Day 162, 13 December 2012. Auf Wiedersehen Nuremberg (Germany). Hello Prague (Czech Republic) - On the road again... just can't wait to get on the road again... It's Travel Day! We were sad to farewell our lovely flo-tel this morning (M.S. Sound of Music). Sad to farewell new friends too but happy to have several joining us on the bus to Prague for a couple of days. Stunningly sunny day - thick snow on the ground and blue sky - gorgeous - starting to get very keen to step into our skis and get going - only a week until we get on board the ski train from London to the French Alps - wow. Other wow factors is the fact we're on a German highway with BMWs and Mercedes cars zipping past us. Slightly alarming is that in 2,000 m there is the Autobahnkirche.... Is that to thank god you survived the Autobahn... or to ask for forgiveness for the speed you're about to do? Oops - just crossed the border - loving the European Union and the borderless travel. Just left the Bavarian Forest. And entered the Bohemian Forest. Looking frightfully similar at this point - must be the tonne of snow covering everything. We arrived about 1 pm and immediately launched ourselves into the back streets to find a somewhere with low prices and locals - mission accomplished and full of stroganoff and dumplings for about €5 we continued on. We have a bus/walking tour tomorrow - so just had a look around town today - mulled wine at Republic Square - fur coats everywhere, fur hats more so. Nipped into the Municipal House - sounds like a bureaucratic office block but actually a gorgeous theatre -
Mozart/Beethoven/Tchaikovsky scheduled for tonight with the Prague Symphony Orchestra and 3 soloists. For only 600 Czech Crowns (or $30 between us) we secured tickets. We were starting to run on empty by that stage - energy - not food, so had a brief respite at our hotel before heading to the symphony. Which was superb. It is something we are really appreciating in central Europe - specifically those parts who haven't moved to the Euro - it's affordable. We particularly enjoyed the symphony because it was not contrived and put on for tourists - possibly 95% of the audience were residents of the city. Big sleep required. Huge. As much as possible. 9 am tour pickup in the morning. Counting England, we're now in the 5th country in 10 days! Even by our standards, that's scarily impressive - no wonder - it's well past the bedtime of us folks Not Being Grownups!