Highlights E Europe Day 15

Day 15 – Thursday, May 13, 2010 – Dresden, Germany – Prague, Czech Republic and Prague Night City Tour

Our departure was later today, we had until 9:00 to be on the bus. Breakfast at the Hilton was wonderful as usual with such a variety of choices. Gennie who is usually a “breakfast skipper” found a delicious piece of chocolate cherry cake!

I took a weather reading as we waited for everyone milling about. The temperature was 56º and the humidity was 74%.

The journey today took us to ‘Florence on the Elbe’, beautiful Dresden and then on to Prague in the Czech Republic. We reviewed our daily itinerary and Eva showed us the map of our route. She also passed around a sign up sheet so we will be able to share e-mail addresses with our new friends from the trip.

At 10:30 we made a comfort stop for a coffee and a break for Paul. While we were waiting Gennie looked for four leaf clovers as she often does and found 7 of them, her all time personal best…

After leaving the coffee shop at 11:00 we continued through lush green and bright yellow fields and many small villages. Eva gave us information about the tragic history of Dresden, the capital of Saxony which survived the war until February of 1945.

At that time the Allies bombed the city where many civilians; women, children and aid workers had congregated to escape previous air raids. Over 150,000 victims were buried in mass graves having been killed by the fire bombs.

The city has been totally rebuilt, with a modern new section and the painstaking restoration of the old town center. Eva gave us an orientation of the city and then we had two hours to explore on our own.

We saw the royal palace, the 18th Century Cathedral, and the Procession of Princes; a huge mosaic mural of famous men of the Saxon Empire painted on Meissen Porcelain. Lunch was in a small pretzel shop and then we wandered across the main street into the new section of town where we found a lively Father’s Day and Spring Market.

Stands were set up around the square selling beer, pretzels, beer, sausages, beer, and sauerkraut; did I mention the beer was flowing freely? We thought we might be the only tourists who had found this colorful fair, but Rich and Ursula from our tour were also walking around and enjoying the local festivities.

Back on the bus at 2:00, we left Dresden, wishing we could have had more time here. Eva promised that if we liked Dresden, we would love Prague and it would be even more spectacular!

We crossed the seamless border from Germany into the Czech Republic at about 2:30. Even thought there were no formal borders, we could immediately see that the roads were not as good and the land was not as well cultivated. The land was much hillier, covered in dark forests.

Eva began to describe Prague and the Czech Republic giving us a brief history before we began our in-depth city tour tomorrow. Prague has been the political, cultural, and economic center of the Czech state for over 1100 years.

She showed us maps of the Old Town from the 12th Century and the New Town built in the 15th Century. And as a reminder to all of us, she emphasized to be very careful as pick-pockets are notorious here in the city.

Our dinner at the hotel was early at 6:00 because of the city tour optional that began at 7:30. Paul, another Paul, our city guide, met us on the bus and we began our tour of the city.

We drove to the top of the city and walked to the Norbertine Monastery built in 1140. We had a fantastic panoramic view of the city in the early evening light.

Back on the bus we drove to the Restaurace na Klárove where we had wine, beer, or a soda and listened to a very talented accordion player who entertained us with Czech selections.

We started walking again through the back cobble stone streets of Prague. Winding our way through the old town we came to the famous Charles Bridge.

As we crossed the bridge Paul pointed out the illuminated buildings along the way. Just as we were half way over the bridge, we heard a tremendous explosion.

Below the bridge on a flat barge men were setting off fireworks! We stopped and watched the brilliant light show for a full 15 minutes. Trying to catch them on camera was a trick! Eva has spared no expense to make this trip perfect for us!

On our way back to the bus, we walked another 20 minutes and remarked that we should have had our pedometers on this trip as we are getting in some good treks – this makes up for the long bus rides, so it works out well.

We arrived back at the hotel at 10:30 and finished the journal and posted the events for the day. Tomorrow is another long say so we finally got to bed at 11:30.

Hotel: Hilton Prague (Buffet Breakfast / Dinner)

what a wonderful finale to a wonderful trip! how about you bring Eva along on your AK trip to provie the verbal narration, 'cuz OUR "narrative" will be pretty much handled by the beautiful, self-describing scenery:)! looking forward to seeing you!

I loved Prague! Always wanted to go back and spend some more time there.

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