Germany Back to Prague

The Castle was really beautiful, but has a bit of a strange story.  The king died before it was finished, so only a fraction of the planned rooms were actually built.  In the tour we jumped from the first floor to the third floor because the second doesn't really exist.  After the tour, some of the group was anxious to get back to Munich, so we all hopped back on the train.  Jeny had to run home, so Anders and I walked around the main part of town again, seeing the differences between the nighttime and daytime atmosphere.  On Thursday, it was a sleep-in recovery day from all the busy days before.  We met Jeny at the train station and went out to the suburb where she lives.  We met her host dad, brother, and sister at the house, and then went out to Dachau work camp. Perhaps it was because we had to rush through the exhibits, so maybe because most of the camp had been destroyed, but it didn't have the same eerie feeling like I experienced at Terezin.  It was still interesting to  walk around the grounds at dusk.  Back in Munich, we saw the Hoffbrau house, but decided it was too crowded.  Right across the street was the Augustiner house, another local beer, so we sampled the local food and drink for a couple of hours.  Friday was Jeny's birthday, but she was busy in the morning.  Anders and I finished up our tourist shopping and checked out of the hostel before strolling through some side neighborhoods and some of the nearby parks.  Jeny and her family had tickets to the circus, but we had a train to catch mid-afternoon, so the group of us met up and gave Jeny her presents before the circus started.  The train ride was much less exciting on the way back, although we had to move twice in order to get into a second class compartment going all the way to Prague.  We arrived in Prague close to midnight, found out hostel, and collapsed in bed.  The next morning we were up at a reasonable time to continue our sight seeing adventures.  First stop was St. Nicholas church in Mala Strana, then up to the castle.  The tower and the crypts were closed for repair/maintenance in the winter, but we could see the cathedral and the grounds.  Over on Petrin, we did the mirror maze and climbed the Eiffel tower, surrounded by locals who were out enjoying the fairly warm day.  Snack was back on Wenceslas square, then we went into a photo gallery of a Czech Photographer whose name escapes me now.  Dinner was more typical food in a small restaurant off the beat path, again away from the tourists.  The next day Anders flew back to Sweden, and I started my trek back up to Trutnov to re-immerse myself into my family life from two years ago.