I was in Vienna, Prague, and Budapest two years ago and loved each city. I can't help you with small hotels and train travel, but I can tell you some of the things we really enjoyed.

Vienna is wonderful. If you want to get a quick, fun overview of the city when you get there, just hop on Tram #2 (it goes all the way around the Ring). I don't know if you are an opera lover or not, but the Vienna State Opera is really special. You can get standing room tickets for about $3 each on the day of the performance, or you can take a tour of the Opera House. The art museum (Kunsthistorisches) is fabulous, and if you like palaces, you should definitely go see the Schoenbrunn Palace (just outside the city), and the Hofburg (inside the Ring). Do take advantage of the cafes, we particularly enjoyed the Cafe Demel (the rival of the Hotel Sacher for Sachertorte) and the Cafe Central (unbelievable apple strudel).

Prague is beautiful and is a great walking city. We spent most of our time there just walking all over. We especially loved the Jewish Quarter and the tours of all the synagogues. The Charles Bridge is fun and we enjoyed the Castle District too. The food was inexpensive and we had some really good meals there. Restaurace Na Porici had excellent Czech food and La Provence is an amazing French restaurant.

Budapest was a wonderful surprise. I hadn't really heard anything much about it before going and I fell in love with it instantly. I might be one of the few people who loves Budapest more than Prague. There is so much to do there and I loved exploring both Buda and Pest. They are so different from each other. It's fun to take a boat ride on the Danube and look at both sides (at night everything is all lit up). Our favorite restaurant was on the Pest side and is called Fatal, excellent and inexpensive food.

I could actually go on and on about all these places. Please let me know if you have any specific questions about any of them.

Jamie Natick, MA