We always like to visit at least one weird thing in each city. In Vienna, it was this: http://www.wien.info/en/sightseeing/sights/from-g-to-k/museum-medical-university
In Prague, it was this: http://www.my-prague-sights.com/infant-of-prague.html
and the mummified arm here: http://www.prague.net/church-of-st-james
Is anybody knowledgeable about tracing ancestors from Bohemia? My great grandparents arrived in Boston before 1876, but I can’t find the right passenger list or the town where they lived in. I’ve tried a few websites in Czechoslovakia but haven’t gotten much information.
OMG, Hunt, you are a man after my own heart! I love, love, love old history of medicine museums with old wax anatomical models, weird specimens in jars, etc. Like you, I like to seek out those kinds of places and other oddities when I travel. You should start a thread with some of your favorites. Will add those to my list.
So Hunt, if you ever go to Budapest (not sure if you have or not) you’ll have to visit St. Stephen’s Hand.
TonyK - are your ancestors Jewish? If so, try jewishgen.org. A friend of mine is of Bohemian descent and researched her ancestry and actually met up with long lost relatives there; I’ll see if she has any sites (she is not Jewish).
Have you considered doing one of the river cruises…Viking or something like that? You hit a lot of places with that,and everyone I know has loved, loved that experience.
Pizzagirl - They were Catholic with the very common name of Novak. One US Census lists 1872 as the year my GGmother arrived. Bremen or Hamburg were likely ports they departed from.
Little did I realize that Prague might be someplace I should visit before I die as I was always told I was part-Hungarian.
Be sure and take one afternoon and get out to the country outside of Vienna (Grinzing) to visit one of the many Heurigens. These small private vineyards that set up wine gardens and it’s a lovely way to spend the evening or afternoon. Easy to reach by bus . http://www.pfarrplatz.at/en/pfarrplatz-portal-english.html
Whether someone is Hungarian or Austrian or Bohemian, or Polish or Russian for that matter, is really a question of where you “stop the clock.” My grandfather was born in XXX, Russia … which today is XXX, Poland. Which is he, Polish or Russian? Same thing with much of Eastern Europe. It’s very arbitrary. But I digress.
My trip was in November and so it was past the time to do much touring outside of Vienna although the countryside is pretty spectacular and I do hope to get back for another visit. When I went it was to see younger d in her study abroad in Vienna and the Prague was an add-on. We landed in Vienna on Friday morning, went to Prague the following Wednesday by train and flew home from Prague on Sunday, if that helps with figuring your timing.
In one week however it is hard to see/do everything you want to do although in summer the days are long so that is a plus and Vienna is never going to be as busy as a city like Paris will be. The parks in Vienna will be spectacular as will the grounds of Schoenbrunn and you will very likely come across outdoor music festivals. You do not need or want a car in Vienna as it is a very walkable city and easy to use the metro. Schoenbrunn is on the subway line as essentially at the city line or even in the city itself. Prater is fun to see to go on the ferris wheel as an homage of course to The Third Man but it is an amusement park and somewhat run down and maybe not the most essential site to see in a limited time. Just touring the Kunstmuseum, the Hapsburg Palace, the Leopold, the Belvedere and the grounds, St Stephens and some of the other churches, the Holocaust Memorial, just walking, enjoying the cafe culture and do go to either Demel or the Hotel Sacher for a pastry, the Naschmarket, the Secession architecture and the Vienna City Museum will take a good deal of time. I don’t believe that either the Statsoper, the Volksoper or the Philharmonic are in residence in the summer because of all the summer festivals… beginning with Salzburg.
Another option is to do Prague another time and do an entire Austrian trip - Vienna, Salzburg, Innsbruck, etc., etc.
@TonyK: My family is from Eastern Europe (both sides from Croatia). I started out getting information from the Ellis Island website, because I knew my mother came through Ellis Island at age 3 with her much older brother and sister (their parents had died and they were coming to this country to join an uncle). Look under every possible spelling of your family name. Here’s the Ellis Island site:
https://www.libertyellisfoundation.org/passenger
Another site that was helpful: http://familyhistoryresearch.com.au/courses/International/EastEurope.htm
We stayed at Alchymist Nosticova Palace (back when it was actually Alchymist Residence Nosticova). I’d recommend it and it gets good tripadvisor reviews. http://www.nosticova.com/en/
We thought 3 days was plenty for Prague. Go mid-week if you can and try to avoid the weekends as Prague is a BIG bachelor/stag party destination, unless you really enjoy inebriated and obnoxiously rowdy Brits.
Regarding the car rental, the one-way drop off is what adds 300 dollars. If it is more convenient to fly RT to Vienna, it might work out to rent a car and drive back and forth to Prague. The cost for a 3 day rental is below 200 dollars.
One option to weigh against the train and the flying back from Prague to ORD.
If you rent a car and drive, you can visit Cesky Krumlov in between Prague and Vienna, which will add a little driving distance but is worth a stop.
Eat one of these Trdelniks if you visit Cesky Krumlov. Yummy.
http://www.passportchop.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/trdelnik-cesky-krumlov.jpg?d0f6af
One of the stranger things I saw on that drive was when we drove through the Czech countryside approaching the Austrian border. We were in the middle of nowhere, dense forests and occasional small, run down towns. Started to see youngish girls/women standing on the side of the road literally in the middle of the woods with nothing around. Took naive me awhile to figure out that there was a big sex trade near the boarder catering to truck drivers and others crossing into the Czech Republic.
