I took the plunge and changed to a day train, which leaves imminently for points Rhineward. Rick offers no information whatsoever on Bingen and only "don't bother" on Mainz, so I am on my own finding rooms and maps and such. If I hadn't been silly and disorganized last night, I might have gotten a room in Bingen (home of St. Hildegard, patron of Women's Studies majors and feminist musicians); fortunately, this morning I scored an excellent room in Mainz instead (home of the Chagall church, which I might now have time to attend in the morning). So far, so good, but I must admit the Rick Steves' guidebook training wheels are comforting. On the train, I'll try to figure out my plans re: cruise, Köln, Aachen, Trier, and suchlike, so I can avoid future room ... read more

I wrapped things up in München with another tasty breakfast and some chores (online banking rules!), then headed to the Hauptbahnhof to do a little travel consulting with Herr W. at EurAide. He quickly drew up a plan of attack that includes a night train from Salzburg to Mainz, then a short Rhein (Rhine) cruise (instead of the all-day version), plus quick sightseeing in Köln and Aachen, all in one day. He also recommended, before all this, a night in Hallstadt, Austria, a city highly recommended by Rick but not on my list. I made the night train reservation, then deliberated for about 15 minutes before coming back and changing the date (certain people will find this both hilarious and comforting), omitting the Hallstadt trip in favor of more dates up north, possibly even some useful ... read more

Grüße Gott! I read, but had forgotten, that this is how German-speakers in Bayern (Bavaria) and Austria say "hello", so it was quite disorienting at first since I had come to expect, and had practiced, "Guten Morgen" (good morning) or "Guten Tag" (good day) as used in the north. Now I think I have the hang of "Grüße Gott" (which literally means, "greet God") as well. In fact, I think I have officially learned just enough German to be dangerous, as I'm able to ask rather complex questions now... the obvious problem with this being that I get back rather complex replies in German. However, I did successfully ask a young man at the Drogerie (drugstore, but really only a toiletries store) whether they had contact-lens solution there or if I needed to go to an ... read more

Note: there are no actual swans in this story. First, I had to get up early to pack and schlep luggage over to the hlavní nádraží (main train station), where I left my suitcase at the luggage desk. It's attended, cheap (15 Kč/day!), and Rick says it is said to be safer than the lockers. (My bag ended up just fine, so I'm satisfied with his advice.) Next, I headed back into the Staré Město (Old Town) and attended Mše (Mass) at the Kostel paní Marie pred Týnem (Church of Our Lady of Týn). The most interesting thing about this church is that I had thought the little café buildings were built in front of the church... in fact, they are the front of the church! I discovered this on an earlier reconnaisance run, when I ... read more

Today was pretty busy, too, but I'm thinking I may want to go sleep it off rather than write about it all night. ;) We started off with our new favorite tram #8, which zips us from our flat in Florenc right into Náměstí Republiky (Republic Square) and the old town. We started with an unexpectedly large meal ("rich breakfast" on the menu might have been a clue) at the Obecní dům, an Art Nouveau municipal and performance hall with a lovely café in front. The mad tourist rush when we arrived was not to be believed, but even more amazing was the speed at which the place emptied out and got dead quiet again at just about exactly 9:55 AM. All the tour groups must be meeting at that time! We got a bonus: since ... read more