Okay, here we go! We were a bit nervous leaving Berlin, as is normal at the start of a trip. Fortunately, we picked the quietest day on the roads since Germany were last in the World Cup Final.

The journey was fast and easy, except for the bit just over the Czech border where the motorway disappeared and became a dodgy, patched up road- very Eastern Europe. A tip for bikers- you do not need a vignette to use the motorways in Czech. They are free for bikes so no need to stop at the border and buy one.

We booked into the Eurostars David Hotel in the “new” town. The Art Nouveau style of this part of the city reminded us of Barcelona. We really want to like Prague but we just don`t. It underwhelms us. It lacks the atmosphere of the Italian and Spanish cities that we love.

We visited an English and an Irish pub to drink some beer and cider and eat Walkers crisps. Us expats are easily satisfied. We also find Czech pubs either too touristy or too local and a bit scary so we played safe. Czech beer is nowhere near as good as German beer. Call us fussy but we would rather pay extra for German beer. Once you have gone German, it is hard to go back- this only applies to beer.

Predictably, we end the first night in an Indian restaurant- Indian Jewel, opposite The Dubliner in the old town. The total lack of good Indian food in Berlin, leads us to seek out curries on our travels. Helen´s dahl was excellent but Dave´s curry was not spicy enough for a Brit and disappointing. We still ate too much though and waddled back to the hotel early to avoid the match, hoping we could pretend it was not happening.