Saturday 20 July. Prague C

We left the hotel at 10:10 am and headed for the nearest metro station, Prazskeho povstani, a 37 minute walk according to Google maps. However Google maps doesn't show contours, or at least we've not found them. It was all uphill!

On the way up we were passed by a guy who, having passed us, spat towards the gutter. He then glanced backwards to see where we were walking and spat towards the middle of the pavement where I was heading. Just to make his point he then spat ahead of where Shiel was walking. He then crossed in front of us and entered what was a basement flat or house doorway. Sadly it was not an isolated occurrence. Just as we were entering the tube station another, younger, guy spat in our direction. First time we've experienced such disgusting behaviour in the Czech Republic. It may be a characteristic of males in that suburb of Prague. (The worst of times). The walk was only 30 minutes, somewhat  less than expectorated?

We took the metro to the main station and searched out the International ticket office. We asked for a ticket for Monday 22 July from Prague to Dresden. The woman behind the desk was incredible in that she answered all our questions, in order, even before we asked them.

She gave us a list of train times, about one every two hours. There was only one ticket, and one price,  and one could take ANY train. The ticket is valid for a whole  month.  (Robin please note). For someone who has travelled by train in the UK it was like I'd died and gone to railway heaven. The fare was only about £20 for the 2.5 hour trip.

Using our original metro ticket we then headed for the hill fort of Vysehrad with a metro station of the same name. There is a pleasant high level walk from the station to the Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul. One gets magnificent views over the rooftops of Prague on the way there. It is a mostly flat and easy walk.

However for me the real treasure of the day was the cemetery beside the Basilica. It was incredible. I've never seen such extravagant grave stones, literally monumental. It brought to mind Grey's Elergy in a Country Churchyard:

Thursday 18 July. Prague A

This last few days have brought back memories of English lessons at school. "A Tale of Two Cities" by Dickens. We've had the best of times and the worst of times.

Our plane was delayed out of Cologne and we arrived in Prague just before 9pm.

Prague has a first class integrated public transport system.We could get from the airport to our hotel via bus, metro and tram, using one ticket, valid for 90 minutes, for just 32 Czech crowns. (One English pound or two NZ dollars). Compare that to London! The good part.

We queued for about 8 minutes to buy tickets, we had no small change to buy tickets from a machine. Just as we reached the ticket kiosk the guy inside decided he was closing for the night. There were at least a dozen people behind us in the queue.  He told us to buy tickets on the bus. Knowing what bus drivers can be like I approched a women at a supermarket checkout nearby and she understood my sign language and gave me change for a 100 crown note.

We went to queue for a number 100 bus to Zlicin at the end of metro line B. Luckily a couple of Japanese tourists in the queue pointed out a ticket m/c we hadn't seen and I was able to buy tickets.

When the bus arrived a couple in front of us tried to board the bus and purchase tickets  from the driver but they were turned away by him and told to get tickets outside. He then drove off. They would have had at least a 20 or 30 minute wait for the next bus.

We took the bus to Zlicin and then the metro to Charles Square from where we walked to our hotel, Botel Rasek, a boat on the Vlatava. We arrived about 11pm. It was a pleasant, if somewhat long walk (45 minutes) from the metro stop. Normal, sane people, would use a tram. However after five hours sitting on a coach and two one hour flights it was nice to do a bit of walking.

Friday 19 July. Prague B

We both slept well after our long day and after an early breakfast headed towards Prague Castle and for the museum in the Lobkowicz Palace in particular. This palace is one of a number of palaces and castles owned by the Lobkowicz family. We had visited the major part of Prague Castle on our visit the previous year.

An audio tour comes with the standard entrance fee (£8 for oap's) and is essential to gain most from the tour. The music room, with scores annotated by Beethoven, I found particularly moving.

We had lunch in the adjoining restaurant and were surprised when the bill came out below our calculations! The waitress had seen our museum tickets and given us a discount which we were not even aware was available. Such fair treatment makes all the difference to a guest's experience (see tomorrow's blog for example).

We then walked across town to the National Museum, as it was closed on our visit last year. It is still closed. According to a woman selling tickets nearby it will remain so for a number of years to come.

We then walked down to the old town for pizza, pivo and plno gris before walking back along the right bank of the Vltava to our hotel

South Lake Tahoe, California.

We had some very strong tail winds flying to San Francisco and the flight only took 11.5 hours. 

We were met at the airport by Colin and travelled (via a family stop in Sacramento, to meet Kathy and pick up Natalie) up to South Lake Tahoe on the Califonia-Nevada State boundary. 

We then had an easy day to acclimatize to the altitude change, about 6000.'

On Sunday Colin and Natalie drove us to the Mount Tallac trailhead in  the Desolation Wilderness National Park where we arrived about 8.45 am. Shiel and I then started our ascent of Mount Tallac. 

The photograph below shows the signs at the trail head (taken on the return trip).

The photo below shows Shiel massaging painful knees on the descent below Emerald Lake. Falling Leaf Lake is in the foreground with Lake Tahoe behind it.

Shiel heading for the saddle above Cathedral Lake. We took a route leading above the small patch of snow in the top/centre of the picture.

Shiel standing at the track junction behind the summit of Mount Tallac. The track on the right leads around to the summit. The track to the left leads to the Pacific Crest Trail.

Summit of Mount Tallac with "Stars and Stripes" flag. Probably left after an ascent on July 4.

S&R sitting on the summit.

Fri. 5 July. Auckland Airport.

We should now be in Sacramento, US of A!

We are sitting in Auckland airport having lunch courtesy of Air New Zealand! We were supposed to take off yesterday at 7:15pm but the aircraft was found to have an oil leak and we were parked on the tarmac for about 3 hours whilst they tried to fix it. They failed!

We were put into a hotel overnight, Grand Chancellor, where at least we had a good breakfast this morning. We were bussed to the airport at 10am.

Since then we've been given the "run around." First told taking off 2pm, then 3pm, then 3:30pm. Currently we are being told 4pm. Watch this space.

Well we eventually took off at 4:50 pm and had an uneventful flight to San Francisco.

2013

Thur. 4 July.   Elbe Fußweg?

This year we are heading to Dresden to continue our walk beside the Elbe. We started the walk last year, in the Czech Republic, in the town of Spindleruv Mlyn. The source of the Elbe/Labe is located above the town, a steady and very scenic climb. We walked up in poor weather with restricted visibility. We knew we were lost when there was a beep on my cell phone and the message from Vodaphone said "Welcome to Poland!" 
Thankfully border crossing in Europe are not as complex as they were 30 years ago  as most of our walk this year will be in what was once East Germany.  We did eventually retrace our steps and found the source. You can see the spring in the post below (23 Dec 2012). We finished last year's walk in Dresden.

As there was serious flooding along the Elbe only a month ago we may have difficulty finding a suitable walking route. We will be largely following the well known cycle route, the Elberadweg. We have only booked for the first seven days until we see what conditions are like on the route and how accommodation is affected.  I was searching the net for accommodation in Aken yesterday and found this Youtube post:- Aken

It will give you some idea of what people in the small towns beside the river have had to put up with.

Source of the Labe/Elbe.

On November 15 Vaclav asked if we went to the source of the Elbe/Labe, we have only just found his comment.

Here is a photograph showing the spring with Shiel hiding in the background below the signpost.