At the foot of the German Alps

We took the slow train from Regensburg to Füßen, stopping for a lunch (Käsespätzle, of course!) in München. From there, as we went south, the mountains came out of the clouds. The land became more rolling, swiss cows replacing wheat fields, hay sheds dotting green fields. The alps grew taller with every mile, without as much of the hilly preamble that those of us who live near the North Cascades are accustomed to. They are green shouldered and stone toothed, and standing on the top of the nearest shows nothing but spines running east-west as far as the eye can see. We went as far south as we could by train, and stepped off the platform in Füßen, at the foot of the mountains.

Palace Neuschwanstein, Hohenschwangau (knight's castle turned palace), Füßen to the far west

Regensburg, St Paul's Cathedral

We discovered one of my new favorite towns in Germany on a quick stopover from Prague to the Alps. It has all my favorites: Roman gates, a towering cathedral with medieval foundations and Gothic spires, twisting streets, pedestrian bridge from the 1100's that connects a biergarten on one side of the river with the ice cream spot on the other... 

Regensburg across the River

Finding magic in Prague

Prague is one of my favorite cities, and not just because far-away friends often come and wander about with me when I'm there. It is truly a gorgeous city, with gilded theaters and graceful arched bridges, and the thousand spires it is famous for. The one thing I don't care for is the press of tourists, from gangs of Brits on stag parties to flag waving tour group leaders trailing mats of cameras like boats trail millfoil. It is frantic, loud, a press of people. But there is a magic moment in the day, after the sun rises but before the tourists do, when cafés are grinding espresso and shopkeepers flick cigarette butts from their doorsteps with straw brooms. 

the canal on the south side of the river, looking towards the National Theater