Friday 17 August 2018

Dresden

We were all in good spirits as we left Berlin and settled down for the 2.5 hour drive to Dresden. Filip, as usual, woke us up with Jitterbug an hour or so into the journey. He entertained us with a history lesson about the early days of the city. When we arrived he orientated us and pointed out points of interest we could visit and then we were left to explore on our own. We were instructed to be back at the meeting place by 12:30 sharp!

Lolz and I walked around and took photos of the cathedral, palace and the church of Our Lady.

The ‘Furstenzug’ or Procession of Princes is the large mural that depicts the rulers of Saxony. It was painted between 1871 and 1876 to celebrate the 800th anniversary of the Wettin Dynasty.

Frauenkirche (The church of Our Lady) looked interesting so we decided to climb the 127 steps to the top of the dome. Laurie had to pay €7 but because I’m old I got to pay only €5 😀 The Church was built in the 18th century but was bombed during the Second World War. The ruins were left for 50 years before being rebuilt using many of the original bricks mixed with new ones. The dark bricks are the old ones.

The views were stunning.

We also went into the church to admire it in all its beauty. It does give it a peaceful and calming feel when a church has beautiful frescos.

It was hot in Europe today – just saying,I don’t mind the heat but some of our group found it quite exhausting.

Lolz and I found a shady pavement restaurant that wasn’t crowded with people. Usually I choose a restaurant that is busy and the patrons are eating. It’s a good indication that the food is good. But we liked the menu of Maredo which looked smart but was not at all well patronized, so we took a chance. It was a good choice! Lolz ordered the house salad and I had mozzarella cheese, tomatoes and basil pesto – both totally delicious. Mine came with slices of baguette which I didn’t eat and Lolz had garlic bread. We also shared a large bottle of ice cold sparking water.

We then made our way back to the meeting place. Gary caught up with us and said, ‘so glad I’m seeing you as I am completely lost!’

‘Me too,’ I replied. ‘But Lolz knows where she is in space! Just follow her!’

Well it turned out that one of our party did get lost and we had to wait half an hour before she turned up. I really felt sorry for her as it could just as easily have been me! I told her to stick with us in future.

Prague

It was another hour and a half to Prague. We checked in, had a short break and then Joshi drove us to meet our walking guide who took us on a two hour orientation walk of the beautiful historic city. Once again stories of the communist regime stirred up emotions. Our guide took us chronologically through the sections of the city. She said she loved all of it but her heart lay in the old city.

After our walk we were taken to The Railway Restaurant which has a 400m miniature railway running around the restaurant, with trains delivering drinks to your table. It was great fun.