Rainy Prague

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well i didnt do anything after last night, just finished up my laundry (back up to 4 days of clean clothes!) and packed everything up for my 830 train this morning. thought i was getting some payback on my roommates by getting up at 630 but they got up a few mins later to catch a flight. oh well.

caught the subway one stop, the train 3 stops and i was an hour early for my train. so i had a bacon and egg mcmuffin and some OJ (yes at mcds... bad) and bought a schnitzel sandwich and a "chocolate bread" to take for lunch on the train! it wasn't exactly the chocolate bread i raved about before (and pretty much lived on truth be known) but it was bread with chocolate chipos in it. altho it was almost like a cross between pastry and bread but delicious.

anyways no troubles on the train, 5 hours through beautiful countryside. the elbe valley in eastern germany is beautiful, just at the end of the fall foliage.

so i was a little worried about getting to the hotel i booked from the train station. prague has two main train stations, one pretty much in the center of town, and one a little more on the fringe. of course my train went to the fringe. lots of touts waiting when i got off but i ignored and scorned them, and managed to get some money out of the atm. i almost forgot they don't use euros here. silly me.

conveniently the metro (subway) station is just in front of the train station and i managed to buy a ticket from the window without any grief. i figured i needed to take that metro for a few stops, switch to another line, go a few more stops. then find the right tram out front on the street and get off at the right stop just over the river near my hhotel. sounds easy eh? i can handle subways, you just have to get the right direction , especially here where there are only a few lines. however trams, i cant say that i've ever really used them while travelling. they scare me because god only knows where you'll end up. so i head outside (in the pouring rain) and have a look at all the tram stops on both sides of the road. not much posted in english but i managed to get a map inside teh station and just hopped on the #6 and figured if it went across the river i was set. presto 3 stops later i was just a half block from the hotel roma! wooo

so as i said i booked a hotel on hotwire for 60 bucks a night (vs about 20-25 for a hostel) for 2 nights because the last 3 nights i hardly slept a wink with my stupid roommates. anyways hotel roma, rated 4 stars. nice spot. double bed, huge bathroom, a/c and heaters with controls that work... posh espeically compared to the hostel!

anyhow, got a quick shower to get the train grubbies off and then went for a walk through town. crossed over the charles bridge, a very nice old pedestrian bridge with great views up and down the river. walked through the narrow streets of the old town, absolutely packed with tourists, and very difficult to get around avoiding a cazillion umbrellas. speaking of umbrellas, my 2 dollar umbrella from ealier this year is still surviving. quite handy today let me tell you.

ended up in a huge mall for a break from the rain and crowds. 5 floors of good shopping, what a beautiful mall. went for a look around but no deals to be had really. saw some sneakers i liked but they were over a hundred dollars so i might go back, have to think about it.

i thought prague wouldn't be so western. it doesn't feel like this was commie heaven in the recent past. everything seems pretty modern. i guess being packed with tourists will bring in a few bucks eh...

anyways had some supper at the mall - the las vegas platter. haha seasoned chicken, fries and a coleslaw like salad. with fanta to drink of course.

i hate how it gets dark so early. came out of the mall at 5 and it was full dark already. sad. wouldnt' be so bad if it wasn't pouring rain all day, foggy, and about 3 degrees. the weather is just getting worse and worse as i go. i regret complaining about the cold in berlin now.

anyways, heading to bed early tonite (as usual!) to get up early and get a nice full day in prague. i want to hit the castle which apparantly is packed all the time so i hope to get there just as it opens to get ahead of some of the tour busses.

new things i did today: a new country, the czech republic... a new mode of transport, the tram... and a new method of bum cleaning, the bidet! i used it and while good in theory, not exactly perfect in function. thankfully this was just before my shower.

now that i've grossed you out for the day, i'll take my leave.

auf wiedersehen! (i finally learn some german and i'm gone haha)

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Comments

[Betty]

When in Rome . . . .
Wie geht es Ihnen? Practice makes perfect in language and bidets!

[Jeff]

umbrella
Hard to believe that thing is still going if it's the same one...I believe I ditched mine somewhere in Bosnia or Slovenia...both mom and dad called today (from home and NY), they must be missing you, lol.