Singing in the Rain

After the dizzying heights of Cologne we headed to Bamburg, a small attractive town in the south of Germany known for beer (spoken of with such reverence that they generally used a capital for Beer). We arrived on the Saturday afternoon and decided to head out on the town to sample their speciality – smoked beer. If you can imagine drinking liquidised smoky bacon crisps (or licking the inside of a barbeque) then you are getting there. Unfortunately for the non beer drinkers amongst us, they do a spirit version as well, so no one was immune. The Bamburg economy will thank us for our visit however, as we appeared to be pretty much the only people out in the town. The barman was so happy to see us at the “Texican” (no, I didn’t think that was a word either) restaurant that when asked when they closed he replied, when you leave, we close. That was a challenge that was too much for some to refuse, while others of us returned to camp. We returned to Bamburg in the morning to wander the streets in the light drizzle. Visited the cathedral, and managed to find a creperie that sold hot chocolate as well. It wasn’t quite strudel, but it was close… An afternoon of driving delivered us to Prague which unfortunately had no better weather, and we raced to put the camp up between showers. Another fantastic meal, this time Goulash, and a couple of cheeky drinks before heading to bed in preparation for a full day of sightseeing on the Sunday. Prague is a beautiful city – unbelievably ornate and decorative (and hilly, it must be said). Unfortunately with beauty comes tourists, and tour guides carrying umbrellas (sometimes with cuddly toys tied to the pointy end of them) and some with microphones. Our first day there was a Sunday, and it appeared that the whole of the German, Italian and French population over the age of 65 had converged on the town. We wandered around the Castle and learnt many fascinating facts about its construction. As the host of “Archer’s Facts at Five” every afternoon, it was almost as wonderful as the walking tour that I did on the next day! It was then time to experience culture of another type, and go to the Irish pub to watch the final of the hurling as we have a significant Irish contingent amongst us, and they were keen to share their game with us. Unfortunately hurling appears to be a game that is only understood by the Irish, as to the rest of us it looks like a relatively quick, but painful way to die. Any sport that involves bathing in ice every night after training is not the sport for me. We emerged from the pub to discover that the sun had come out (oops), and headed to dinner and a couple more drinks. I had a lovely meal of roast duck, red cabbage and potato dumplings. The food on the trip has been fabulous, and has unfortunately put paid to my dreams of being bikini ready by south east asia. It is quite amazing what feasts for 23 people can be prepared with 4 gas rings on the side of a truck, and that is not to mention the culinary highlight of apple strudel and cream that has stayed with us well into the Czech Republic. Monday in Prague is slightly less busy than on the weekend, and Lesley and I went off to do a free walking tour. It was not as good as the one in Berlin (for those of you that I have raved about that to), but it was still fascinating for a fact hound such as myself. How else would I have learnt that in 2002 there was a flood which was so bad that one of the seals was able to escape from the zoo, or that the female ruler in the mid 1800’s decided that the Castle should look more uniform so put up a façade over the whole thing, therefore there are windows in the façade that don’t correspond to the windows in the original building so therefore provide limited visibility? It was the castle renovation equivalent of wearing shoes that are massively uncomfortable, but look good. There were many historical facts and dates and Hapsburgs and Luxembourgs and other dynasties, but I only seem to remember the random ones… Next stop Hungary.