Breakfast in Berlin, lunch in Dresden and dinner in Prague!

We left Berlin on the 6:58 am train for Prague via Dresden. We stopped over in Dresden for a few hours to see the sights. At the station we were able to leave our luggage in a locker and then we walked the 2 km through the aldstadt area (historical area) to the banks of the river Elbe.

It was a hot 30 degrees as we traipsed the cobblestoned streets and we came across a number of beautiful old reconstructed buildings. This town was severely bombed during WWII.

We walked around the museum, the baroque church Frauenkirche with its grand dome and the Zwinger palace. We stopped in the shade of the trees at Brühlsche Terrasse and took in the sights of the river along with a number of fine old buildings, including the Academy of Fine Arts and the Albertinum. We then sopped in Schlossplatz (Castle Square) for an early lunch.

We returned to the station and waited on the platform where we had gotten off the train earlier. Luckily I noticed the train pull in several carriages shorter than this mornings and we raced down the platform with our bags flying behind us. We made it! Then the train waited on the platform 10 minutes before leaving!

The trip from here was much more scenic as we travelled for the most part along the edge of the Vltava river with its little villages along the way. We arrived in Prague 30 minutes late (apparently due to the number of passengers embarking and disembarking along the way).

After trundling our bags down the stairs at the station, we found a taxi rank where the driver quoted 15 euros ($22) for the trip to our accommodation (which we knew wasn't too far). Anthony said "that a bit expensive" and the driver threw his arms in the air and walked off. Another driver directed us to another section where there were cheaper taxis (apparently these ones were private taxis?!). We walked back through the station found another taxi who suggested we walk. It was only 700 metres!

So off we took. It might have only been another 700 metres, but in the heat (37) with the luggage and with tired feet to start, it seemed much further.

Our Airbnb apartment was in a side street off Wencelas Square. We collapsed onto the lounge to recover before having a cool shower and a cool drink.

Later on we walked back down to the square for dinner. We chose 'Cafe Svateho Vaclava' and chose a seat on the square. This restaurant served Czech food accompanied by Country & Western music?! Anthony had goulash and dumplings and I had pork neck with cabbage and dumplings. The food was good, the service was good and a nice breeze cooled us down. This was obviously a tourist Mecca and I enjoyed some people watching as I sipped on my Czech wine.

After dinner we returned to our apartment past the adult shop and the Darling cabaret (with lots of photos of scantily clad young things out front: "sometimes there are 150 girls" said the sign). Hhmm.

It was still quite hot so all the windows were open to let in the breeze. About 11:30 pm I woke up. Loud voices were echoing from the street through the apartment. Yep, just our luck, "Paddy's Sports Bar" next door (open until 2am) and people were drinking in the street below our window. What a night! Too hot to close the windows and too noisy not to!