September 18, 2026 - Friday - Hiking in the Saxon Switzerland National Park

Alex offered to take us hiking today which sounded great after being on trains and in cities the last couple of weeks. We had breakfast at the hotel and found a nearby bakery to buy sandwiches for lunch. Alex picked us up at 8:00 in front of the hotel and we drove for 50 minutes toward the Czech Republic border to the park. The park resides in both Germany and the Czech Republic.

There are a lot of trails but not much parking so Alex got us there early enough to find a spot. He said you can get there using public transportation but it’s a combination of trains and ferry and bus. This park has rock formations like our Chiricahua National Monument at home. We climbed 1,200 ft through a maze of rocks, ladders and metal stairs. Like everything we have found in Europe, everything is built to last. Very rugged steel structures and fairly safe. Alex used his Garmin GPS to keep us going in the right direction. He’s hiked a lot here but there’s a maze of trails. And the trails are very sandy probably because of all the sandstone.

We made it to the top and had a toast of eggnog schnapps in chocolate cups with a couple we met from New Zealand. Then down down down, more ladders and stairs and rocks. At the bottom was a restaurant where we had beers (and tea for Deb) then walked the road to the car. We walked a total of about 10 km today. Deb and I ate our sandwiches in the car while Alex crossed into the Czech Republic to look for cheap gasoline. There was a huge line so we headed back to Dresden. Gas is over $10 a gallon here (compared to $4.25 back home). The war in Iran has driven prices up all over the world.

We arrived back in Dresden at Alex and Emily’s apartment and got a tour. They live on the fifth floor in a nice apartment with a great view from the fifth floor (91 steps).

Their children, Jakob (12)  and Ellie (10) called and said they had a table at the outdoor restaurant/biergarten around the corner. What impressed us was how young kids here can just hop on the tram or bus by themselves and feel completely safe.

We had a wonderful outside afternoon dinner and then the kids showed us to the tram stop and told us which tram to wait for and where to get off to get to our hotel.

We ran out of Euros today so we found an ATM on the walk to the hotel and got a few more. We go home in a few days so ww’re trying to end up with no Euros by the time we leave. The Euro is equal to $1.15 right now. You always need some euro coins in your pocket because there are pay toilets here (.50 to 1.50 Euros). Alex said tipping here is just starting but it is 10% or so unless you are in tourist areas.

Hot showers and bed.