I went to Shutterfly and looked at ALL 624 pictures !!! There are some very nice pictures there; perhaps 50 or so but the other 574 could have been edited out. May I suggest that you get a copy of Photoshop Elements and edit these pictures because you could do alot to make them much better with cropping, color correction and light intensity for starters. Another question: Why aren't there any people in these pictures? From time to time a crowd of people appear but almost exclusively the pictures are of brick and mortar. Not my idea of good travel pictures but everyone has different tastes.

I enjoyed your trip report, it bought back memories of my trip in May/June altho you ventured much further afield than I. I have also visited your photo gallery; and unlike Paul, I found the photos of the buildings to be very interesting. For me, living in a country with a recorded (white) history of only 218 years means that those streets, some of those buildings are older than my culture's recorded history. That is mindblowing to me. I understand Paul's point of view, but I like the fact that they need 'cropping, color correction and light intensity for starters' - they are YOUR snapshots of YOUR holiday, and gives me an indication of your personality, and we can still get a sense of what each city has to offer. Or maybe I am just a yobbo at heart
Thanks again for the trip down memory lane :-)

I really enjoyed looking at all of your pictures, thank you so much for sharing. They are great just as they are, no cropping or editing needed.

Thanks for the feedback – I’m definitely an amateur when it comes to picture taking, but I like ‘em, mostly because they bring the real images to my mind, which are so much better.

Day 8 – Passau

Another short day trip to Passau. I won’t spend too much time describing these little day trips because I know most people want to read about the big cities of Prague, Berlin, Copenhagen, etc.

Passau is a sweet little town that’s formed at the convergence of the Inn, Ilk and Danube rivers. It is very peaceful and the reflections of the buildings makes it a special place in my mind. Passau is also a border town on the German/Austrian border. The most memorable moment was when we walked up to a cathedral on a hill, and it just so happened that at noon, the bells started ringing. What made it so special was that we could not only hear the bells from the tower behind us, but also two or three other bell towers ringing below the hill. Definitely something I won’t forget!

Day 9 – Regensburg

On the recommendation of our waitress in Mitterfels we decided to hit Regensburg. I’ve noticed other posters mentioning this city, and I second the good feedback the leave about it. It is a fairly large town and has excellent shopping. It was very cold the day we were there, so we hopped on the City Tour bus and rode around the city. Then we did some shopping and headed home. Of the three towns, Regensburg, Passau and Nuremburg, Regensburg and Nuremburg were my favorite, and I would recommend a stop over if you’re in the area.

Day 10 – Off to Prague

Prague, the city I have been waiting to write about. It has bumped Queenstown, New Zealand to third on my list of favorite cities. Number one is held, and will probably always be held, by Venice.

From the Straubing train station, it is about a five hour ride to Prague. Note to those traveling into Prague from the south west, if you have a transfer in the Plzen, it would be wise to make a reservation to Prague. Plzen to Prague was the first time we could not get a first class seat and were crammed in a second class compartment with four others. Didn’t matter though – we were on our way to Prague!!!

When we arrived, I placed a call to the hostel, Hostel U Melounu (around $17/night), and unfortunately it was booked for the night. This hostel has received really good feedback on various websites, so we were a little disappointed.

As soon as we hung up the phone, we were bombarded with people trying to get us to book at their “apartment” (travel books warned about these scams). One even offered to drive us there to check it out – no, thank you!

We went over to the tourist services area and were given an option of an apartment for $25pp/pn, which is a really good deal. We booked, and then headed off to find the apartment or “pension”.

Again, we were pleasantly surprised by Prague’s metro system. It was easy to find the train and when we exited the station, we walked the short distance to the pension. It was call the Avion, and as soon as we were greeted, I knew it would be a good place. The girl behind the counter was so friendly and helpful. We went up to the room and again were pleased to see a two bedroom apartment with a kitchen and a bathtub!

After settling in, we went exploring. We had dinner/lunch and the Cold Bar, which had the best beef stroganoff I have ever had. Then we hopped on the metro to go downtown. (The Avion is inexpensive, but it’s by the infamous tv tower and a little removed from town – but just get on the metro and you’re right there.)

When we excited the downtown station, it was just beginning to get dark, and we saw the most beautiful sunset we have ever seen. My pictures all turned out so grainy, but I have the images in my mind. We walked to the water and could barely make out the castle and the Charles Bridge.

We headed into the Old Town Square and were surprised because it’s so much bigger than it looks on tv or in guidebooks. We spent some time looking at the various wares at the little shops around the square – lots of marionettes for sale. Then we noticed that there are horse drawn carriage rides around the Old Town area, and they only cost about $10pp. Didn’t take much to convince us! We took this very lovely carriage ride around the area – it lasted about 20 minutes, and it was worth every penny.

We then had a few coffees at one of the cafes and then headed back to the apartment.

Day 11

The next day, we followed our usual trend of getting up early and having breakfast at the hotel – it was a variety of cheeses, meats and breads. We decided to start at the Charles Bridge and cross the river to go to the castle.

The Charles Bridge was enormous. The statues lining the bridge are larger than life and the musical performers provide plenty of entertainment as you cross. Once you cross the bridge, you enter the lesser town area. Not too much to see other than beautiful architecture – every building is special in Prague. The way up to the castle is up a hill with very narrow sidewalks. As we approached the castle, we began hearing more musicians – there was a trio that was so good, I thought about buying their cd. (Note – if anyone is in Prague and has a chance to buy one, let me know!!!)

As we came closer to the castle gates, we noticed that people were grouping/lining up, and we thought, “it’s not worth waiting in line.” But, then we realized why everyone was waiting, the changing of the guards was happening! How lucky were we!! I’ve never seen the changing of the guards at Buckingham, so I can’t compare this to that. After the guards changed, we took pictures with the guard, who kept the stoic look on his face.

We toured the castle and St. Vitus Cathedral. The stained glass inside the cathedral was amazing – it was all down in mosaics!

Then we headed back down to the Old Town Square. Seeing the square in the daytime is like seeing it for the first time. The colors of the buildings are so amazing. We had a coffee at another café and watched the Astronomical Clock. Unfortunately it was under renovation, told you this was a pattern, so we didn’t get to see the little “show” that it puts on each hour.

Sad to leave, we caught the train to Berlin that afternoon. But, I know one day I will be back to Prague.

Uneventful train ride to Berlin, and unfortunately, we were unable to get our first choice of hostel, Heart of Gold Hostel ($25pp/pn), which has been on various travel shows. We were able to find a four bedroom private room at the Clubhouse Hostel (about $20pp/pn). The people who took the reservation told us that they had a party that night and hoped it was okay – it was fine with us because we’re usually so tired at the end of the day, we could sleep through anything.

The Berlin Ostbahnhoff (west train station) is pretty far from the city center, so we took a train ride into the city to the stop mentioned. Finding the hostel was a little difficult, but luckily we were in an area that was heavily traveled, lots of restaurants and shops, and we just kept asking until we found it (everyone was so helpful). As we approached the building, I thought to myself, “this looks like a nightclub line.” There was a bouncer and everything! We explained that we’re staying at the hostel (our backpacks wouldn’t lie) and they let us in. We passed by a sign that said, “Helter Skelter Hostel” and each of us thought to ourselves, “thank goodness we’re not saying there…” But, then we realized that there wasn’t another door before going into the party, so Helter Skelter must be it. We climbed the stairs (lights stayed on this time) and checked in at the reception area. Turns out the hostel did change its name, but we were so tired at this point, we didn’t care what the place was called. Luckily, we still had a private four bed room.

We headed out and had dinner at a great Cuban restaurant – our waiter was a hoot, dancing around us and keeping us entertained. Then we headed back to the Helter Skelter to get some sleep – luckily we were all exhausted because the party went on until about 4 am!

Day 12 – Berlin

I didn’t know too much about Berlin the city, only its history. It is a very modern city, and it was a nice contrast to the cities we had been to in the past few days. First we went to the Brandenburg Gate, which is massive. What doesn’t get shown in pictures, is that in one of the corners facing the gate, there is a Starbucks Coffee – I don’t know what it is, but there is something wrong with that scenario. We cross through the gate and head over to the Reichstag. The line to get into the Reichstag was outrageous, and we decided to skip it, although it would have been nice to be able to view the congress floor from the dome at the top.

After the Reichstag, we set off for Checkpoint Charlie. Up until this point, everything has amazed me in how big it is. Checkpoint Charlie is tiny (the former checkpoint building was removed, but a tiny booth holds the location where it stood). I highly recommend the Checkpoint Charlie museum. It houses so much history and information, we could have easily spent the day there. We were moved to tears at some points, and one of the most important moments for me was when I was standing inside the building at a corner window overlooking the checkpoint, and below the window are pictures of what the same view looked like during and right after the war. I can’t put this into words.

Leaving the museum we decided to go to Alexanderplatz and to hopefully go to the top of the tv tower for the view of Berlin. When we arrived at the tower, again, the line was way too long, so we passed. We stopped at a restaurant serving a buffet brunch and it had live music being played.

On the way back to the hostel, we noticed that quite a few people we congregating on one side of the street, and then we noticed security personnel and snipers on the building tops. Turns out, as a very lovely German woman explained to us, was that day was a war remembrance day in Germany and there was a government ceremony happening inside the building across the street from us. Everyone was hoping to either get a chance to see Shroeder or Merkel. Neither ended up showing, but the ceremony was nice to watch.

Back at the hostel, we relax, read, send emails, etc. Turns out the hostel was quite a comfortable place. They even had a pool table in the common room that we took advantage of. As the sun started to set, we walked around to see the city at night. The gate lit up by floodlights is impressive. When it started to rain, we started to search for a place for dinner. We decided on an Indian restaurant, and it was really good. Luckily, there wasn’t a party when we arrived back that night at the hostel and turned in for a good night’s sleep.

Tomorrow I’ll write about Copenhagen, and how the lights went out on us again!