8th January - Dresden-Prague
Trip Start
Dec 26, 2008
1
13
28
Trip End
Jan 26, 2009
Prague,
Bohemia,
Czech Republic
Thursday, January 8, 2009
We walked back through the Neustadt and Altstadt and into the courtyard of the Zwinger, which was very impressive, then back to the train station via the Jack Wolfskin shop, which we had to look at since every second German is wearing something with Jack Wolfskin emblazoned on it, and a toy shop where we tried in vain, again, to find something with the Tiger Duck on it (Penny) and a soft frisbee (Darren)
Across the Elbe
. It seems we may have been victims of the changing fashions in children's toys, and maybe neither is popular anymore. A shame.We arrived back at the train station in time for a quick snack before catching our 1.10 train. We were already thinking Dresden probably deserved a return visit at some stage even before we travelled through the scenery between Dresden and the German border, which was absolutely stunning. Some of the small towns included Pirna, Obervogelgesang (Upper Birdsong, if you don't mind), Stadt Wehlen, Koenigstein, and Bad Schandau, the German border town. All are set along the river and with probably six inches of snow on them, just looked so beautiful. All are within 30 minutes of Dresden and seem to be on an S-Bahn line. We would definitely like to go back and visit them.
Soon afterwards the train announcements began to be in a language Penny couldn't understand, and we had arrived in the Czech Republic.
We arrived at Prague station a short while later and watched some little Americans struggle under the weight of their enormous backpacks as they struggled to prepare themselves to get off the train.
Dresden centre
We readied ourselves much more quickly.Prague station is nothing to write home about but the instructions about where everything is are quite clear. We found the information section, after being accosted by one of the Americans who wanted to know where the centre of town was, and bought our tram tickets (after queuing behind some poor guy whose PIN didn't work on his credit card). We located the tram station and caught the number 17 into town, along the river and past the Charles Bridge, past the dancing building and to Vyton stop where we consulted our instructions and found our way to the B&B.
Max heartily greeted as with some information sheets and showed us to our room. By room I mean apartment. It is quite spacious and has pretty much everything. Max offered to show us some restaurants, the supermarket and where an ATM is, which we agreed to. It was mightily cold and even Max commented it was much colder than usual. After he had given us a brief but very useful tour, including pointing out an example of cubist architecture, we went to the supermarket and picked up some supplies. Unfortunately we had to return shortly afterward after Darren had grabbed some buttermilk instead of normal milk. It was nice to be able to make ourselves a cup of tea in the small kitchen
Frauenkirche
.We had a bit of a rest and then went out for dinner at a restaurant recommended by Max. It serves a good range of local foods and beers and is set in a room that looks like a library with full wall library shelves stocked with books at either end of the room.
Darren had the Bohemia plate with an assortment of duck and pork with red cabbage, dumplings and bread while Penny had duck. Both were washed down with the local Pilsener beer and it was all fabulous.
We tramped back home through the cold, being careful not to slip on the ice, and arrived safely back to our nice warm apartment.
