Reunion and more - Germany & Czech Republic

[OZDUCK]

Around every corner there seemed to be an interesting building, passage or architectural feature.

 

[OZDUCK]

Around the Vitava River and the Charles Bridge

 

[OZDUCK]

The Jolly Jack Tars were selling tickets the river cruise. They were always to be found near the bridge by day

 

[OZDUCK]

Some more buildings

First another touch of the Gehry's - The Dancing House ( Actually designed 'in co-operation with Czech architect Vlado Milunic)









Just down from this building was the Farmers' Saturday Market. This was the only place we ran across someone who didn't speak fluenty English and even she could make herself understood. I found the standard of English spoken in Prague to be better than that in the outer suburbs of Berlin. It was also the only place that I used cash in Prague. There were plenty of local foods and some handicrafts.





This old clock was on top of something that seemed to be something an old 'River Board' type booth on the riverbank. Does anyone have an idea what the lower dial was for?

 

[OZDUCK]

There are so many interesting buildings in Prague that it was hard to stop taking photos of them.

The Powder Tower - city gate originally built in the 15th C.



The were several races over that weekend.



Municipal House - hosts operas, concerts fashion shows etc

 

[OZDUCK]

A couple of meals

A small restaurant



Pork



Goulash with bread dumplings



A large, around 1,200 seats I think beer garden, well away from the tourist precincts. There was even a little 'accordion band' playing.



It was noticeable that there were lots of different flavoured soft drinks being sold in Germany/Prague this trip. Rhubarb was vey popular as was Elderberry. While I had some good Czech beer my wife really enjoyed this Lemongrass drink.



A slightly different version of Goulash Goulash



Some pork knuckle in another beer garden. Served with mustard, horseradish and pickles



An encouragement to be careful at the tram stops



What the Jerusalem Synagogue should look like



What we saw - a huge print. It is undergoing a large scale restoration and was locked up when we passed by.

 

[OZDUCK]

The current rail station was built underneath the old one. The new one is basically European Main Rail Station Pattern No. 3 and uninteresting. The old one was very attractive.







There was a large Lego model in the new station which is a pretty good representation of the current situation





An old track inspection vehicle - a Tatra if I remember correctly



The Astronomical Clock in the Old Town Square "The clock was first installed in 1410, making it the third-oldest astronomical clock in the world and the oldest clock still in operation" It has of course been rebuilt a number of times especially after severe damage in WW2.







Church of Our Lady Before Tyn looming over the buildings of the square.

 

[OZDUCK]

We then took the train to Regensburg. This is listed as an express train but it is far from that. It was scheduled to take 3 minutes under 4 hours to cover the little over 200 km between the two places so you can see it hardly sets a blistering pace. However as it only cost us 17.60 Euro for both of us in 2nd Class plus 9 Euro for seat reservations (around A$40 in total) I can't complain too much. There are a lot of stops, the rail stock is pretty old and in a few places there is only a single line. It was another 'interesting' trip which I will detail later. It arrived a few minutes late and then everyone, including us, boarded the wagon from the wrong ends and had to force their way to their seats. For the first 10 minutes of the trip it was boiling hot and then a train attendant ran through the carriage yelling something and suddenly the A/C was on full blast. It was actually a far more scenic trip than I thought it would be and with the slow speeds you could see a lot more than from the faster trains.

The 2nd Class seats had the option of 4 across 'aircraft style' seats or 6 seat room cabins. 1st Class only had not much roomier 6 seat rooms and didn't seem worth triple the cost. The seats were good but unfortunately the train was jampacked on the Sunday we travelled. At least there were some small baggage shelves at the end of the wagon. There was no buffet car but a little trolley was pushed down the aisles a couple of times. You could buy beer and soft drinks, some snacks and bread rolls.



Departing through the non-touristic part of Prague



We crossed the river near where the Saturday Farmers Market is held.















In my naivete I had expected Pilsen to be some bucolic city with a few breweries and fields of waving hops. The reality was much different.

 

[OZDUCK]

Furth im Wald was our first stop in Germany and things did get 'interesting' after that. Firstly the train was boarded by police who conducted a vey thorough check of Identity Documents and held the train up for over half an hour. After this stop masks were suddenly worn unlike on the Czech side of the border. Also the train crew changed over and all of a sudden the English announcements stopped. Going by my time in Prague and on the trains English seems to be more widely spoken in the Czech Republic than Germany.



After we got going again there was an announcement in German and Czech that got everyone excited. I could understand the German part that said the train was terminating so asked some Germans what was happening. Apparently the train was now so delayed that we were all going to be offloaded at the next station and had to go to another platform to get onboard a different train to finish the trip. Annoyingly for us this was only one stop from Regensburg. To give D Bahn some credit there was an empty train waiting directly across the platform from our arriving train but we still had to drag everything across and find somewhere to sit in a much older train with no A/C.









We eventually arrive in Regensburg an hour or two late - the Regensburg HBF

 

[OZDUCK]

Regensburg old town suffered only light damage in WW2 and is thus very well preserved. It is an UNESCO World heritage Site.

Our hotel bed with its town print



No car park views but plenty of roofs



The famous 12th C. stone bridge. You can see how fast the current of the Danube River flows through here. These days it is bypassed by a canal.



The Wurstkuche near the bridge. "This is notable as perhaps the oldest continuously open public restaurant in the world." The current building dates back to the 17th C. but archaeological investigations suggest a building with the same footprint has been on the site since the 12th C. The sauhages in a bun were 3.50 Euro and fine if perfectly normal.

Regensburg Sausage Kitchen - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

A paddle wheel tug boat built in 1922. Sunk by a mine in 1944, raised 12 years later and now restored







The smoke is from the Wurstkuche

 

[craven morehead]

Around every corner there seemed to be an interesting building, passage or architectural feature.

View attachment 299067View attachment 299068View attachment 299069View attachment 299070View attachment 299071View attachment 299072View attachment 299073View attachment 299074View attachment 299075View attachment 299076

What was the Wombat advertising in the top photo RH side.

 

[OZDUCK]

What was the Wombat advertising in the top photo RH side.

The Prague Zoo - the symbol to the right of the word Vombati (looking at the print from front on) is the Prague Zoo logo. The words on the poster apparently mean something like "only in Prague". They have only recently obtained their first wombat - from Germany.

Prague zoo has its first wombat!

Cooper, a male wombat, came to Prague Zoo on Wednesday from Hanover Zoo. After a month-long quarantine, visitors will be able to see the first representative of this extremely attractive marsupial species in Prague's Darwin Crater exhibition....

www.zoopraha.cz

 

[OZDUCK]

In a bit of an, unhappy, coincidence the recent death of Czech co-designer of the 'Dancing House' I showed yesterday was mentioned in the local paper this morning.

Architect Vlado Milunić dies at 81; linked to Prague icon

PRAGUE (AP) — Vlado Milunić, a Czech architect of Croatian ancestry who co-designed Prague’s iconic Dancing House building together with his colleague Frank Gehry, has died at 81. Czech public radio announced his death on Sunday and said it was confirmed by his family.

apnews.com

 

[OZDUCK]

And in more happy news for me I have finally worked out what that strange 'clock' on the old booth by the river records. It is actually a water height measure.

"The Limnigraf na Výton ( Vyton Watershed ) is a building on Prague 's Rašín embankment , near the Vyšehrad railway bridge , opposite the Podskalská customs office . The building houses a limnigraph - a device used to read and record the height of the Vltava river over time."

 

[OZDUCK]

Regensburg is a very photogenic place so I am afraid there will be lots of photos to follow.

The Goliath House - built around 1260 with the painting of the fight between Goliath and David being added around 1573



The Golden Tower - built in the second half of the 13th C.











The old bridge spans several islands in the Danube and they appear to be very pleasant places to live - and certainly to visit.






It is an easy walk over the bridge and through a short street to the Danube River Lock

 

[OZDUCK]

St Peters Cathedral - construction started in 1280 and 'officially' opened in 1520.

 

[OZDUCK]

A Roma Legionary Fort was built in Regensburg in 179 CE and there are still traces of the Roman occupation. Some of the old walls and gates were subsumed into newer buildings and have since been uncovered.

 

[OZDUCK]

We took a 'cruise to visit Valhalla which was opened in 1842. I can not remember any other AFF member mentioning visiting here so I assume that I am one of the very few on here who have been there. "The Walhalla is a hall of fame that honours laudable and distinguished people in German history – "politicians, sovereigns, scientists and artists of the German tongue"

Walhalla (memorial) - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

The trip was made on the KristallPrinzessin. The mention of Swarovski made me aware of the quiet good taste and subtle use of ornamentation that I would discover on board the vessel. Actually all snark aside it was an impressively equipped vessel. There was plenty of comfortable seating, there was table service for drinks and snacks, the toilets were very well equipped and there was commentary in both German and English. The ships do lots of longer day, dinner and speciality cruises.













There are 3 trips a day on this line. It takes about 45 - 50 minutes to get there and costs 17 Euro return. You have to take one of the first 2 trips and then catch the next one back.

Walhallafahrt

Donauschifffahrt ab Regensburg, Passau und Linz

www.donauschifffahrt.eu

Along the river





It was a Sunday during the school holidays and plenty of people were camping and fishing along the river.

 

[OZDUCK]

The River Cruise boats tie up out of town and the passengers are bussed in. Their were lots of groups wandering around Regensburg while we were there. This is the Viking Eistla



The Royal Villa built on the outskirts of Regensburg in 1854 - 56 by the Bavarian King Maximillian II. It was designed as a summer residence. I believe that the flag was at half mast because of the death of Queen Elizabeth II







Our first views of Valhalla







I had read warnings about how steep the access to the building was from the river but it didn't look too bad to stupid me. I was soon proved wrong.



The first part of the trek is a pleasant uphill stroll.



The great views over the river soon become apparent

 

[OZDUCK]

The first flight of steps soon gave me warning of what to come. They are very steep and have no railings.








By this time I was puffing like a superannuated steam train. My head was down not only to look at the stairs but also because if I looked around to see the fabulous views my fear of heights started to kick in. Plus my knees were not enjoying all the steps.



I eventually caught up with my wife who done the climb much more easily than me.