Well, it finally happened. After our Viking river cruise of the Rhine in 2019, we scheduled a cruise along the Danube in 2020, which was postponed to 2021, and then 2022. Along the way, we encouraged several other couples to participate: Greg and Nicole with whom we took the Rhine cruise, Duncan and Betty, Dave and Brenda, Eric and Vickey, and JJ and Karen. Our journeys began seven days ago with our flights into Prague for the “pre show,” three days in Prague.
Our first night in Prague Greg had identified a pretty neat restaurant called “the skewer.” All of the food had a skewer stuck in it. Some had two skewers. The food was self-serve, and at the end you paid for the number of skewers you had eaten.
JJ, Karen, Candy, Greg, and Nicole.Eric, Vickie, Brenda, Dave, Betty, and Duncan
After a stroll around downtown Prague (Praha), we all returned to the hotel to try to get some sleep despite the jet lag.
The next morning, we all took the included “Panoramic Prague” walking tour through the city. The guide, Radick, did a nice job of showing us the highlights of downtown Prague, despite some heavy rain.
The astronomical clock in the Old Town Square that chimes every hour. The 12 apostles process past the blue windows. The skeleton rings a bell to summon people, but the other statues shake their heads to stay on earth at least another hour.A street in PragueA view of Prague, including the castle on the hill.A building in the town square. Many of the buildings had these nice frescoes on them.Another building in the Old Town Square.Taking cover from the rain.This is a church in the Old Town Square. Note the mutliple spires. This seemed to be common among many of the churches in Prague. Also note the connector from the main spire to the corner spires. This too seemed to be common in Prague. I am not sure if this is decorative or structural or merely provides a covered walkway to the corner spires.By the time we reached the Charles bridge on our tour, the rain and clouds were fading.Crossing the bridge.A canal near the Charles Bridge.A paddle boat made to look like an old car on the river near the Charles Bridge.A long shot of the bridge.Another canal near the Charles bridge looking in the opposite direction toward an old water wheel.
The tour continued by taking us up to the castles, which includes a church and the President’s offices.
One of the many stained glass windows in the church within the Prague castle.Our guide provides information about the church.Looking down the long axis of the church toward the altar.Because the castle hold’s the president’s offices, there were both ceremonial and real guards on duty.Candy and me in front of the church within the Prague castle.The inner courtyard of our hotel looking down toward where we had an included breakfast each morning.
That night Duncan, Betty, Dave, Brenda, Candy, and I attended a traditional folk dinner in a rural area outside of Prague. This included dancers performing traditional folk dances and a three-piece band playing traditional music. The food included some kind of cheese spread on bread, soup, meat, cabbage, and potatoes. It was a fun evening.
The band playing at the Folk Dinner.Our servers.The entertainment.Dave and BrendaBetty, Duncan, some movie star, and Candy.
The next morning, on our own, we went to find the History of Communism. I don’t know how anyone can support Communism, Marxism, and Socialism after visiting this museum. The Czechs know first hand the evils of these philosophies, and they are not afraid to oppose them.
Some of the displays at the Museum of Communism.One of the boards next to some of the displays.I love this quote. Centralized, government control has never and will never work. The museum provided a number of examples of how a powerful and controlling central government created hardships and shortages for the people.Reassembling after the museum tour. Duncan, Betty, Brenda, Dave, and Candy.
We walked around the Old Town Square in much better weather than the previous morning.I saw this winged moose on a building in Prague and thought is was interesting. I need to add one of these to one of my games.Several of us took the optional Operation Anthropoid tour. Anthropoid was an OSS operation in WWII to assassinate Heydrich Reinhardt, the “Butcher of Prague,” who also designed the “final solution” resulting in the creation of the concentration and death camps throughout Europe. While the operation was a success, in that they killed Reinhardt, all of the Czech parachutists involved were killed.We took an evening tour of Prague. One of the stops was a monastery on one of the hills near the castle for a beer and a scenic overlook.Some of the gang waiting for their beers: Dave, Brenda, JJ, Karen, Candy, and Eric.The monasteryKaren and Candy with evening Prague behind them.
Our last morning we had to drop off our bags by 1000, but the bus wasn’t scheduled to depart of Passau until 1300. So, Karen, Candy, JJ, and I walked across the river and along it to the Charles Bridge. We stopped at a couple of shops to look at stuff we didn’t need, then we crossed the bridge and made one last trek through Old Town Square back to our hotel.
A local group performing on the Charles Bridge.Assembling for the trip to Passau: JJ, Betty, Duncan, Candy, Eric, Vickey, Dave, Brenda, and Karen. Where is Buck?The bus ride from Prague to Passau. Like any good paratrooper, Dave was asleep before the bus door closed.
We arrived at the boat in time to unpack our rooms and have dinner.
