I drove us from Chemnitz to Prague and Jen had mapped out a route that took us to a coffee stop in a cute German town and then lunch somewhere else. On the way, she revised the plan to 2 different stops which included a visit to some scenic bridge in the Saxony-Switzerland National Park, which is entirely in Germany and nowhere near Switzerland. 

I negotiated the highways and rural roads ok although it’s disconcerting when the speed limit changes to 70 every time you approach an intersection and 50 or 30 near a town. Sometimes the speed limit can change 2 or 3 times within 1km.

The scenic town for coffee turned out to be Meissen, famous for its porcelain and which has a castle overlooking the Elbe River. It’s certainly pretty but involved a bit of hill and step climbing on cobblestones which was an effort in non-ideal shoes (I thought we were going to coffee stops in a couple of scenic villages).

We got ourselves up to the castle and enjoyed the views and had a good hike around.  That meant up and down some quite steep flights of stairs. Eventually (pdesperate for coffee by this stage) we found our way back to a bakery which was just around the corner from where we parked. They did delicious breads and cakes and very good coffee!

Getting the coffee was also an issue. All cafes seemed to be closed. Perhaps it was due to being Monday, but then nothing other than inns were open before 11.45! 

Then it was up the road for half an hour to this Switzerland National Park place. We arrived at a car park amidst loads of trees and people walking in. It reminded me of the entrance to the Whakarewarewa forest trails.

After a short walk we came to the hotel place and then down some paths and all of a sudden these views out over the valleys in 3 directions where there are these amazing rock formations. 

The bridge where we were going was about 500m down the hill and is a stone structure completed in the early 1800s (replacing a wooden structure built a century previously) that connects several rock outcrops and enables fantastic views. There are also other viewpoints from constructed platforms a short distance away. It was absolutely worth the walk down and up (in slightly impractical shoes). 

We had a drink before heading off for Prague. Actually we shared drinks with multiple wasps that seem to follow us around Europe. 

I’m not a huge fan of autobahn driving. It’s quite stressful as you’re forever changing lanes at high speed to allow merging traffic to join and faster traffic to overtake. I was happy to return the car to Hertz in Prague in what was the most efficient rental car return depot we’ve ever encountered. Pull up, drive into this place like a car wash, where the car is filmed, drive out, park and hand over your keys and documents!

We had ordered a pick up shuttle which was also very efficient and he delivered us to our apartment which is on the side of the main square in Prague, just 150m from the clock tower. Perfect.