Getting back to my European summer adventure – after ten days throughout Ireland and Greece, it was time to wind down my summer vacation and move on to the France and Austria portions of my itinerary. It just so happened that the last day of the Greece group trip was the day before the final match of the Women’s World Cup in Lyon, France. In order to get to Lyon with enough lead time to allow for delays, I spent a little extra to fly from Paros back to Athens early Saturday morning.
I split my layover between a Priority Pass lounge in the Athens airport (it had pretty good lunch provisions!) and another lounge that I was able to access due to my business class upgrade (also good, but I think I enjoyed the first lounge more).
Lyon
Continuing to Lyon on Aegean Airlines, which I booked using Chase points in their travel portal, I caught the train into the city to stay with my friend in her adorable Airbnb. We’d decided to do a semi-fancy dinner and had a fantastic French meal at Restaurant Balthaz’art before connecting with our other friend later. The food was delicious, and the restaurant itself was adorable and intimate.
The next morning (Sunday), we wandered around Lyon in a largely unsuccessful search for breakfast. We eventually found a patisserie and gorged on delicious pastries before popping into a charcuterie shop to grab some snacks for later.
USA Soccer!
Then, we headed to a bar for the American Outlaws pre-game party ahead of the match (US vs Netherlands). It was the weirdest experience – an extremely French bar FULL of rowdy, excited American soccer fans. We’d met up with a 4th friend by then (she lives in Paris and carpooled down for the day) and split an Uber to the stadium to watch the US victory! Take a look below for some snapshots & clips of the event!
The energy in Stade de Lyon was unreal. I went a little overboard on the video clips but this is just a tiny portion of all the photos and videos I was able to get. I played soccer for most of my childhood, so getting to witness an moment like this was just incredibly special and meaningful to me.
Paris
On Monday, we caught the high-speed Ouigo train to Paris, which is kind of SNCF’s budget train option, though by west coast US Amtrak standards, I thought it was quite nice. I love European trains – that was about a 300-mile trip completed in just under 2 hours for $62! Meanwhile I am still waiting on my high-speed rail from San Francisco to Los Angeles. Le sigh.
Once in Paris, we checked into Le Dokhan’s, a beautiful Marriott property I’d booked for 35,000 Marriott points + $10, which was erased by the $300 credit on the Bonvoy Brilliant* credit card). *this is a referral link – I’ll benefit if you apply for this card using my link!
It was seriously the cutest hotel room ever. And it had practical touches, like the French smartphone provided to guests to use for the duration of the stay. I didn’t need it since I had my Roamingman wifi hotspot rental during the two weeks I was in Europe. Still, this was a really convenient guest benefit that I’d only heard about up to that point, but hadn’t yet experienced.
We made a list of foods/pastries we wanted to try, and set about in search of chocolate, croissants, and escargot en route to the Musée de l’Orangerie (one of the few museums open on a Monday afternoon).
Later, we met up with friends in Montmartre for drinks at a rooftop bar, and an excellent dinner at Café de la Butte.
Tuesday, I caught an early bus to the airport – I used Le Bus Direct, which cost 18€ and picked up about a 15-minute walk from Le Dokhans, very close to the Arc de Triomphe. I recommend it as an airport option if you’re staying in this area. There’s a network of I believe 4 bus lines that hit different parts of the city. If I’d been more in the center of the city, I think an airport train would have been easier, but for where I was, it was a relatively simple and quick option. There was a Priority Pass lounge near my gate, so I hung out there before flying to Vienna.
Vienna
In Vienna, I met up with my soror Sonia, checked into Hotel Bristol (35,000 Marriott points), which had accepted my suite upgrade request and assigned us the Bristol Suite. Once you reach 50 nights with Marriott, you have the option of getting five Suite Night Awards, which can be used with varying degrees of success to request an advanced upgrade to a suite. We were in luck for this one-night stay, and the hotel had prepared this gorgeous suite for our arrival.
Spanish Riding School
After geeking out about the amazing space, which included 2 full bathrooms, we went to our guided tour of the Spanish Riding School. I can’t recommend this place enough! It was fascinating to tour the facilities and learn about the Lipizzaner horses.
Exploring the City
After the riding school tour, we wandered and snacked our way through the shops and stalls in the area near St. Stephen’s Cathedral. I’m not a big hot dog fan but I ate some truly superior sausage and possibly the second best hot dog of my life in Vienna (I think first place still goes to a little roadside stand in Oaxaca, Mexico). Later, we found a confectionery where they were basically serving up heaven. If you’re in the area, check out SLUKA KÄRNTNERSTRASSE.
We even had time to take a peek inside the cathedral. I’ve been in a lot of majestic places of worship and they still haven’t gotten old.
Later, we went to see the Hundertwasser House, a wacky apartment building with a façade guided as much by art as by architecture. It’s located about 20-30 minutes outside the part of the city we were staying in, though we got a little mixed up with the light rail system and it took a bit longer than it should have. By pure chance, we befriended someone who actually lives in Hundertwasser House, and we were treated to a tour of the building’s interior, which is just as whimsical as the exterior. It was such a cool way to spend the evening.
Since it was getting late and Vienna didn’t seem to be very hype on late night dining options, we decided to grab food near Hundertwasser House and ended up at a great little restaurant called Kolonitz Beisl to try schnitzel. We were floored by the reasonable pricing, great portions, and tasty food. And schnitzel (bottom right) turned out to be delicious.
Wednesday before check out we decided took advantage of the hotel breakfast benefit available to elite Marriott members, and it was unbelievable. Pretty much anything you might have wanted to eat was available or could be cooked, and the breakfast lounge was all gilded/marble everything and fancy upholstery.
Toronto
Then it was off to the airport to catch my flight home, which involved a long-ish layover in Toronto. Toronto has a convenient train that goes from the airport to downtown in 25 minutes for about $10 each way, so I stored my bag at the airport and set out to see what I could see.
I spent about an hour and a half walking around the area near the train station, popping into St. Lawrence Market for some fresh oysters and fried clams before heading back to the airport to sip some free wine in the Priority Pass lounge ahead of my last flight back to San Francisco.
The cost for this part excluding food (essentially 3 flights, train, Le Bus Direct, Spanish Riding School tour, Toronto layover) was about $400 plus 13,000 Chase points and 70,000 Marriott points for 3-4 days.
Overall, was a pretty cool trip over about 2 weeks, and the total cost for all locations excluding food/spending money was roughly $2,150, paid over 6 months. It was more cash-heavy than I typically aim for, but I think I managed to do quite a lot with it, so I’m considering this a summer vacation success!
Great content! Keep up the good work!