Konopiste

Going through the castle map we happened upon another nearby castle, that I noticed was right next to my friends Kate's home. We decided to give it a shot, and I texted Kate to tell her we were coming. We took the train, which took almost an hour, mainly because it's a communter train, and Kate met us at the station. The walk up to the castle is mostly through the castle grounds which are now a state park. The day was sunny and warm and a walk through the gardens was very relaxing and fun.
The castle is the first I've seen that has bears in residence in the former moat. So you see several pictures of that. We wandered the grouds for a while, includin gthe famous rose gardens. Eventually Kate had to leave, and Megan and I stopped for lunch at the Barrel Restaurant for some Klobasa. We went back up to the castle and did one of the tours which I think we both really enjoyed. The last owner of the castle was the guy whose assasination sparked WW1. Afterwards we walked back into teh nearby town of Benesov and got some pictures of their cathedral and what appears to be a single remaining Cathedral wall fragment. Someday I will translate all the explanatory sign I take pictures of. Speaking of which...

Dresden

My 90 days was up. I had to get out of the country, but I was also broke, so I decided on Dresden Megan had been there twice before and had had a reasonably bad trip each time. I was hoping to at least have a pleasant day. In fact I was very happy. We followed a walking tour out of Megan's guidbook which took us around the city to see all the beautiful and historic buildings. This year is a big anniversary for Dresden and they have been trying really hard for over a decade to get the place repaired from WW2 and 50 years of communism. They've done a great job. The only scaffolding was over the front of the royal palace. You can see from my photos that the skyline has been fully repaired. We had lots of time so we strolled for most of the day, and it was mostly not too hot. There are some really romantic spots and lots of fountains and parks in Dresden so it was nice to be strolling along. We managed to have some traditional german food in the shadow of a beautiful cathedral. I also had my first opportunity to compare authentic German beer to my beloved Czech beer, and while the German beer was good, I must say it doesnt compare favorably. In the end Megan finally had a nice visit to Dresden and I got my passport stamp. Pictures...