D10: Berlin - Prague

... Cross the River Elbe this morning and on to Dresden for an orientation of the magnificently restored city after its almost total destruction in World War II. Next, on to the mountains and fortresses of the Erzgebirge range before entering the Czech Republic and Bohemia on the way to its beautiful capital, Prague. (B,D)

Both mum and I were quite surprised at how much we enjoyed our few horus in Dresden as we made our way to Vienna. What's amazing is that the city centre was almost wiped out during the bombing of Dresden by the Royal Air Force and the United States Army Air Force between 13 February and 15 February 1945.  This attack remains one of the more controversial Allied actions of the Western European theatre of war. 

One of the most amazing building we saw was the Church of Our Lady.  It was originally built in 18th century, but was destroyed in the firebombing of Dresden during World War II. It has been reconstructed as a landmark symbol of reconciliation between former warring enemies. The reconstruction of its exterior was completed in 2004, its interior in 2005 and, after 13 years of rebuilding, the church was reconsecrated on 30 October 2005.  More than 8,500 original stones were salvaged from the original church and approximately 3,800 reused in the reconstruction. As the older stones are covered with a darker patina, due to fire damage and weathering, the difference between old and new stones is clearly visible in the photos below.

After Dresden we headed to the capital of the Czech Republic, Prague (or if you'd like to be more accurate, Praha).  This was the destination I was really looking forward to visiting when planning this trip.  After dinner we spent our first evening visiting at the Strahov monastery where were got to see the spectacular view over Prague and the Moldau River.  The monks brew their own beer which we were able to sample.

Evelyn's first beer ever!

From here we ended our evening at the Krizikova Fountains, or the "Fon-tain" as our local guide pronounced it.  The general consensus amongst the group was the synchronized fountains with music and lights were pretty under-whelming and most of us were ready to leave after 5 minutes , but we had to sit there for about 45 minutes.  

(For the rest of my Day 10 photos - click here.)