Traveling by train and jet lag

Hello Everyone!

Today we are weary travelers. We started out the morning early, by catching the 6 am shuttle rather than the 6:30 am shuttle to the airport. We knew there were many people scheduled for the 6:30 am shuttle and with the amount of luggage we had, we opted for the earlier one. Here are the adventures of today (Sunday Oct 12).

Jan and Christy's point of view (Together because we are tired! Christy is typing, so please excuse any typographical errors!)

Well, last night I (Christy) barely slept. You might as well say I napped for an hour around 10 - 11 pm local time. But then I woke up, and read almost an entire book. I had only read the first 3 chapters before my reading marathon started. I turned off my light at 4:30 am, knowing that the wake-up call was suppose to come at 5:30 am, but instead it came at 5:15 am. I guess they really wanted us out of there! Anyway, after packing up the room, we met the most friendly shuttle driver (Martine) while staying in Munich. He took us to the drop-off point for the S Bahn (subway) where we boarded the S8 line to take us to Hauptbahnhof Central Station. Well, that WAS the plan anyway. In my sleep deprived state, I did not hear an announcement correctly, so we got off the S8 at Ostbahnhof, and boarded the S1 line which took us to Hauptbahnhof anyway. :) Good thing we had plenty of time to arrive at the train station.

Once we arrived at the Central station, we went up 2 levels to the train platform. Platform 26 was our departure platform. But since we had left so early, we had 2 hours to wait. (I told you Mom likes to be places early!!!) Mom wanted to find a restroom, but we found out that they didn't open until 8 am. I guess no one has to use them before 8 am in Europe. So we found the DB Lounge to wait for our train and the restroom to open. The lounge was indoors, heated and had seats unlike just waiting at the platform. It was a chilly and foggy morning, so we were happy to find a place inside to wait. There were a few other passengers in the lounge as well. But only until the police showed up. When they showed up, they asked each person to show their train ticket. Well, they were speaking in German and Mom and I didn't know what was going on at first. All of the non-ticketed people (i.e. the homeless) were told to leave the lounge, and apparently you aren't allowed to sleep in there either. Too bad, we both could have used a little nap. When the police came to where we were sitting, I simply said "Pardon me?", and then the policeman asked to see our ticket in English. Thank goodness! Mom says that her St. Michael the Archangel medal is keeping us safe. I felt like the Gestapo were after us, except they weren't really secrect!

At 8 am, Mom went down the use the restroom, only to find out that it cost 1.10 EUR. I just decided to hold it...meaning a 6 hour trip!!!!!

At 8:15 am we were able to board the Alex 455 train to Praha. This was about a half hour before departure, but it was good to board early and get our luggage settled in the compartment. We almost had it to ourselves, but at the last minute had 3 university students join us. They chattered in English quite well, and so at least we knew what was going on. A fourth friend of their's had their train tickets, and was late and completely missed the train. However, the 3 girls were able to purchase new tickets on the train. Our tickets were stamped on both the German and Czech sides of the boarder, but they didn't stamp our passports. It makes us sad, because we really wanted a Czech stamp in our passport books!

The 3 girls got off the train in Plzen, and we were joined by a brother and sister pair. The brother (Wenceslas) was 10 years old and is just starting to learn English. He was quite proud to tell us "My name is telephone number!" We and his sister got a kick out of this. His sister Ludmilla is a university student and also works. Her employer pays for her to take English lessons, and it was very easy to discuss things with her. I did ask for advise on what to eat while I am here, so that I don't have another unfortunate eating experience. Dumplings it is!!

So when Wenceslas and Ludmilla got on the train, they got their lunch out, and my heavens, if I had eaten I would have thrown up! You guessed it...bologna, or something very close to it! The smell of the bologna and garlic permeated our cozy train compartment. The smell along with the motion of the train gave me that quesey feel for the rest of the train trip, about 1.5 hours. Please do not send me anything bologna scented...I will throw up!

We did get to see the beautiful countryside between Germany and the Czech Republic. Sorry that we don't have any pictures of it, but the train was moving too fast to get any good shots. The fall colors are in full force here in Central Europe. The leaves are brilliant yellows, oranges and burnt reds. They smell pretty good too!!!

When we departed from the train with luggage in tow, a man decided that Mom and I needed help. And while we did, we wished we could have taken the time to get a good view of the subway station, figure out where to go, exchange money, get tourist information etc. Instead we were rushed to the tourist info booth where I was able to get a bigger map of the subway, figure out what stop was best for our hotel, and purchase our subway tickets. Good thing we had some Czech crowns on us! 26 CZK for 1 person to take the subway. The man was helpful in getting us to the correct place and carried our large suitcases for us, all he really wanted was a tip. I figured out that his tip was about a $1 USD, so that wasn't so bad.

So we are ready to get onto the Metro (Line C) and take it a short 6 stops to Strizkov, which is conviently located across the street from our hotel. (THANK YOU STEVE!!! This stop just opened in June of 2008, so it wasn't here when Steve, Eric and Nate were last here.) So Mom was shoved onto the train, and I almost missed it, but I quickly adopted the European mentality of pushing your way on...although I was greeted by a frown from a police man, complete with a billy club, handcuffs, and handgun. Opps!

Once we made it to our stop, we hauled the luggage off and Mom took off ahead of me...my suitcase wasn't exactly cooperating. We had about a half block to go, and Mom decides to take off on a 'student path'...you know, paths where students have trampled down the grass. She didn't want to go the short distance and find a fence, hence her taking the student path.

We were able to check into the hotel quickly and retire to our room where we promptly passed out for a good hour. Oh, and I was able to finally use the bathroom. The toilet has a unique flushing feature...more on that tomorrow!

When we woke up, we had a quick dinner of Chez Mix (no pun intended) and Paprika (a.k.a. BBQ) flavored Pringles that we had picked up in Munich. Then Christy was able to visit with Ben, Jenny, Katie, and Andy via the webcame. Andy was excited to see that we have a cage with 15 parrots in it in the hotel computer lounge. We also have a tank of turtles...I hope neither are destined for breakfast in the morning! We also had a nice time chatting with Phil.

Well, it's time for bed, although it is only 7:30 pm. It's going to be a busy week, and we need to be well rested.

Goodnight!

Love,
The Weary Travelers.