt like a magical wonderland filled with snow, tree lined cobbled streets and frozen rivers. The other must see attraction was the John Lennon wall. I loved every hour or so ducking into a bar or restaurant to defrost and enjoy a few drinks. Thanks to Uber for getting me around this day as I was completely dead after the walking tour on crutches the day before!

In November 2017 I went back to Prague with a friend to enjoy the place crutch free! It was an awesome weekend, I checked out more restaurants, cafes and went back to my favourite spots as well as dabbled in their famous night life scene. Anything goes in this city.

Austria

From Prague we caught a train to Vienna and spent a few days there. Vienna was beautiful, but really really cold! At this point I was finding it quite challenging to get around on my crutches in the sub zero temperatures so we hired a wheelchair, ha! This backfired as the lack of movement made me freeze, my knees literally froze! So I unfortunately have hardly any pictures of Vienna.

We stayed in the most beautiful big apartment right in the centre of the city, next to the main square with the cathedral. Vienna again was like stepping back in time, old women everywhere dressed to the nines in their big furs, hats and skirts. Old restaurants selling copious amounts of beer and Weiner Snitzchel.  We went to the top of St Stephen’s Cathedral and visited a few other sites around the city. To be honest it was a bit grim in winter as all the gardens in the palaces were just stubs! My parents also went to an orchestra. How sophisticated!

Next up we caught a train to St Anton, a small Alpine Town famous for it’s amazing slopes and Apres ski. The train ride itself was breathtaking through the snow and the mountains. When we arrived it was -20 degrees Celsius and the snow was seriously thick, fresh and fluffy. They had just had a snow storm and we arrived just as it finished. The weather was clear and sunny for us with A LOT of snow, the timing was perfect! I don’t think I’ve ever been in temperatures that cold before but it was so dry it didn’t even feel that bad. We stayed in a house from Airbnb a short bus ride from the main town and chair lifts. It was so homely and cute, I loved it! We made our own oats every morning and drank wine around our little table overlooking a church and mountain full of snow tipped trees while my dad studied the ski field maps intricately.

Due to my injury I could’t ski so while the others hit the slopes I hobbled around the village in my moon boot. This place was so picturesque, the buildings, the trees, the streets everything. It was enchanting! The best bit though was the massive parties that start around 3pm. We hit up Mooserwirt and found a full on rave happening in the middle of the afternoon. Hoards of people bundled up in their gear drinking excessively, dancing on tables outside and inside grinding on the dance floor. It was SO much fun!

One of the highlights was getting about 3 gondolas up to the very highest view point on the mountain. The sky was crystal clear and there were jagged white mountain top peaks as far as the eye could see. We also paid a visit to the spa in St Anton. Much to our surprise the water in the pools was actually pretty cold, the only way to warm up was to go to saunas- where you weren’t allowed to not be naked! We snuck into one with our bikinis on but wow what a sight.

The trip had a bit of a sad ending with my step mum breaking her hip skiing, resulting in her and my dad needing to stay behind for an extra three weeks. Luckily the hospital there is top notch and my dad could continue to ski everyday. I also had to get myself back to London with my own broken limb! Thankfully she has now made a full recovery (as have I!).