We awoke early because this is to be our last day in Prague. We are staying at the U Pava Hotel in the new city. That means it only goes back to the 1600’s rather than earlier. This hotel is not a Rick Steve suggestion but one given to us by our friends, the Youngs and the Crofoots.  Don’t know what they did to it but it is under reconstruction today.

They all stayed here in the past so it came highly recommended…especially room 203 with it’s preferred view. Unfortunately that room was booked early but management said they’d do their best to offer something similar.

We must admit we were a bit disappointed when we entered the room. It was in what we might call the garret…possibly for the servants. The walls were slanted and it was necessary to walk in an articulated manner to keep from bumping your head.

In an upper corner was a hand-painted figure of an angel standing watch over us while we slept. The front desk had no explanation or back story for the angel over our bed. Can’t say we slept any better because we were being watched.

We were curious about the view because there was only one small dormer window far in the corner of the room. I almost laughed until Louise said, “Come here and take a look.”

The view was of the impressive fortress that overlooks Prague. It contains a church and a good sized village up there and immediately became a priority to visit. We would ask about it at the front desk.

Breakfast came first. The fare is not that different from most hotels of this size and we’ve become accustomed to eating a large breakfast, skipping lunch while touring and wait to have an early dinner.

A standard offering includes yogurt, breakfast breads (including croissants) jams, jellies, fruits of all sorts, juices, breakfast cereals, a selection of luncheon meats, assortment of cheeses and boiled eggs. Teas of all sorts are offered and coffee prepared by a machine…six or seven choices were average. It was enough to hold us until evening.

Against the advice of the desk clerk, we decided to drive the Audi up the hill…especially after she said, Oh, it’s only a short walk straight uphill. You’ll be there in no time.” Once there we found very little in the way of crowds. Perhaps they were still walking up the hill.

The smarter ones hired cars like this one. Don’t try to figure out the manufacturer. There are a lot of them and they appear to be custom made for just the purpose of porting tourists all over Prague.

Contrary to what I was led to believe, there was plenty of open parking at the fortress. Large “P” signs, meaning parking, are everywhere but the fine print usually means that it is restricted in some way. I was in the mood for a beer and pulled into an empty spot in front of a restaurant. As I got out of the car a booming voice said, “No parking allowed without a permit. You will be ticketed and towed.” I replied, “All I want is a beer and a snack.” He said, “I will let you know when they’re coming. Please sit down,” and ushered us to his outdoor cafe.

For the next hour I watched this man deftly work the passing crowd of tourists.  As they’d walk by he’d greet them in their own languages. English, Spanish, French, German, Italian and even Chinese. I asked him how he knew which language to speak. “Mostly their clothes,” he said.

“Americans are the easiest because most wear white shoes.” Looking down at my tan desert boots, I wondered how he’d picked me so easily. “You were a little tougher,” he said. No white shoes

but you’re driving a new German car with license plates issued by the factory in Ingolstadt. They are temporary and due to expire on the 6th of October which means you’re a tourist. The model of your car with a 3 liter engine is not sold in Europe which means it will go to the States.” He went on, “Besides, you got out carrying an empty coffee cup. No European man would be caught dead drinking coffee while driving his car.” I must admit, you must admire a man who knows his market that well.

To celebrate our last evening in Prague we decided to splurge and ate at the Kampa Park restaurant, right on the banks of the Voltava River near the Charles Bridge. Friend Tim Young said he and his father had eaten there several times while on business in Prague.

The food was good and well presented but It was also pricey. It was only then I remembered that Tim and his Dad were there on their expense accounts. All in all, a good experience though.

After dinner we walked along the Charles bridge with hundreds of others. Saw this statue in an inconspicuous spot just off the bridge. Guess his job is to stand there and spear the cruise boats that ply the river.

A popular thing to do for almost everyone was to rub this figure mounted on the bridge railing. My best guess is it has something to do with good luck.

Women seemed the most attracted to this action. In fact, never saw a man do it.

The early evening hours seem to be the best time to photograph statues on the bridge in silhouette. Have no idea who these figures are but they look great, don’t they?

Hollywood’s magic hour of twilight arrived while our camera was aimed at the fortress and it was ready for its closeup.

To appeal to the shutterbugs who just won’t quit because it’s dark, Prague turns the lights on their famous Charles Bridge and you could hear the camera shutters click away like crickets.

It was time to call a wrap to our visit to Prague. We went back to the U Pava (Czech for peacock) and took one long last view of the fortress at night from our “view” room. Once again, Prague was generous with illumination and gave us this wonderful sight.

Tomorrow we leave for Cesky-Krumlov. Still in Czechoslovakia but almost in Germany.

Louise and Ray

Today’s Prague is a mix of medieval and modern. Fortunate not to have been bombed or destroyed in any other way during WWII, today Prague finds itself with a foot in two worlds. On driving into the city on their version of a freeway, you can’t help but notice the effect of Communism on the shape and style of their newer buildings. High rise structures bear a strong similarity to each other, much like the tilt-up engineering buildings we see in Southern California.

On the other hand, there is Prague’s Old Town where each building also shows a similarity to the next, only this time the style is medieval-modern using block and stone technology instead of tilt-up engineering. And, that’s what everyone comes to see.

No different with us. We started out from our hotel on one bank of the Voltava River and crossed over…on foot…to old town. We joined the crowds, all shuffling and staring as they flowed through the narrow streets looking for who knows what and going who knows where.  If we wanted to see it, we had to hoof it.

We had to be careful of a beggar lying prostrate on the street.  It was either step on or over him.  Louise dropped a few coins to help the guy get a square meal.

She must have put him over the top because he put on his backpack and melded into the crowd.

 

Most of old town Prague’s architecture is in the Gothic or Baroque style. The building facades must reflect the architectural trends of the time, or perhaps the owners just wanted to be different. What ever the reason, they’re still with us today.

You can walk only so far before its time to stop and have a drink. Having a place to sit is more like it. We did that also.

We just followed the crowd as they gawked at goods in the shop windows that we could easily match back in the U.S.

Just looking at the sidewalk signs tells you the something about the history of Prague. This appears to be in Russian or some other language of Slavic origin.  No surprise what with the city’s recent experience with Communism.

Another sign reminded us that we’d purchased tickets for a Mozart/Dvorak concert this evening. Certainly don’t want to come to Prague without sopping up some of the cultural events.

One of our goals this morning was to locate the concert hall so we wouldn’t be searching in the dark tonight. It is called the Municipal House, not a very romantic name for a performance hall, but the exterior looks like anything but municipal.

The scenery was spectacular if you took the age into consideration. At one point we stood under the Orloj astrological clock, built in 1410, that gives all sorts of information, including the time.

It was a wonder to see and does mechanical trickery hourly. Since it performs on the hour, and that had just passed, we decided to move on to the Old Town Square.

The slow but surging crowd finally reached the Old Town Square where 14th century architecture is in full bloom. Of course there are municipal buildings along with churches on the square plus the buskers we’ve come to expect in all European cities.

Usually these are one-man bands but this group put together quite a number of musicians doing their best to collect our loose change.

Others chose to go it alone with one man acts like this puppet in a buggy. The face is real and belongs to a performer who spends all day sitting in a cramped position trying to make a few Korunas.

This guy used bubble blowing as a device to attract funding. It drove the kids nuts when they tried to catch the floating spheroids that came from his magic wand. Of course, they blew up in their faces but they always came back for more.

Even Louise got caught up in the fun but let the kids do the running and catching.

There is a statue in the square that is not dedicated to a historical or political figure, but was commissioned to honor the spirit of art. There were a lot of community suggestions on what the spirit of art should look like and I think the artist finally said, “What the hell,” and came up with something that included all of their suggestions but that nobody really liked. The design was approved and stands today.

That evening we took the subway to a restaurant for a light meal before the concert. The drifting crowds still passed by on their way to the Old Town Square.

The whole tenor of the central square was changed at night. The crowds were pouring in for relaxation and to just hang out, possibly waiting for something to happen. We never knew if anything did happen because we were off to enjoy a little Mozart and Dvorak.

It was not a concert by a world famous orchestra with scads of recordings to its credit. Instead we listened to a string octet that came on stage and played its heart out for an hour…period. Oh, there was the perfunctory encore and that was it. I waited till the audience had cleared somewhat to take this photo of the impressive interior.

Just after I clicked the the shutter the lights went out and we were shooed from the hall. Classical music had received its due and now it was time to go home. After all, they had to do it all over again tomorrow.

And so ended our first day in Prague. There’s more to come so follow us through day two in the capital of the Czech Republic.

Louise and Ray

Driving to Prague was easier than one could expect. We resumed our now expected 100+ MPH on the autobahn and only knew we’d crossed into Czechoslovakia when the top speed dropped to 120 KPH (approx 74 MPH) and the roadsigns displayed language with a lot of accents and missing a lot of vowels.  No border guards, no passport showings, no Carnet de Passage books, no passport stamps…nothing.

Schatzie, our GPS, was not fazed by the change in language, speed limit or road smoothness. To her it was a piece of cake. We were sailing along when the warning signs signaled a detour. The autobahn had come to a sudden end. She deftly moved us along with left and right turns until we passed the same brewery we had passed earlier. Only after we’d passed the brewery for the third time did we suspect there was a problem. Basically, we were in a mobius loop with little hope of emerging. No amount of resetting the GPS for Prague seemed to work.

After quickly exhausting our own solutions, we pulled into a service station with the presumption someone would know the local roads and conditions. There were at least nine people in the cashier line when I asked in a loud, but friendly voice, “Does anyone here speak English?” The room grew suddenly quiet, like I’d said something really improper in the Czech language. Some looked at the ceiling, others stared at their shoes while the remainder shook their heads slowly.

I showed them the Garmin GPS map display and they all laughed because they were familiar with that detour. It started a spirited discussion on how to solve the problem of the confused GPS that didn’t know another way to Prague. All were speaking at once when the the cashier finally took command and entered a different name into the GPS. His idea, communicated by gestures, penciled arrows and hand waving, was to fool Schatzie by asking for directions to a nearby town on a back road to Prague. On arrival at that town, we had only to change the direction to Prague. The group applauded the clever solution but we went on our way with a certain amount of trepidation.

Well, it worked! An outsmarted Schatzie guided us in to Prague well before sunset, giving us time to explore the Charles Bridge that crosses the Voltava River.

It is now a pedestrian pathway that seems to draw an unreal amount of people going nowhere and in no hurry to get there. We plan to walk it again tomorrow to find a reason for the attraction.

We offer you a friendly “Ahoj” from Prague.

Louise and Ray

Leaving Berlin and Tempelhof Airport behind, we cruised over the ever-smooth roads of the German autobahn toward Dresden…at one time a most unlucky city. Between 13 and 15 February 1945, almost 4,000 tons of high explosive and incendiary devices were dropped on Dresden destroying the center of the city and killing almost 25,000 citizens.

It was considered by many as an unnecessary strike that succeeded in obliterating a cultural landmark of little or no military significance. The debate goes on today but what is done is done.

Much of that has been undone though. Almost everything you see here was damaged or destroyed by that raid and has been rebuilt to the original design…many times using the same building stones.

One outstanding example is the Frauenkirchen (Church of Our Lady,) a church that became prominent in the reformation. It was destroyed in those awful bombing nights and was left by the Communist regime as an example to the German people.

Reconstruction began in 1994 and was completed in 2004. It, too, was rebuilt to match the original plans and fire-blackened stones were reassembled using a plan somewhat akin to a jigsaw puzzle.

Standing in a prominent spot, just in front of the church, is a statue of Martin Luther. The Frauenkirchen was his home church from whose pulpit he announced his radical ideas that changed the face of religion up to today.

Today Luther is visited daily by tourists with their cameras and serenaded by various forms of musicians and their instruments, One we had never seen before was this guy playing popular music from a grand piano right out in the open.

Along with the usual bucket or hat for tips, he had a little stand that sold his CD’s and his piano appeared to be sponsored by Facebook. To add a little class while playing, he wore white gloves.

I wanted to stick around to watch him strike his piano at the end of the day, but we had to move on. I wanted to see if he disassembled it at the end of the day or loaded it onto a pickup truck. I’m still curious.

We located another Evi and Michael Stadler recommended restaurant. The Sofienkeller is located very near the church and apparently very popular.

We filed down a curving staircase and came upon women, in costume, preparing the evening’s fare. It was 7:45 PM and we had to promise the maitre dame that we’d be finished by 9:00 PM since the table was promised. Didn’t seem like much of a challenge until we were seated.

It was one of those cozy theme restaurants that not only offered reasonable meals but wandering entertainment.

Several musicians in medieval costumes floated about the room singing popular German drinking songs. At the appropriate moment the entire restaurant would hoist their been steins and break into song. This went on almost until our time ran out. It was a great evening…full of gemütlich. Pardon the soft focus but I didn’t want to spoil the mood with a flash…and we did get out on time so Anglo-German relations are secure.

We returned to the Hotel Martha Dresden for a good night’s sleep under the feather blankets we’ve become accustomed to.

This is another Rick Steve recommendation, and as usual, a good value for the money. One thing, that seems to be inconsistent in many small hotels, is the WiFi. All claim to have it but it doesn’t always reach your room. Leaving the elevator, we saw kids lounging on a hallway couch playing with their phone devices. After futilely trying to reach the internet to do the latest Blog insert, I found myself sharing that couch with them. Not surprisingly, they were American teenagers who were bored stiff while traveling Europe with their parents.

Breakfast at these small hotels varies but the hotel Martha Dresden put out a pretty good spread. Good selection of everything and we took advantage of that.

 

The best part, for us, was a table on their glassed in patio. The weather was a little rainy but we were warm, comfortable and dry behind glass.

Next we head to Czechoslovakia and the capitol city of Prague. We’ll brush up on our Czech in the car.

Louise and Ray

We realize you cannot do a world capital justice in just three days but we gave it our best in Berlin. Time to move on, but on our way out, we took the time for one last look.

Another outstanding reminder of the terribleness of World War II is prominent in a revitalized Berlin. The remains of the Kaiser Wilhelm Church stand as a monument to the futility of that war or any war. Karin Berning, our girl in Berlin, says the tower wrapped in scaffolding belongs to another church and is under renovation.  Both are located on the Kurfurstendamm, the street ordained by the Axis powers to be an extravagant display of Western commercialism, progress and beauty.

And so it remains today even as the Unter den Linden struggles to rebuild itself as a retail showcase of the new Berlin.

Another relic with a once stellar past is the now defunct Tempelhof Airport in an area of Berlin that grew to, and ultimately swallowed, a monument of the earliest days of aviation…1923 to be exact.  Tempelhof came to my attention early in my youth when it served as the home base for the Berlin Airlift.

From April 1948 to May 1949 Russia closed all supply rates, either by truck or rail, to Berlin. The reason was pretty simple. They wanted to remove the other Allied powers who were occupying Berlin and the easiest way was to starve them out….or so they thought. The Allies responded with an airlift, that at its best, brought in more supplies than was ever carried before. The Russians finally accepted the futility of their efforts and re-opened all ground access to the city. The airport labored on until 2008. when it was decommissioned.

While the city fathers debated on what to do with this suddenly vacant chunk of real estate, the populace made their wishes known by streaming in to use the open space for recreation purposes such as picnics and soccer games. But Tempelhof is still in the flying business, just not the jet type. On our visit, the sky was full of kites of all sizes and the crowds it drew could not be discounted.

But her day on the world scene may happen again…sooner than later. The recent influx of Syrians refugees is streaming into the country. The buildings are empty and there is plenty of vacant land so why not house them there? So, once again, Tempelhof Airport may become the home base of people who have suffered oppression and brutality of their own land and are looking for a safe place to land. Just goes to show, you can’t keep a good girl down.

We’re off to Dresden. Auf wiedersehn Berlin.

Louise and Ray, on the road again.