Berlin to Prague
The third leg of our trip was the longest yet: Berlin to Prague to Budapest. The route we took took us through some amazing sights within 5 countries, and was our first foray into Eastern Europe. First, lets cover the journey into Prague:
Dresden
Our first stop was Dresden, sight of the famous firebombing by the Allies in World War II. We were not visiting for a historical lesson however, but instead stopped by the Deutsches Hygiene-Museum. It’s opening in 1930 was important enough to be covered by Time Magazine (thanks Google!). I think the coolest thing we saw there was examples of faces afflicted by various diseases, such as Herpes, Leprosy, etc.
Camera’s were not allowed, so nothing to post here.
Bastei
Outside of Dresden along the Elbe River lies the Bastei, a small national park. It’s made up of a collection of rocks jutting out 630ft into the sky, with a bridge to walk across them. I was told it was one of the prettiest places in Germany, so I had to stop by. It felt quite enormous and unlike anything I would have expected. Here you can see people walking across the bridge:
This view from the bridge shows storms brewing over the Elbe River:
The biggest mistake we made was believing the sign that said it was 0.25km from the parking lot. We thought it was just a quick snap your photo and run kind of place, so we left our motorcycle gear on. 40 minutes later, we were back on the bikes, completely soaked in sweat.
Following the Elbe to Prague
We followed the Elbe River through some windy forest roads, all the way through the Czech border and beyond. There were signs showing that we needed to buy a highway tax decal, so we stopped only to find out that it does not apply to motorcycles. Dallas did snap a decent photo of me behind the kiosk though, showing the beauty of the Elbe in this section:
I saw an interesting photo in Google Earth while trip planning, so I stopped by the town of Děčín to replicate it. I love the variety of colors in this town, which shows up well in this photo (look for the castle up top):
For dinner, we stopped by the town of Ústí nad Labem, a 1000-year old industrial city off of the Elbe. I couldn’t read any of the signs, so I ended up scooting down a pedestrian/bus-only road for some time, getting funny looks from the towns-people and police officers. I wasn’t sure where the main square was, because the one I saw was completely devoid of any human beings. After circling around, we ended up eating at the one place we saw people dining at: A mexican restaurant off of the square.
The Mexican food wasn’t, but it was actually tasty. We eventually did see someone walking on the side of the abandoned city square, but it was still eerie:
Booking it toward Prague
After dinner, the night was starting to come upon us, so we booked it to Prague using the boring old highway. In Prague, we czeched into our hotel, and found a lively old brewpub beside the hotel. In the pub there were musicians playing local music as well as people singing and laughing. The pub only served one beer: their own, and the staff walked around with trays full of beer eager asking each table if they wanted another round. Everything in this pub felt like the complete opposite of a bar in Belgium. It was a blast.
The food in Prague was quite tasty, but very different than what I was used to. Lots of meat, sauce, and dumplings (reminds me of Cracker Barrel):
The next day we toured around Prague, first by foot, and then by Segway. I could not get the hang of the Segway for the first 30 minutes or so, I can only assume because the inputs were so different than that of a motorcycle (Dallas did take a video of me on a Segway later) For only 60€, we were able to ride around the bridges, castles, squares, and parks of Prague in style:
At night, we took it easy and dropped by Ta Fantastika to see a Black Light Theatre showing of Aspects of Alice. Very psychadelic. The bizarre visuals and catchy tunes were burned into my skull for the remainder of the trip.
Next up, Budapest!
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