And so it was time to say goodbye to the folks and make my way to Dresden, about 2 hours by train from Berlin. My hostel was in what seemed to be in a bit of a 'trendy' district of the city - it had a good feel to it. I spent the afternoon walking around the city, but didn't see much until the following day when I started by going into the city museum.
Dresden got obliterated towards the end of WWII. Most of the city was destroyed, and most of what is seen in it today has been rebuilt over the years. Which gives it a bit of a funny, surreal feel. Most notable is the main Cathedral, which has one small section of original standing wall, where as the rest of it is fairly shiny new blocks. The city really does have some grand old buildings though. I would be intrigued to know how many of them had actually been rebuilt or not.
For lunch I tried my first doner kebap - even though it wasn't in Berlin. Similar to Aus ingredients, except with red cabbage and garlic sauce, and it's served in a kind of folded pita bread. Pretty filling for $5. My second night there I sampled the great German trend of drinking on the street. It's perfectly legal, and next to the pubs and kebab shops are little stores selling half litre bottles of beer for around $2 each. It creates a nice, interesting atmosphere that you can't really experience in Australia.
I managed to get the wrong train to Prague the next day - but at least it was in the right direction and so I spent 2hrs in a boring little town on the Elbe waiting for the right one. It took me awhile to find my hostel in Prague - which turned out to be a converted sports complex (~50 beds in one room!) on an Island. Maybe it was more than just the hostel, but I just didn't feel good and proceeded to spend the evening walking around to a bunch of hostels all over the city, before finally booking myself into another one for my last couple of nights there.
Day one started with seeing the Prague Castle, where I picked up my new trick of always buying student tickets. It saved me a whole lot on sights over the weeks! I spent 4 nights in Prague and saw heaps, too much to go through. The thing that really took me about Prague is the old buildings. Every other Euro city I'd been to thus far had beautiful old buildings, but often surrounded by fairly recent structures - in Prague you can walk for blocks and blocks and not veer off a cobblestoned street, and always be surrounded by classic, original buildings.
I started sampling what I could of Czech food here, too. Which included the staple meal of beef goulash served with bread dumplings. Also good to have with the excellent beers was the pickled camembert. As for price - I was surprised to find that it wasn't actually as cheap as anticipated. Yes, a little cheaper than Western Europe, but it is a real tourist destination, to the point that I was glad to leave it when I did, and prices reflect that.
On my last night there I went to a recital by members of the Czech Philharmonic in their 'home', the Rudolfinum (said to have the best acoustics of all concert halls in Prague). They played a bunch of classic classics, some of course composed by Prague composers Smenanov and Dvorak. Perhaps not as relaxing as an Iron Maiden concert (they'd played in Prague the night before) it was beautiful to hear/see. The highlight of Prague for me was the Municipal House. This was built at the start of the 20th century as a reflection of sorts of the growing Czech National Revival. The new Czechoslovak Republic was announced from its balconies in 1918 - before this they had been part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. I have never seen a building so immaculately decked out, with attention paid to every detail. You have to see it to believe it.
Dresden got obliterated towards the end of WWII. Most of the city was destroyed, and most of what is seen in it today has been rebuilt over the years. Which gives it a bit of a funny, surreal feel. Most notable is the main Cathedral, which has one small section of original standing wall, where as the rest of it is fairly shiny new blocks. The city really does have some grand old buildings though. I would be intrigued to know how many of them had actually been rebuilt or not.
For lunch I tried my first doner kebap - even though it wasn't in Berlin. Similar to Aus ingredients, except with red cabbage and garlic sauce, and it's served in a kind of folded pita bread. Pretty filling for $5. My second night there I sampled the great German trend of drinking on the street. It's perfectly legal, and next to the pubs and kebab shops are little stores selling half litre bottles of beer for around $2 each. It creates a nice, interesting atmosphere that you can't really experience in Australia.
I managed to get the wrong train to Prague the next day - but at least it was in the right direction and so I spent 2hrs in a boring little town on the Elbe waiting for the right one. It took me awhile to find my hostel in Prague - which turned out to be a converted sports complex (~50 beds in one room!) on an Island. Maybe it was more than just the hostel, but I just didn't feel good and proceeded to spend the evening walking around to a bunch of hostels all over the city, before finally booking myself into another one for my last couple of nights there.
Day one started with seeing the Prague Castle, where I picked up my new trick of always buying student tickets. It saved me a whole lot on sights over the weeks! I spent 4 nights in Prague and saw heaps, too much to go through. The thing that really took me about Prague is the old buildings. Every other Euro city I'd been to thus far had beautiful old buildings, but often surrounded by fairly recent structures - in Prague you can walk for blocks and blocks and not veer off a cobblestoned street, and always be surrounded by classic, original buildings.
I started sampling what I could of Czech food here, too. Which included the staple meal of beef goulash served with bread dumplings. Also good to have with the excellent beers was the pickled camembert. As for price - I was surprised to find that it wasn't actually as cheap as anticipated. Yes, a little cheaper than Western Europe, but it is a real tourist destination, to the point that I was glad to leave it when I did, and prices reflect that.
On my last night there I went to a recital by members of the Czech Philharmonic in their 'home', the Rudolfinum (said to have the best acoustics of all concert halls in Prague). They played a bunch of classic classics, some of course composed by Prague composers Smenanov and Dvorak. Perhaps not as relaxing as an Iron Maiden concert (they'd played in Prague the night before) it was beautiful to hear/see. The highlight of Prague for me was the Municipal House. This was built at the start of the 20th century as a reflection of sorts of the growing Czech National Revival. The new Czechoslovak Republic was announced from its balconies in 1918 - before this they had been part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. I have never seen a building so immaculately decked out, with attention paid to every detail. You have to see it to believe it.
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