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Well, we're getting by OK not speaking the local language, but there sure is a difference (for an English-speaker) between not speaking German in Germany and not speaking Czech in Czechia. No, I couldn't understand a word of spoken German, but at least I could make some sense of signage and the names of stores. In Czech, nothing looks or sounds familiar (I don't remember enough Russian to get into any kind of Slavic groove), so there's no faking it. Even if the workers in all the shops speak excellent English (as is widely claimed in guidebooks), we'd like to figure out which stores to go into first! The practical upshot of this is that we're sticking to tourist paths, where English signage is more common... at least for tonight.

No matter how many times I look it up, I've been unable to keep the Czech word for "thank you" (děkuji! děkuji!) in my head for more than 5 minutes. Perhaps it is true that we old folks learn languages with greater difficulty. ;) My new language survival hypothesis is that the bare minimum in any language is: please (prosím), thank you (děkuji) and I'm sorry (promiňte), with "I'm sorry" being by far the most necessary when one is a dumb tourist in a strange land. Yes, no, hi, bye, etc., are not nearly so important and can be easily faked.

We ended up on a shabby and rather smelly train from Dresden to Prague, though we did enjoy an entire compartment to ourselves. The view of northern Czechia was educational. Quaint and utterly picturesque river towns, alternating with unimaginably vast, run-down and unspeakably ugly factories, mines and industrial complexes. Post-socialist and absolutely depressing. It becomes obvious that Germany has thrown metric tons of € into the revitalization of their East (with excellent results, as far as I can see), and equally obvious that Czechia doesn't have a well-to-do older sibling around to help it out.

My initial impression of Prague is "grimy", but with the caveat that large cities in the eastern U.S. are as bad or worse. However, we're staying in a stunning pension flat on the 5th floor of an ugly socialist apartment building, with a tiny balcony and a wonderful panoramic view of the city. Definitely not the picturesque parts of the city (think "socialist-era TV tower" rather than "castle"), but a view is a view nonetheless, and for €17/night I am not only not complaining, I am downright thrilled.

We miscalculated and let the proprietor out of our sight before verifying that towels would be supplied, with predictable Hitchhiker's-Guide-like consequences (i.e., no towels), but unbelievably there was a towel shop just three blocks away which was, for some reason, still open and willing to sell towels to us nearly an hour after its posted closing time. Could be a good omen. Now I have to learn to cope with the European-style curtain-free hand-shower. Stay tuned.

One last thing. Due to an unavoidable change in Drea's travel schedule, I will be solo and at loose ends an additional 2-3 days next week before meeting up with her. Y'all are invited to post comments here with any suggestions as to what you think I should see with my newfound time, since I cut up my guidebooks and only brought the sections for the regions I was already planning to see! (However, Cameron, this is not license for you to say you told me so... my luggage is dwarf-star heavy and I'm still glad I'm not hauling extra pages around.) If I use your suggestion, you will win one free postcard from the suggested location, and at least one free TravelBlog entry. :)

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