GERMANY Easyjet was the airline flying us from Helsinki to Berlin and it was nice to see them spraying the wings of the plane before takeoff to remove the ice. Also, offering to stow carry on bags in the hold free of charge to save overhead luggage space. Once landed, we caught a really crowded bus from the airport and Ruthie was ready to punch someone with all the jostling for position that was going on. Our hotel of choice was the Movenpick (they make ice cream don’t they?) We were early enough to tick off some of the points of interest nearby. The Berlin Wall (erected by the East Germans to keep the East Germans in). It was meant to stem the tide of refugees attempting to leave East Berlin and defect to the West and several people were killed trying to do just that. The wall separated the Communists from the Capitalists. Checkpoint Charlie resulted from the Americans and Russians getting involved and both flexing their muscles in the standoff known as the Cold War. Other points of interest were, the Memorial to the Jews murdered by the Nazi’s, the Brandenburg Gate, Parliament House and the remnants of Anhalter Bahnhof train station which transported 9,600 of the 55,000 Jews that were trained out of Germany to the death camps. This vital part of the Nazi’s infrastructure was bombed by the British and American in a massive bombing raid on the night of 23 November, 1943. Our first attempt for dinner failed after I queued for an eternity to get a bowl of pasta. We drank our wine Ruthie managed to get and left to find a much better option down the road. Our waiter could speak English, German, Italian, Spanish, Turkish and Romanian. Impressive!

Our pin has been thrown into the map and our Eurail journey begins with us heading to Prague in the Czech Republic with these adventurers opting for a 2 hour stopover in Dresden, taking in the sites and then hopping on a later train. Our train wasn’t as plush as the Helsinki Express and had us wondering if we should have splurged on First class? We had to put our heavy suitcases up which wasn’t easy for someone with a bung shoulder. I was worried when the time to get them down came, I would decapitate someone! We had an enclosed compartment on our carriage consisting of 6 seats, 3 facing either way. Two Germans, one young female backpacker and us. The Germans had deep chesty coughs and I could see Ruthie trying to work out how to spray the Glen 20 without it seeming obvious. I was hoping the red wine loading had given us enough antioxidants to prevent us getting their cough. The young backpacker had had enough and found a seat elsewhere. The scenery was small towns and farmland. The mist had set in and everything looked icy cold outside. Hmmm, I thought it might get a bit milder as we travelled South but it sure didn’t look like it. It felt like an Agatha Christie murder mystery was evolving. “Murder on the Prague Express.” I was going to murder the 2 Germans if they didn’t stop coughing! We stopped at Dresden and got off and put our luggage into a storage locker. That took longer than it was meant to so cut our stroll around the town down a bit. The part we walked in looked as if it had been rebuilt since World War 2 and we could see the original old town in the background. We made it back to the station to rejoin the journey to Prague. The train trip followed the river Vltava. It was very pretty scenery with the small old towns built along the river. We’re really proud of how well we’re working things out so far, considering nothing is in English!

Germany is the first country I’ve seen where the graffiti is as rife as Melbourne and we’ve had to get used to paying .50 Euro cents to have a pee, even in restaurants.

THE CZECH REPUBLIC

Straight off the train, we noticed the Czech people friendly and speaking English. On to the hotel and my travel agent Ruthie has not let us down. $50 bucks a night with a kitchenette and washing machine. Two loads of washing down and we found a little bar for dinner.

After a brilliant night’s sleep, we were off and exploring. Prague just blew us away! Around every corner was another photo opportunity. There were ballets, operas, art galleries, Mozart and Vivaldi concerts everywhere! The buildings were non high rise and differed in colours, adorned with ornaments or family shields. In the old town there were narrow cobblestoned streets that led to another jaw dropping view. The architecture is a mix of Gothic, Renaissance, Baroque, Art Nouveau and this all mixed in with the modern shopping centres that have sprung up since the Communism era. There’s lots of tourist shopping, Bohemian Crystal stores, music stores, cafes and bars. Shadowing the whole town, high on the hill was the Prague Castle. It was magnificent. Maybe because this country only opened up to tourists after 1989, is the reason I didn’t know much about it but it certainly wasn’t what I was expecting. Naturally we were able to move around easily with no queues. We heard it was completely different in the warmer months with long queues everywhere. The minus 4 degrees has it advantages and certainly didn’t stop us enjoying the Charles Bridge, the grounds of the Palace, enjoying the Astronomical Clock striking midday and the John Lennon Wall which started off in 1948 as a protest wall against the Communist takeover. In the 1960’s it was known as the crying wall and was still associated with protest messages. On Dec 8th 1980 everything changed with the death of John Lennon. The crying wall became the obvious place for the outpouring of grief over his death. It has been whitewashed over or damaged many times but even so the next day new messages emerge. The main one “war is over”. Having a selfie there is in the top ten things to do in Prague – we had to tick this off didn’t we?

Another great sightseeing day and as our weary legs took us home, we stopped to have a delicious local goulash washed down with a warming red wine. The next day was relaxing. We had nice accommodation, food supplies and clean clothes. We did a little sightseeing of things we didn’t catch on the previous day and had our usual delicious warming goulash with a red wine. Ruthie had been doing a little shopping along our trip and was hoping to send a little something to Lydia and the boys. It’s a worrying time for her not to be home to help out Kate. So with a lot of sign language and help from fellow customers we were able to work out the Czech postal system and send a parcel home. Ruthie really wanted a gift on the way in case Lydia needs surgery. So, our first Eurail experience had been a resounding success. The map was back out and the dart has landed in Vienna! Ruthie booked accommodation while having a coffee in Starbucks Prague for the next two nights in Vienna! Who would’ve thought. Amy would be proud (and no printed confirmation either.) This city has surprised us. Coming into an ex communist country, for some reason I expected it to be a bit backward. Well I was totally wrong. Yes it has Westernised a fair bit since 1989 (no longer communist) to cater for the tourist but the history, scenery, culture, people etc, fascinated us. We loved it and it got a big tick from us.