The route – railway and river – cleaves a path through forest-cloaked limestone mountains, where affluent Saxon riverside hamlets are looked down upon by clifftop castles that would make perfect images for jigsaw puzzles.  Above them, kites and the occasional buzzard watch paddle steamers out for a Saturday evening cruise.

Limestone cliffs above the Elbe from the Dresden-Prague train

This tautologous waterway – Elbe being the High German word for ‘river’, from the Latin ‘albis’ – snakes a northbound course of close to 700 miles from its source in the Sudeten Mountains, eventually emptying into the North Sea above Hamburg.  I’m going against current, then.   

The change in wealth seems evident as we approach the invisible border.  The large, sloping roofs of German wooden-framed country homes are replaced with pastel pinks and yellows interspersed with the grey legacy of communist-era blocks in the first Czech stops: Decin, Usti Nad, Lovosice.

The Elbe is replaced by another trusty companion, the Vltava, which will provide safe escort as the route continues south to Prague.

Until now I had been the sole-occupant of my six-seat compartment, but now I’m joined by an attractive companion (think Elle Fanning) who asks permission to take up residence with the international mime for ‘is anyone sitting there?’.  I arrive at the assumption that she’s travelling from her hometown to Prague for study or work and continue to watch the Vltava roll through North Bohemia whilst conjuring ideas on how to start conversation.  Remembering the packet of Haribo in my jacket pocket, I conclude that the most chivalrous way to break the ice would be to offer the opportunity to pick a selection of sugary gelatine and E-numbers, but no dice: during my period of hesitancy, she’s already dozed off.  I’ve definitely been here before.

Dusk is settling over the Prague hinterlands.  These hills are adorned not with those Saxon castles, but with illuminated tenement citadels. 

It’s fallen dark upon arrival in Prague – I can wait until tomorrow to see what it brings.  Now I need to navigate my way through a typically suspect-looking transport terminus park to find my hotel.  No need to worry about finding somewhere to eat: I’ve just finished a bag of Tang Fastics all to myself.