VIENNA / BRATISLAVA – Capital cities Week-end on 30th April 2010

See the majestic opulence of VIENNA / and simple beauty of BRATISLAVA
Capital cities Week-end AUSTRIA & SLOVAKIA on 30th April 2010 4 days 3 nights
Need to make bookings on EASYJET <http://www.easyjet.com/>  currently [approx £61 return]
30th April 2010 Gatwick Flight No 5357 Leaving 6.40 am arriving Vienna 9.55
Returning on  Monday 3rd May Flight No 5360 21.00 pm landing 22.20 Gatwick
Suggest people book above flights whilst they are cheap and confirm to me once you have booked.

Hotel  bookings have been made for 3 nights at The Stephanie €156 euros per night double [single €110] includes kosher breakfast and at The Hotel Mercure Centrum [€99 single and double breakfast extra €15] both located close to Jewish quarter and Synagogue.

Friday 30th April
11.30am   Soon after arrival we will have a 2 and a half hour Walking tour of Jewish Vienna by professional guide Eleonore Neubacher leaving from Mercure Hotel. We will be visiting the memorial at JudenPlatz followed by medieval synagogue remains at museum and hearing why Vienna became the 3rd biggest Jewish city in Europe after Warsaw and Budapest. You will learn the history and influence of great Austrian Jews and the impact they have had. We will then cross the river Danube to district 2 the fast growing Jewish quarter of shuls and kosher delis and supermarkets stopping for lunch at Bachur-Tov kosher meat restaurant. Afternoon option of visiting another Jewish museum or the abundance of other museums [Freud / Mozart] or palaces or indeed sample the exclusive shopping on offer in this richly diverse city.

7.30pm  Walk to City Temple Synagogue [only shule to survive Kristalnacht] for evening service & Kabbalah Shabbat followed by diner in the Alef Alef restaurant [cost is €30 euro’s pp]

Saturday 1st May
Shabbos service at 9am at City Temple Synagogue at No 4 Seitenstettengasse  followed by kiddush and lunch for those that have pre-booked in the Alef Alef restaurant.

This is also a free day to relax and walk and experience the grand splendour of the parks and museum districts at your leisure

Sunday 2nd May
9am We will leave hotel at 8am to catch 8.30 am Twin City Liner from the jetty on the Danube river near our hotel to take the high speed catamaran for the 1 and a quarter hour journey to the centre of Bratislava. We will be met by Maros Borsky our guide who is involved in the restitution of Jewish heritage in Slovakia. He will take us to the cemetery where the famous rabbi and Tzadik Chatam Sofer is buried, a truly moving experience.  Following this we continue to visit the Jewish museum and learn about the Slovakian Jewish history and their own wartime devastation. We visit the Synagogue and the community centre and join the community for Lag B Omer BBQ.

Thereafter free time to stroll the many pedestrian streets and squares in this very compact peaceful and beautiful city before we take the 6.30pm catamaran back to Vienna.

Monday 3rd May
9am - Final day Group visit to the magnificent Schonbrunn Palace former summer home of Empress Maria Teresa family and various Hapsburg rulers with visits to other highlights of Vienna including Spanish riding school and Jewish cemeteries and sites of significance.

Free afternoon before we gather at 6.30 at Hotel for transport back to Airport for 9pm flight home

Please confirm to me once flights booked so I can reserve your hotel room After Flight cost the hotel charges per double at 4 star* Stephanie Hotels €156 with breakfast €110 single or 4 star *Mercure Hotel 99Euros no breakfast. In addition must be added the cost for airport transfers, mini-coach trips, guides, Catamaran Transport to Bratislava €60 euros return, and museum entries divided by the final numbers on the trip and based on a full mini-coach this will be about £245 pp. Food cost has not been incorporated into above estimated costing.