November 23rd

This morning we were working our way to Old Town Square and Wenceslas Square, which is really just a street. We were in desperate need of a good map, the streets are not marked very well and so between that and a bad map we were navigating like Columbus. Thankfully we found two information offices and two maps!  For breakfast we ran across a pancake shop, they were little silver dollar size yeast batter cakes rolled in sugar and cinnamon. They were yum!

Old Town Square

Wenceslas Square (Street)

Over the last three days we have walked a marathon, yes, 26 miles. So I told Bryan that taking some trams today was a good idea. We took the #2 up to the Prague Palace and St. Vitus Cathedral. We signed up for a guided tour and had a little young lady that spoke perfect English. The beginnings of this church dates all

the way back to AD 920. The church now in exsistance started being built in 1344 and finished in 1929. Many Kings, Queens, and Archbishops are buried here including St. Wenceslas. 

This window is not stained glass, it is a painting.  

This little square is close to our apartment. Had some good mulled wine here.

November 22nd

Moving Day!

We took a plane from Munich to Prague, Czech Republic. 

Munich airport is a long train ride from the city, about 30 minutes. The airport had a skating rink and its Christmas decorations up and ready for the start of the season. 

After a smooth and quick 45 minute flight to Prague, we went to check into our apartment.    It is a big city 1.2 million, plus lots of tourists. Most tourists seem to be from Germany, Italy or France. We have not heard many that sound like they are from the U.S.  

We just went wandering around, first to the Charles bridge, built during the 1400’s. Not much bombing here during the war, so it’s bridges are old. This city is very picturesque, too bad it is so crowded, even in November. 

The one man band. 

The streets are rough cobble stone and pretty steep. This was the start of the 8 miles. It starts to get dark here really early, it is only 3:30 in these pictures and by 4:30 the street lights are on, many are gas lights.  We had to have some gingerbread cookies part way up, I was starving and they were soooo good! Praha is the Czech word for their city. 

Well worth the climb, such a pretty city from the top. 

The Prague Palace is here at the top. It wasn’t open, but the whole area around it and the church (that dates back to 1100) required a security search to enter. 

November 21st

We were up early this morning to catch a train to Dachau. I always thought that Dachau was the concentration camp only. It was a town first and now those poor folks will always have to have the stigma of being from Dachau. 

It was a cold, gloomy day here and that pretty much set the tone for Dachau. We didn’t take many pictures, not really a good place for a camera. The barracks that you wonder through begin with pre-war information and end with the liberation. Dachau was in existence for 12 long years, the longest of any of the camps. Hard to believe that it began only 80 years ago. Those who suffered through and made it out alive never want us to forget what they endured,so that it never can happen again. There were very few tourists at the camp today, most of the visitors were high school students from Germany. Victor told us it was required that all students visit the camp. 

Owen and Reid’s pumpkin carriage!

We wandered through the streets from the train station to find this palace. Nymphenburg Palace was home to many Bavarian royalty. It was built in the late 1600’s and became a museum in 1918. 

King Ludwig loved his carriages. 

Pretty tired and really hungry, we trekked back to old town to the Hofbräuhaus. It is the oldest beer house in Munich. It dates back to the 1500’s and the building that it is in now was built in 1897. I had a Radler (sweeter than we have in the states) and Bryan a dark beer. The food was good, sausages and sauerkraut.  There is a room you can see in the picture below, that keeps personal beer steins locked up for regular customers.