Dresden - Berlin

And we're off to Berlin! On the way our train stopped in Dresden for a transfer so we decided to stay for a few hours. We actually met someone in Budapest who was from Dresden, and we ran into her here!!! It was a fantastic coincidence. I realized 10 minutes after we parted that I should have gotten a picture of us together!! Such a shame. :(

Ate some of my fruit! Turns out what I thought was candied pineapple was actually ginger, so Andrea got most of that. Still don't know what the red stuff is, but it tastes good.

THE TRAMS IN GERMANY HAVE TICKET MACHINES ON THE TRAM. Like, ON the tram!!! So convenient!!!

Stop lights are fun. ^_^

Got some ice cream while wandering

I got cookies and cream, which is called something fancy in French here

Apparently one of the largest porcelain artworks in the world?!? Shows procession of rulers of Saxony.

I liked this clock tower. The clock has pretty colors.

Giant fountain!

Thought Anna would like this fish.

View into the courtyard.

We finally got to Berlin later that night, and made it to the Heart of Gold hostel, themed on Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy. We went out to eat and plan for tomorrow, and Gerd was VERY excited to finally get some Asian food.

He's just so happy.

We decided we're doing a 4.5 hour walking tour tomorrow, and we have a few things we can do from there depending on where we end up. I'm really excited to learn some of the history here, and there is just so much to learn about, we won't have nearly enough time. But hopefully the tour will be good and we can soak up some learning!

Vysehrad

In our last day in Prague we decided to go south down the river to a castle/church area called Vysehrad. Apparently this is where the first pagan settlers settled down in Prague, and the area is full of history. I loved the museum and the grounds were fantastic to walk around. The walk was beautiful and the view was probably the best we've had in a city full of amazing views.

Random sculpture along the road on the way

More river pictures!

On the way we saw the "dancing building." We don't really know what it is or why it was designed that way, but it was really interesting and fun to laugh at. They were having an erotic comics display there as we were passing by....

And we stopped at a cat café! Of course. This was a pay by the hour place with four cats, and you get wifi, x-box, tea, coffee and cookies, and quality time with some adorable cat, so be prepared for a bunch of pictures.

We were greeted at the door

The café had some great decor

Coffee!!!

The owners personal assistant, Kenzo

The newbie of the family, Beatrice

They're all adorable, all of them.

We passed by a tiny farmers market type thing on our way, but had little change. It was still open when we came back, so I bought a bunch of dried fruit, including some roselle and kumquats!

vegetable stand, one of about 4 stands there

Made it!

We made it to the grounds and spent some time learning about the history, wandering around, reading placards and wondering about random things like when the statues were built and why there was a cleared area going down the center of the path. The cemetery in this area is a very honorable place to be buried, and is the final resting place of many famous names, including Alphonse Muchas and Antonin Dvorak.

Beautiful church

I just really liked this door??!

Probably our favorite view in Prague.

I really liked the statues. Couldn't really tell how old they were, though I think they're fairly new.

Stopped in the museum and learned all kinds of cool folklore and history.

After we'd had our fill we walked back up the river and through Wenceslas Square one last time. Bought my dried fruit and prepared for the next day of traveling.

Roselle, with and without sugar

Charles IV's favorite beer

I don't have many pictures from Tuesday, so I am combining Tuesday and Wedneday together. Tuesday was basically going up to the castle and back, wandering around Old Town, trying to get into the "most beautiful library in the world" the Klementinum, and failing because of confusing directions and angry library ladies, and it ended in going to "the best coffee in Prague" at Cafe Louvre.

Charles Bridge in the morning

Interesting tree sculpture at the Klementinum

Cafe Louvre cappuccino

Andrea's ice cream and turkish coffee

Literally the BEST cheesecake I have ever tasted, with apricot in it. 

Wednesday started at a mini mart for some sick people supplies, meandered through town to get to a monastary, then ended up at the Klementinum (finally.)

The persimmons and advocados look so elongated??!

We stopped to examine some of the strange statues on Charles Bridge

We stopped at the Lennon Wall, which was apparently a place of youth expression under communism, but now is just a place for people to graffiti legally.

There is a lot of beatles on this wall.

We then wandered through Petrin Park looking for the Strahov monastery - an interesting historical monument where they brew their own beer (which apparently was a favorite with the city' favorite monarch, Charles IV.

The park is full of orchards and gardens, and is huge with really confusing paths.

We saw some of our best views from this park with the trees in the foreground.

Andrea was really excited about how fall-like it was

We accidentally made it to the highest point in the park, with a small church, a lookout tower, and some nice walking areas.

You can see all of old town and the castle

I love this area, it's fantastic location with tons of walkways and little hidden areas

We finally found our way to the monastery, and spent some time reading informational signs, before searching for somewhere to eat and try the beer.

Saw this interesting car....

Interesting description of the place we went to eat.

Beautiful old wine cellar

We all tried different beers, and they were all pretty good. Gerd's blueberry beer was pretty fantastic.

We had amazingly juicy pig knuckles

On our way back to town we passed through the castle again, and came across a crowd blocking the way, so decided to stay and see what it was about. It took about half an hour, but we ended up seeing the president as he came out for a small ceremony at the statue. Apparently he was going to give a speech at 8pm, for the czech independance day.

The president!

We finally got into the klementinum by booking a tour. It was absolutely gorgeous inside. Unfortunately we cannot take pictures in the main library area, but it was definitelythe prettiest library I've ever seen.

Mirror Chapel, where they were preparing for a concert

Stairs for using the quadrants. The steps can fold up so you can use whichever is the top step for a seat

View from the top of the astronomical tower

And with this I have caught up to today. I have one more day of Prague to post, and then we're moving on to Berlin!