These three words became the words describing our trip from Berlin to Prague!

We arrived in Berlin, checked into our Hotel and decided to go to the city center for something to eat. We walked to the the bus stop and got on the bus. When we tried to pay for the fare the driver kept pointing to the machine and saying, “Kapoot!” So we enjoyed a free ride downtown. We walked around, found an internet cafe and had a nice salad dinner near the main cathedral which had been bombed. Parts of the original structure was still standing and they built a new cathedral, which to us looked out of place. You have to realize there are soooo many buses. When we walked to the bus stop, we got on the bus and it was the “kapoot” bus! We saved $20.00! which paid for our supper. God’s blessings are even in the “little” things.

On Wednesday we picked up our rental car at the airport and headed for Prague. This became our “backtrack” part of the trip. Lou became a master of “U” turns as we found our way out of Berlin. We arrived safely in Dresden and spent a couple hours walking around the city center. How amazing to see buildings still black from the bombs which exploded in this place. The cathedral, opera house and other buildings have been restored to their “original” state, which seems impossible to us, except that there were pictures documenting the process. We had a “German” lunch in a really cool place filled with antique lights and furniture.

We left Dresden and once again headed for Prague. Once again “backtrack” became a part of our journey. In fact we went through three really long tunnels in both directions! We had a good laugh. Soon we were approaching the Czech border in “pea soup” weather. Not doing our homework, we didn’t realize we would be driving through some mountains. The higher we got, the thicker the pea soup became. We stayed in the left lane and passed at lease three miles of trucks waiting to cross the border. When we came to a stop, we met our guardian angel. A lady behind us got out of her car and came to Lou’s window. She told us we didn’t have our “fog” lights on. As soon as we passed through the check point, she got in front of us and “led” the way. Just before we entered another couple tunnels, she turned off. Of course when we came out the other side of the tunnels, we were lower and the fog was gone. We thanked God for our “guardian angel” and continued on to Prague.

With the wonderful directions Kelly Prudek gave us, we drove right to our Pension. We telephoned Kelly and she walked us to a Pakistani restaurant for supper. It was fun to eat this food and talk about India. The “funny part” was trying to pay our bill. We had US dollars, Ukrainian grevna, Euros, and charge cards… none of which are really taken here… they use “crowns.” Fortunately they had a computer and were able to change their crowns to Euros. Always fun. We again followed Kelly’s great directions and walked back to our Pension.

Today we are at the Prudeks, learning about Czech history. They will soon take us on a tour of their “work” here.

So, that is all for now. Will write more when we can.

Ruiz’s/Setters