Day 9 - Prague and the Flooding

We left our safe harbor on June 2, transferred by bus to the Prague Hilton where our luggage was unloaded.  Our bus then took us to the Castle Hill where we were to walk through the castle complex.  Because it was Sunday, the Cathedral of St. Vitus was closed to tourists.  As we walked around it, the wind and rain increased, making sight-seeing practically impossible.  All I remember about the cathedral is that St. Wenceslas is buried there, and is not known by the Czech as the king of the Christmas carol.  Because a Slav princess married an English nobleman, the fanciful story of Wenceslas was born as an English carol.

Our bus tour continued to see a few of the highlights of Prague, including a 250,000 seat stadium built not for Olympics or soccer, but for other competitions; a look at some of the unique architecture and elegant housing of the city; and the famous King Charles Bridge, spanning the now ever-rising river.  After a brief lunch of crepes and cappuccino at a little cafe, we walked around the Old Town, watching as the town employees began to erect a flood barrier along the river in anticipation of the flooding that was sure to come.  (The photo shows the extent of the flooding in the middle of Sunday afternoon.)

In another rainy moment we walked across the King Charles bridge and on through winding cobblestone streets to the Old Town Square to watch the Astronomical Clock mark the hour.  As it did, there was a procession of figures of the apostles past windows that opened above the clock, while smaller figures representing attributes such as vanity, greed, and death moved their arms to ring bells.  It was a charming little show that took about two minutes.

We then walked through a section of the town with elegant homes which had been converted into stores for some of the most expensive outlets and back to the bus.  We returned to the hotel, found our room, and tried to warm up.  At 5:30 p.m. we took a hotel taxi back to the castle complex to an evening of classical music performed in a medieval hall by five string musicians.  The acoustics were so good that it sounded like a small orchestra.

We're home now, after an uneventful flight with good airline food (love the European airlines!).  All in all, it was a great trip, and now we look forward to next year's cruise on the Rhone River. 

Day 8 - Litomerice and a Change of Plans

As you have read in the various blogs this week, we have had a lot of rain.  In fact, we have had so much rain that the Elbe River is flooding.  As we have traveled upstream, we have watched the level of the river rise ever higher on the banks, and now overflowing some of them.  This is a problem for our Viking ship, as the high water reduces the clearance under some of the older bridges along the way, and breaches the docking stations where we would disembark.

After a morning session to go over the details of leaving the ship tomorrow for the hotel in Prague, we visited the ship's wheelhouse where the captain and program director gave us an orientation as to how the ship is navigated.  After lunch, we were called together again in the lounge for a briefing on the flooding and its effect on our cruise.  We were told we would be able to make our secheduled visit to Litomerice, a small historic Czech town, but that we would not be able to go further upstream, as the docks there were already flooded.  After the visit to Litomerice, our ship would turn around and go back downstream to a commercial safe harbor built after the 2002 flood.  It would be there where the buses would pick us up tomorrow morning to go on to Prague.

Our visit to Litomerice was eventful.  A portable gangway was deployed as the ship's entrance was already about six feet above the dock (normally we would walk straight out from the entrance to the dock).  The rain was still heavy, so Jan and I pulled on our raincoats and got out the umbrellas and slogged along following the guide.  Our tour took us through the town's market place and on to a local micro-brewery where we were able to sample three of the brews and see the brewing equipment.  The rain let up a bit, so then it was a walk through the market square to the St. Stephen's Cathedral, to visit an example of the early baroque style of architecture.

Our day ended with the Captain's Farewell dinner at which this picture was taken.  While we dined, the captain navigated us into the commercial shipyard.  It was another confirmation for me about the care with which Viking takes care of its guests.  Even if the water gets higher, we are safe and will be able to make our way tomorrow to Prague for one more day of this great vacation.