Děčín to Prague

Dinner last night managed to have a form of dumpling in each course - cycling in France is definitely a better culinary experience! The evening was vastly improved by Jim Cox who was a Major in the US Army when the Berlin Wall fell and has some fascinating stories. He did a talk before dinner about the night of the fall and then I had a lovely chat with him over dumpling dinner, catching up with life since our cross US trip in 2014.

We left the hotel this morning and headed straight down the hill to the nearest ATM to get some Czech currency for the next few days (aka cake and beer money).

The beautiful route took us along the river Elbe with mostly smooth cycle paths but the occasional obstacle in the way.

The coffee and cake stop was at an old railway station - it was 50km into the ride so the tree trunks were hangrily grumbling and the brownie didn’t last long.

Shortly afterwards we arrived in Terezin which is a former military fortress but became a ghetto and concentration camp during WW2. Conditions were horrific but the Nazis made propaganda films showing the Jewish prisoners playing at a concert and allegedly happy with their new lives.  We watched part of the film and visited the museum at the Magdeburg barracks, a very moving and disturbing experience.

Lunch was then a picnic in the grounds of a castle.

Our arrival into Prague followed the Vitava river with a little ferry hop.

With of course a beer overlooking the city before negotiating our way to the hotel through the traffic.

It was a varied, moving and tiring day - I’m ready for a rest day.