July 7 - After Dachau we went to the Deutsch Museum. It's set up in sections and we saw the ships, the planes, the computers, the caves, etc. We missed the Mining section which turns out was what our son and daughter in law wanted us to see there. It's hard to read your notes and get everywhere and see everything you want to see. Especially when you're tired and your feet hurt. :)
We were staying within a block of the Marienplatz with the Glockenspiel Clock so we ate there at an outside cafe. We had pizza and beer and wine and then gelato somewhere nearby.
July 8 - We got up early, had breakfast at our hotel (included) and took four trains to Rothenburg. We only brought one small backpack and stayed the night there at the Eisenhut hotel next to the Christmas store. Rothenburg is a cute little medieval town. When we got there we had some authentic german food at a local restaurant and then checked into our hotel. Saw the famous yellow house and some of the gates. We walked some of the exterior wall and I shopped at the famous Christmas store which I loved. We did the Night Watchman tour at 8:00pm and it was very entertaining and interesting. He tells about the history of Rothenburg and how it survived getting destroyed in WWII along with lots of other stories. One of the original houses there is still lived in by descendants of the original owners! I thought it was interesting that you pay after and you just give the money to him or his wife.
July 9 - We had the best breakfast yet at our hotel and then we walked the outer wall of the town. A lot of it is covered and if you're over 6' tall you have to hunch over. My poor husband clobbered his head twice! People all over the world donate money to have parts of the wall restored and they get a little plaque with their name on it and where they were from embedded in the wall. It was interesting to read all the plaques. There are some great views of the town and the country outside the town from the top of this wall.
We checked out of our hotel and checked out the St. James church where there's Altarpiece of Holy Blood, carved in wood by the great Tilman Riemenschneider. Then we headed for the train station. There is a tiny place to eat next to the train station so we tried the Doner Kebabs there (our son had told us to try one). It was o.k....filled us up. Took the four train rides back to Munich where we ate again at the Hard Rock Cafe. It was just nice to have american food for a change of pace.
July 10 - Took a 5-3/4 hour train ride today Munich to Prague. We had a six seat compartment to ourselves for most of it so that was nice. Took a taxi to our Alchemist Hotel where they greeted us with wine, beer, or champagne. Settled in our room and went down for free cheese and wine tasting at 4pm! Walked to John Lennon wall and then had dinner at the John Lennon pub. Cute place but bad food. Came back for an early night because we have a lot to see tomorrow. Chocolates waiting for us on our bed. Yummy!
July 11 - Day in Prague! We walked to the Old Town Square (clock under refurbishment), Charles Bridge, Jewish Quarter, St. Vitus Cathedral, Prague Castle, Strahov Monastery, and six cool sculptures by the famous Czech architect David Cerny. Finding the sculptures was a lot of fun. Prague has a lot of beautiful architecture and history. The Jewish Memorial was very moving and especially so as my brother in law's family was from outside of Prague. His father and grandfather made it out but the rest of the family perished at Dachau and other camps. The Jewish cemetary was sooo interesting. They ran out of real estate so had to bury layers of bodies on top of each other. They would keep moving the tombstones up to the top so now there are tombstones packed next to each other sometimes representing 10 persons below! We walked this whole day seeing as much as we could.