We left Munich behind and headed north for Regensburg. This is a quaint little town on the Danube, which we have been following on and off since Vienna. It has a beautiful Old Town full of winding cobble streets, colourful medieval architecture and flocks of the common Wandering Gawker. This is a strange species that nest exclusively on River cruise ships and infests every place these ships dock. Regensburg like many other ports along the river provide Gawker sanctuaries where they can eat, drink and procure colourful trinkets to store in their nest. They can be recognised by their gaudy plumage and Anglophile squawks. We managed to avoid most of them.
Our next stop was somewhere special, across the Czech border and into the heart of what was once Bohemia. Here lies one of most outstanding medieval cities in the Europe - Prague. Bohemian Rhapsody isn't just a song here it's a state of mind. This place is beautiful beyond compare. Standing in the old town square you are overwhelmed by the sheer beauty of the buildings. They all look like they were built yesterday not 600 years ago. The colours on the famous Astronomical Clock are bright and vivid. The creams and browns and greys of the building blended beautifully and the ceiling of the Tyn Church is outstanding, overshadowed only by the voices of the choir reverberation around the ancient walls. The narrow streets of the old town wend their way to the Vlatva River and so to the Charles Bridge. Stone arches span the river to the eastern side where more winding streets climb the heights to the Prague Castle, one of the the largest and intact castle complexes in Europe. There is just so much to see it is impossible to absorb it all in one hit. That's why we have decided to return next year.
We left with regrets and headed back into Germany. Our next stop was on the banks of the Elbe at a quiet little riverside town of Konigstein. This is Saxony and the the area that straddles the Czech border is know as Saxon Switzerland (the Czech side is Bohemian Switzerland). It is an area of unusual sandstone mountains of outstanding beauty. Konigstein is very reminiscent of Melk, both geographically and historically. Anywhere else it would be just another average riverside town except for what overlooks it. Konigstein Fortress stands on a sandstone cliff top that looks so out of place in this environment. It looks for all the world like a Mesa from the Painted Desert in the USA has been transported to a landscape of razor sharp ridges. Here it is clothed with pine forest as are the rest of ridges that tower over the riverside. The upper cliffs are vertical and barren with battlements that wind their way around the edge of this flat topped mountain. The castle complex is extensive and almost invisible from view on the riverside due to trees that grow within the battlements. It was so imposing and well built that it was never taken in battle. The surrounding area is dotted with places to explore. This is another place we will be returning. The Black has continued to haunt us and we left Konigstein in the rain and headed for Berlin.
Berlin is somewhere we have always wanted to come. When we were here in the 70s it was almost impossible to travel to. After spending four days here I can say with confidence that if it wasn't for Berlin's 20th Century history it would be the last place in Europe worth visiting. This place is Ugly - in every sense of the word. The Wall was torn down over two decades ago and in a spirit of re-unification the good burghers of Berlin must have hired all the East German architects to help build the "New Berlin". The buildings here are some of the most awful I have ever seem. The city is populated with slab-sided, narrow rectangle windowed, insipid coloured monstrosities. If it doesn't look like an Communist Era government building it looks like a prison.
Buried amongst the ugliness is the remnant of a Medieval and Prussian past, but you'd be hard press to find it or be shown it on a tour. They focus almost exclusively on the 20th Century Nazi and Communist history. The life and times of Fredrick the Great who turned Prussia into one of the first democratic states in Europe outside France is sadly neglected. For anyone back home who is foolish enough to admire people like Julia Gillard, Doug Cameron or Lea Rhiannon I suggest they come to Berlin and walk the Wall, read the memorials of those who were MURDERED in the name of an ideology that killed millions, an ideology that the aforementioned admired and supported. The words and deed of the Nazis were no different from the words and deeds of the Communists. If you don't believe me just come here and see for yourself. Berlin is a place to see once and never again, but a place where the deeds done here in the name of two grotesque ideologies should NEVER be forgotten.
We are now on the way to Amsterdam and then via Cologne to Paris. This year's European Adventure is almost over. We'll be back in the UK in August.
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