Sunday, 20 May 2018: Prague, Czech Republic

Today we are in Prague in the Czech Republic, and we are about to embark on a river cruise along the Elbe, followed by a three-week driving tour of Germany.  Yesterday we took a short city bus tour of Prague, and then spent the rest of yesterday and today walking along the Vltava (Moldau) in Prague, sampling the local food, and trying to recover from a missed night of sleep and jetlag.

The Vltava River, also known as The Moldau

Svickova: Beef in vegetable cream sauce, with bread dumplings at The Gate

On one of our walks, we found a wonderful concert to go to: The Josef Suk Piano Quartet at the Rudolfinum.  The quartet is named after Josef Suk, the great-grandson of Antonín Dvořák.  The quartet consists of piano, violin, viola and cello, and they played pieces by Mozart, Bach, Dvořák, and Suk. The venue and the performance were perfect!

Josef Suk Quartet Concert at the Rudolfinum in Prague, Saturday, 19 May 2018.

After our cruise, we are going to visit the towns rom which our ancestors emigrated. Dan's mother's family, the Buchners, came from Schmidühlen in Bavaria in 1885.  My father's mother's family, the Schmidts, came from Elmshorn in Schleswig-Holstein) in 1872.

We will also attend the 2018 Bach-Fest in Leipzig in mid-June and visit significant places in Johann Sebastian Bach's life along the way:

• Eisenach (1685-1695) where he was born on March 31st. He lived here until he was orphaned at age 10.
• Ohrdruf (1695-1700) He lived here with his oldest brother and learned to play the organ.
• Lüneberg (1700-1703) He attended the Michaelis choir school here from age 15 to 18.
• Arnstadt (1703-1706) His first post as church organist. He composed many organ works here.
• Mühlausen (1707) Another post as organist. He married his first wife, Marie Barbara, here.
• Weimar (1708-1717) A major post as organist and concertmaster at the courts of Dukes Wilhelm Ernst and Ernst August. He composed organ works and his first cantatas here.
• Köthen (1717-1722) Kapellmeister to Prince Leopold. He composed the Brandenburg Concertos here. His first wife died here in 1721. He married Anna Magdalena in 1722.
• Leipzig (1723-1750) Cantor at the Thomaskirche from 1723-1750. He composed his greatest works here: the Passions, the B-Minor Mass, Well-Tempered Clavier,  Goldberg Variations, The Art of the Fugue, the Orchestral Suites, and my two favorite Cantatas, Herz und Mund und Tat und Leben (BWV 147) and Ein Feste Burg ist unser Gott (BWV 80). He died in Leipzig on the 28th of July 1750. He is buried in the Thomaskirche.  Anna Magdalena died ten years later, in 1760.

Finally, we'll take a seaside break in Timmendorfer Strand.  Along the way we'll visit friends in Berlin, Rosenheim, and Hamburg.

Relief map of Germany, with a political map overlay

Here is a link to an Interactive map I made, which shows places we will visit, plus significant places in JS Bach's life.

May 18 Map: Walks around Prague

May 19 Map: City bus tour around Prague

May 20 Map: Bus to Děčín, Czech Republic. River cruise toward Dresden.