As I looked out of my living-room window into the dark enshrouded garden, listening to the wind blowing through the trees, my mind turned back to the Viking River Cruise trip Susan and I took down the river Elbe in May. This was our second trip with Viking River Cruises, our previous trip was in 2012 with a trip up the Danube. We flew out to Prague on Sunday 4th May and booked into the Hilton Hotel where we would stay overnight arriving mid afternoon. After booking in we arranged to meet my cousin Vince, who happened to work in Prague and he kindly showed us around the ancient city. I must say I was not impressed with the city or rather with the crowds. Vince did say that to see Prague it was best done mid week (Tuesday to Thursday) as from Friday to Monday in high season the city was crowded by tourists arriving or departing from their respective tours.
Day 2 Prague & Melnik
Our day started with a coach trip around the old town in Prague as the itinerary for the day stated “Tour Prague, “City of a Hundred Spires.” Take a guided walk through Old Town; then, ride to Hradcany to tour inside Prague Castle. After some free time to have lunch and explore on your own, transfer to Melnik to embark your ship and enjoy a welcome cocktail and dinner.” We were lucky to catch the changing of the guard ceremony, not as ceremonial as the one in London. I can sympathise with the troops having been in their position, guard duty is onerous at any time, but guard duty in the public eye and in ceremonial dress…! There is plenty to see in Prague as can be found here . After lunch we boarded our coach and made our way to Melnik where we boarded our boat – Clara Schuman.
Day 3 Litomerice
Our Day 3 itinerary - “Spend the morning cruising leisurely through the scenic area of Porta Bohemia on the Elbe. Arrive just after lunch in Litomerice, one of the prettiest towns in the Czech Republic. See St. Stephen’s Cathedral, the Jesuit Church, historic Market Square and many residential buildings from the baroque, Renaissance and Gothic periods. The tour ends with a tasting of beers from this Bohemian region”. It cannot be argued we did not have a nice leisurely cruise down river toward Litomerice. What we did not expect was the emergency evacuation drill as we approached our first set of locks on the Elbe. Thankfully it was a drill, if I recall correctly a mandatory drill. 
We re-boarded Clara and made our way down river to the town of Litomerice were we boarded our tour bus to take us up to the town square and our stroll through a picturesque centre. One thing struck me, I was walking through a town that I would never have been permitted to visit prior to the fall of the Berlin Wall and Eastern Bloc. As our tour along the Elbe continued I came to realise that the places we were visiting had been occupied by foreign troops since the end of WWII. All of them showed the impact of lack of investment and modernisation. However, on the other side was the value of tourism. Whilst some former Eastern Bloc citizens bemoaned the passing of the former state, many others were looking to a better future. We enjoyed our walking tour around the town and our visit to St Stephen’s Cathedral where, we were treated to an impromptu organ recital by one of our fellow passengers. As we were docked overnight we had the opportunity to revisit the town or enjoy an evening of folk culture in the boat’s main lounge after dinner. 
We certainly enjoyed the folk musicians and the dancer’s, mind you the one thing that sticks in my mind was the male dancer’s cry of “Aeyyyyyyyup”.
Day 4 Saxon Switzerland – “This morning, cruise through the magnificent, soaring rock formations of the Saxon Switzerland region, then dock at the spa town of Bad Schandau. From here we make our way to the famous rock tower known as the Bastei (bastion), formed by water a million years ago, to enjoy stunning panoramic views of the Elbe”. Nice simple itinerary, straight to the point”. What it failed to tell you was that you were entering another world, a world of giants, imagination and natural splendour. 
We cruised along a river covered in ethereal mist making our way to the town of Bad Schandau, a gentle cruise where we let the river towns pass us by, or rather we passed them by. We waved lazily to the boats coming upstream as we waited to enjoy our Chef’s cooking, we were to have delicacies from the region. I wish I could say that I had the willpower to resit the food on these cruises, but I’d be lying if I did. The crew dressed up in local costumes and our Cruise Director “Stephanie” wore her National Costume (alas I missed getting a picture of her – then). The lunch was superb, the service great. The crew really look after the passengers on these cruises. During lunch we had arrived at Bad Schandau and docked, thankfully we would not be on a walking tour straight after lunch, we were going by coach to the mountains. No words of mine can convey the splendour of the scenery or indeed the views from the rock towers (Bastei), instead I’ll let my camera speak for me with two shots from the scene: 
I hope I did capture the sense of wonder and scale of this region, more can be seen in the album attached to the blog. I know Susan and I enjoyed not only the views but also the historic site full of information on the formation of these sandstone cliffs. We returned to our floating hotel to relax before dinner. We left Bad Schandau and made our way to the historic (in more ways than one) City of Dresden arriving there in the evening light.
Day 5 Dresden - “Awaken in Dresden, nicknamed “Florence on the Elbe,” and embark on a tour just after breakfast. Drive through the 19th-century residential area to the Dresden Castle complex; enter the Green Vault to see a comprehensive collection of the Saxon monarchs’ crown jewels. Continue on foot to see Zwinger Palace, Semper Opera House and the Frauenkirche (Church of Our Lady) with its distinctive bell-shaped dome, which survived the World War II bombings but collapsed the following day and was later rebuilt”.
The daily itinerary comes up short with regard to the fate of Dresden during the 2nd World War. Between 13 and 15th Feb 1945 the town was razed by allied bombing raids. The image on the right shows the extent of the damage (Bundesarchiv, Bild 183-Z0309-310 / CC-BY-SA [CC-BY-SA-3.0-de (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/de/deed.en)], via Wikimedia Commons). Extract from Wikipedia “After the Second World War, Dresden became a major industrial centre n the German Democratic Republic (former East Germany) with a great deal of research infrastructure. 
Many important historic buildings were rebuilt, including the Semper Opera House, the Zwinger Palace and a great many other historic buildings, although the city leaders chose to reconstruct large areas of the city in a “socialist modern” style, partly for economic reasons, but also to break away from the city’s past as the royal capital of Saxony and a stronghold of the German bourgeoisie. However, some of the bombed-out ruins of churches, royal buildings and palaces, such as the Gothic Sophienkirche, the Alberttheater and the Wackerbarth-Palais were razed by the Soviet and East German authorities in the 1950s and 1960s instead of being repaired. Compared to West Germany, the majority of historic buildings were saved”. In 2005 the restoration of the Lutheran Frauenkirche was completed. As our guide pointed out, we were standing in a centre that was rubble 10 years ago. As we were booked to stay overnight Susan and I had a long walk around the old centre and to say we were impressed with the reconstruction is an understatement. They had rebuilt the Sempre Opera house, museums and palaces back to the original style.
Day 6 Meissen & Torgau- “This morning, arrive in Meissen. Visit the Meissenware factory, which has produced fine porcelain since the early 1700s. See firsthand how this trademarked porcelain is created and tour the museum. Proceed to Castle Hill for a walking tour through the Old Town. Return aboard for lunch and an afternoon departure…..”
I have no memory of how Meissen looked. We did take a walk around part of the town. However, if I recall correctly it was a local holiday and the town was closed down. We did not do the Meissenware factory tour having previously toured the Delft factory on another cruise in 2011.
“……Later, arrive in Torgau with its wonderful Renaissance houses. Join your Program Director for an evening stroll to see fortified 
Hartenfels Castle, Market Square and the riverside monument commemorating the historic 1945 meeting between Russian and American troops”.
We did tour Torgau when we arrived. Alas our arrival time was bang on closing time for the castle and other sites. However, we began to hear more of a certain monk from the town of Wittenberg. In Torgau is the house where Katharina Luther died in 1552.
Day 7 Wittenberg – “Today you cruise the Elbe and arrive after lunch in Wittenberg, birthplace of the Reformation. Follow in Martin Luther’s footsteps to view many of Wittenberg’s historic landmarks. Tour inside Luther’s House and St. Marien’s Church, where he preached. See the Castle Church where Luther posted his 95 Theses; then explore on your own”.
After a pleasant cruise down the Elbe from Torgau and a very enjoyable lunch we arrived near Wittenberg. It was here that a former Augustinian monk on the 31st October 1517 wrote a letter to his bishop protesting the sale of indulgences enclosing in the letter a copy of “Disputation of Martin Luther on the Power and Efficacy of Indulgences”. This became known as The Ninety-Five Theses, thus began the protestant movement from the church of Rome. We boarded our bus at the dock to head to Wittenberg and visit the former house of Martin Luther. 
As it turned out we never toured the house. We did start but there were too many people trying to cram into the museumand by the time we got to the first historical artefact the guide was talking about the forth object in another room. Instead Susan and I decided to take a walk around the town. As expected the historic element of the town attracts many visitors from all over the world. One thing we had not indulged in was the Café and Tort treat (Coffee and Cake), we took the opportunity to do so at Wittenberg. We found an old fashion café, the interior was covered in bric-a-bac with a nice homely feel to it. It was very popular with lots of people meeting up with each other. I try my best to speak German, sometime with good results, however, on this instance I was left deflated. I placed our order “Zwie café and Tort” in what I thought was reasonable German. Susan said my face was a picture when the waitress replied in perfect English, with a hint of Northern England ”What type of cake Sir”. Ah well at least we got our coffee and cake.
Day 8 Dessau & Magdeburg – “Arrive this morning in Dessau. Take a journey to Wörlitz Park, Germany’s first landscaped park with English-style gardens. Tour inside Wörlitz Castle, fashioned after an English country home, and walk the grounds. Return to your ship for lunch aboard and an afternoon departure. Dine aboard as we arrive in Magdeburg, where we dock for the night. This evening, join your ship’s Captain for a festive dinner on board”. Interesting day ahead and an even more interesting evening.
It turned out that to get to Worliz Park 
involved a longer coach trip and our on-board local guides related their life experiences under the former East Germany State and Russian rule. Harrowing stuff indeed, although their life style had improved, and that applied to many, there were some who were upset that there was no longer full employment. The residents of Worliz now had to rely on the tourist trade for their living. However, we were told that employment investment was coming into the area. One of the attractions in visiting the park is a boat ride around the lake. Our Tour Director referred to them as gondolas. Now to me gondolas are boats in Venice with very distinctive shape. As you will see from my photograph the gondolas for Worliz Park are different. 
Up until then we had been lucky with the weather, that was now to change. The weather turned and we had heavy rain on our trip back to the boat. We arrived back in plenty of time to have a rest and drink before getting ready for “Captain’s Dinner”. All I can say is our Chefs pulled out all the stops. Our meals on board were of a very high standard, but this meal was above superb. I was very honoured at dinner as Stephanie had got the Captain’s permission to change into her national costume so I could have my photo taken with her. Yes that is me in my kilt, I am a Scot after all.
Day 9 Potsdam & Berlin - “After breakfast, disembark and travel to Potsdam, historic capital of the German state of Brandenburg. Tour either Sanssouci Palace, a perfect example of German rococo architecture, or the nearby New Chambers—both built by Prussian King Frederick the Great in the 18th century. After lunch on your own, we proceed to the dynamic German capital of Berlin. Check in to your hotel and take the rest of the day to explore the city on your own. Our last morning on board the Clara Schuman, we would be leaving the boat to board our coach to take us to Potsdam and then to our final destination Berlin”.
Potsdam We had opted to visit Sanssouci Palace in the Sanssouci Park rather than New Chambers. We were gambling on the weather as it had changed for the worse. Alas as we arrived at the park the heavens opened and we were under a deluge of rain. Thankfully it was of a very short duration and we were suddenly under blue skies and white cloud. 
Seeing as how the weather changed we opted to take a walk around the park and admired the buildings and gardens. When we all returned to the coach and headed back to Potsdam to have lunch. 
Berlin the once, and since reunification again, the Capitol of Germany. What does Berlin mean to you? To me it was a divided city until 1989/1990. Used in many Cold War spy books as the centre of East/West conflict and of course the famous Check Point Charlie. 
It came as a shock, but it should not have, when I discovered that our Hilton Hotel (where we were staying) was in the former East Germany. There are some remnants of the former wall and the Check Point Charlie shown in the above photo is reconstructed as a memorial to those days when Berlin was split in two and West Berlin was surrounded by East Germany. Nowadays it may be a modern joined city but it still has an atmosphere of a lively city where the residents are intent on enjoying life. We had two places we wanted to see in evening light. Unter den Linden and the Berlin Brandenburg Gate.
Tomorrow would be day 10 and we would be heading for Tegel Airport and Edinburgh and delayed baggage. Would we go again,yes, it was interesting and we enjoyed the cruise. Viking River Cruise staff were very attentive, The bar staff were very good at their job and chatted with all. I cannot fault the crew of Clara Schuman, our slightest request was treated as a priority command. The food was excellent and the cabin clean and spacious. I would not have missed the cruise as it let me see a part of the world I would never have been allowed to visit if the cold war was still on.
Clara Schuman Crew – Alas I have forgotten their names (Apart from Stephanie).
I hope you have enjoyed this blog and I hope you will take a cruise on the Elbe to see for yourself the different cultures, style and cuisine. Please take a look at the album of the trip. Link to Album
