Train stations

I am quite behind on my blogs, so forgive them for being out of order. The whole trip will make it up...eventually. Maybe.

Ah, Germany. The country of kraut, sausages, and beer. I never thought much about Germany before I went there on this trip. I now have fabulous memories of it.

I've a friend who lives in Nuremberg who graciously allowed me to stay with her for a few days before my partially ill-fated trip to Ireland. I dropped M. and DH off at the metro and headed to the train station in Prague. The train I was planning on taking left at one p.m. It was about nine a.m., so I thought I could buy my ticket, grab lunch with the sixty crowns I had left, and then catch the train. The ticket man had other ideas. He booked me on the morning departure, so I had just enough time to grab a Coke and jump on the train.

The trains are an interesting ordeal. Some of the seats are reserved. Some are first-come, first-serve. I have yet to figure out how one tells the difference. I chose poorly my first go around. I tucked my bags in the overhead compartment and settled in to listen to "Agreeing to Disagree". About twenty minutes later I was interrupted by a couple who had somehow magically reserved the seat I was occupying. I spent the next five minutes standing in limbo land between the train cars. Scary place, limbo. The old westerns had it wrong. It is not adventurous to jump over the speeding rails. It is idiotic.

Wandered down the aisle in the next car and found an open seat. Hooray! Border patrol came through and checked my passport, but didn't stamp it. I find this curious. I also did not get a stamp when I entered or left Czech. What if I was a spy or a fugitive? I could totally have hidden in Czech.

My Czech is bad. My German/Deutsch is non-existent. This did not stop me from trying. I made friends with the elderly German couple in my car despite the language barrier. Sign language and smiling covers all manner of sins. They took me under their wing and helped me with the transfer in Schwandorf. I'm sure that they announced the transfer, but announcements in German are not very helpful to me.

Arrived at the train station several hours early. No wifi. No cellphone. No Euros. Sigh. I found a bank of payphones with instructions - also in German. I really envied all of my multilingual friends at that moment. An hour or so later, I finally figured out how to work the phone and reached Shara. She picked me up at the train station and my German adventure began.