Prague, Czech Republic: The last day of cruising on the Elbe, the day at the southern end of the route they cruise, is the prettiest, most scenic, etc. everyone said so. Many folks were on the sundeck taking pix. Obviously, if you were doing the river cruise in the other direction, beginning in Prague and ending at Hamburg, the first day would be the best.
Then we went by bus to a place called Bastei Rocks that had amazing on-high views of what we in the American West call "hoo-doos" or rock formations that stand up vertically. Except these weren't red or yellow sandstone, but more like gray sandstone.
All of this was wrapped around a continuation of the Elbe with railroad tracks alongside; we were up so high the whole thing looking like a model train layout. These were some great views and a place to have lunch, too. Many in our party had a bratwurst and a beer, eaten outdoors in a biergarten-like setting, the DrsC had ice cream cones.
We arrived here in Prague in beautiful, shirt-sleeve weather, real Goldilocks stuff - not too hot, not too cold. Prague is a pretty city in the European way of being pretty; which is to say, nothing much modern, lots of ornate old stuff.
Our guide says they're still trying to clean up Prague after roughly 50 years of neglect under the Communists. They've had over 20 years since Communism went bye-bye but still haven't made much progress. I guess they have needed to work on neglected sewers, water systems, schools, and roads more than facade clean-up.
For reasons unclear to me, Communists never seemed to do much maintenance. I'm sure there is an obscure explanation buried somewhere in the "Communist rationale." I'd bet it was a need to show progress when little was possible, so emphasis was placed on showy new projects at the expense of keeping up existing plant.
This is a characteristic of former Communist states we've seen elsewhere - particularly in Russia. Moscow is littered with enormous apartment blocks looking really run-down and nasty.
