Going to Amsterdam, Romantic road, Vienna, and Prague for the first time!

Denise, this is an information for you and for everybody else who would like to combine the Romantic Road area with Prague: The freeway from Nuremberg to Prague is now complete!! It's now under 2 hours (American driving style) from Nuremberg to Prague and under or just around 4 hours from Heidelberg or Frankfurt to Prague (subject to traffic). The Romantic Road is probably best done by car, which is why I'm mentioning this here. Driving German Autobahns (freeways) is free of any toll but for the Czech Republic (which more and more looks like Austria, nothing of the "old communist charme" left there.. hehe) you need to get a toll sticker which costs €8.50 for 14 consecutive days. Also as a day trip from Prague (by car) I strongly recommend doing either the Riesengebirge mountains (giants' mountains or Krkonoše in Czech) with e.g. Petzer (Pec pod Snežkou) or Spindlermühle (Špindleruv Mlýn) as a base OR visiting the 2009 Alpine skiing worlcup town of Reichenberg (Liberec - do take the lift up to that observation tower on that mountain overlooking the town and area). Both areas are under or about an hour's drive from Prague. As to hotel locations in Prague: The InterContinental has got the prime location. Everything is walking distance from there. From the outside the hotel is "old communist style" but the inside has undergone several renovations and is perfectly Western style. If you can find a great rate at that hotel: Bingo! if not try to stay in its area where there are plenty of other hotels. By the way: Wherever there is a major sight or attraction in Prague there also is a Starbucks. And unlike other restaurants in the city they charge their $3 for a cup of coffee... I wish I'd run one of those ;-)... Once you see the herdles of Asian and American tourists in that city you'll understand what I mean ;-). Oh, and walking the Coronation path between the main square and the Castle is really nice BUT take a careful look at the items in the shops along that walk...

... they ask for around €750 or $1.000 for a simple glass vase simply its made of Bohemian glass!! For that price I'd expect a vase to not only talk and sing to me, but also dance, predict the daily ending values of the Dow Jones, DAX, FTSE and others - and be fluent in Czech, English and German ;-)... Have I mentioned you could have lunch or dinner at several TGIF's in Prague ;-)?...

Andreas, Thanks so much for your suggestion. I didn't even think about renting a car and taking it into Prague, something to check into for sure. Thanks again.