Day 5: Munich & Prague

I'm writing this not at the end of the day, or looking back from the next day. Rather, I'm writing this on the train to Prague. I've just completed the first leg, where, surprise!, I had to de-train and switch to the Prague Express (or such as it might be called) in Regensburg. The sun is now streaming through the windows on my right, practically blinding me, but at least I'm on the train I'm supposed to be on.

The helpful support staff at our Munich office booked my trip for me, for which I'm grateful, but I assumed from the booking, and then the ticket, that it was straight through; a non-stop trip through the countryside. Silly me, I didn't pick up a schedule or a route map in the Munich Hauptbahnhof (train station). Important Safety Tip: PICK UP A SCHEDULE AND/OR ROUTE MAP IN THE TRAIN STATION!!! Fortunately, the rail company is efficient enough to have us de-train on platform 5 and re-board on platform 4, and the two are connected. Also fortunate for me, I know Eb bisschen Deutsch. Really fortunate for me: the conductor spoke English and told me what to do. As we entered the station I heard her announce that we were to go to Gleis 4 to board the train for Prague.

And, lo and behold, she's on this train, as well. She just passed by. Didn't even ask for my ticket . . . she's already seen it and me.

So now, let me describe the countryside. The area around Munich is basically flat. Western Illinois flat. You can see small groves of trees, but basically it's farm fields once out of Munich central. That slowly gives way to rolling hills, and many more railroad cuts, which somewhat limits my viewing of the countryside, but that's okay. There's a lot of greenery, and some of the trees have turned to what I know as Jack Pines - straight, tall pine trees that lose most of their lower branches, so they can be bare from the ground to twenty feet up or so. And they're close together. (The lower limbs must grow then die and fall off, leaving a lot of stubs, which are broken and stick out just en ought that if you're not careful, well, let's just say you don't want to run into the bottom of a Jack Pine.)

But mostly there's still farm fields. A lot are now bare, but many still have corn planted on them. The corn is not sweet corn - it's used as animal feed. I asked at the Munich office. Seems they don't have the right something to grow sweet corn. My father tells a story about German POW's, brought to Kansas during World War II to help with the harvest. This isn't slave labor; it's hard work rewarded with a decent meal. Seems the folks cooked up a lot of sweet corn, perfectly acceptable as part of the dinner, but the Germans wouldn't eat it. They called it "Pig Food". Too bad for them; I probably would have called it delicious. Just roll it in butter and you're ready to go!

Here's another announcement over the train's loudspeaker: nope, can't really understand that one, either. I get bits and pieces, but I'm really, really glad that (so far, at least) my travel needs have been met by the very many people who speak English here in Germany and in Denmark. We're pulling into Schwandorf . . .

Back to the countryside. Before we pulled into Rosenberg, we must have passed a fields of onions. The smell was quite strong . . . it had to be. When I was young, we drove through one western state or another that grew onions and the aroma (not stench - I love onions!) was quite distinct. And I believe that I saw the beginning of what might have been called foothills off to the east, but I don't really know if we're climbing higher as we move into the Czech Republic or not. Have to wait and see on that one.

We seem to have a short wait here. I just moved from a rear-facing set to a forward-facing one that has a table. There are over 50 seats in this train car, but there are only four people, total, in it. Nobody else has stepped in here at our stop. The seats are nice and wide, and spaced far apart, too! First class travel by rail beats coach air travel any day, in my book. Oh, and a good-sized bathroom, too!

At 19:00, that catches me up on the trip so far. Let me talk about the rest of the day. Some of us were able to "sleep in" a little bit (not me - up at 05:30 local) as we had dinner in the Freisinger Hof's restaurant last night. It must be good - it was completely booked. We couldn't get a table for five at 19:00; we had to wait for 20:00. And it was full! Not a table or an extra chair to be had, which is too bad for the two people from the company who tried to join us at the last minute. The staff was quite clear that it was impossible to add two more people; were we going to leave? Nope. We apologized to our co-workers, but stayed and ate.

And what a dinner it was! I really enjoy a good Wiener Schnitzel, but I have to say i haven't had one as good as what I had last night . . . ever! Everyone's food was delicious, from the salad to the, well, nobody had room for dessert (and I was going to get a selection of cheeses if anyone was up for anything). I'm really, really hopeful that, some day, I can bring my wife back to Munich to the very hotel I stayed in. It was gorgeous! She would love the flower boxes, the flowers in the lobby, the decor in the rooms, the chocolates on the pillow, the china (especially the tea cups) at the breakfast tables, the friendly staff. I just can't say enough!

Uh-oh. Another announcement. We're being delayed for what I think is signal trouble for 50 minutes? Can that be right? No - it's 25. Time to grab something from the store on the platform.

Okay, just magazines: Fotographie, Sport, Erotika . . . I'll pass. Nothing to spend calories on un-wisely, though.

A couple more cars just joined up with us. Quite a band and bump, if you weren't waiting for it. I watched them get everything hooked up, thinking that we were adding a few cars from the next train. Then we started moving . . . backwards! Hmmm, this is either gonna make me late, or make me waaaaay late. I hope they know a way around the broken signals. Oh, and three German police just walked by, down the aisle. What does that mean?

Okay, I just asked the (new?) conductor, who doesn't speak much English, if this train gets to Prague tonight. Here's why the safety tip above is so important - we were supposed to arrive in Schwandorf, then pull out just as we did, backwards, and head to Prague after adding a couple of cars. He said the trouble was with the train from Frankfort to Schwandorf; it was late so we had to wait for it. Heck . . . if I could've understood the German I guess I would've known right away. Title this: international rail travel for the un-educated.

Looks like we're on target to be thirty minutes late. We're down to three people in the car, by the way.

Now it's 20:10, and we're traveling in the dark, though the coach is well-lit, so I can't see outside well at all. It seems to me that the ground has gotten higher, and we seemed to be running parallel to a river for a while, but I think that's gone. So much for describing the landscape.

Passport control just came through. I haven't a clue what the man said, but I gave him my passport, as I saw he was checking that of the man behind me. The stamp is for a exit from Germany. I wonder if I get a second for entry to the Czech Republic? And if he was speaking Czech, I certainly didn't understand word one . . . There's a whistle and the closing of doors. Looks like we're off! I knew we'd stop for a passport check, but I thought I'd get a Czech Republic entry stamp, not a German exit one. Got my train ticket stamped a second time, too. That stop was at the border, I guess. On to Praha! (The Czech spelling for the city which is spelled, alternately, "Prague" in English, and "Prag" in German.)

The rail car has cooled-off nicely, now. It was hot before. And the first compartment I was in - a sauna! Fortunately, I was alone in a compartment that seated six, so I turned off the heat using the control nob for that cabin and opened the window. I won't open a window now; it might get too cold.

It's now 21:00 . . . will we get to Prague at 21:45 (or so), the time I saw on the Deutsche Bahn web site, or at 22:45 or so, the time my itinerary says I'll get there. I hope Prague is in a time zone one hour further along than Munich, because that will mean that I'll be getting there sooner than I thought. If not, it's going to be a real stretch to stay awake the whole time! Oh, heck, I just checked the time settings on my PC and it's the same time zone as Munich. Shall I simply drift off - I can't see anything anyway. I guess time will tell!

OK . . . 21:25. I've drifted in-and-out a couple of times, but am still pretty much awake. Get the PC out - that'll help. I've been up for sixteen hours now, with what looks like at least two more to go. We've just stopped in a city, now, but I didn't catch any signs. Ah, we're in Plzen, or Pilsen, if you prefer the German and English spelling. This is the home of, yes, Pilsener beer! But that's more of a type of beer nowadays, not a brand. If I only had one or two of those . . . I'd be asleep. Looks like we've got a bit of an extended stay here, too. The stop here in Plzen is the "Halvni Nadrazi" - i believe that's equivalent to the German "Hauptbahnhof" (main train station) in Czech, as the station at which we're terminating in Prague is the "Hlvani Nadrazi". (By the way, I've left off the punctuation over the "i" in "Hlavni" and the first "a", "z" and "i" in "Nadrazi".)

We just added one more to our car, but it appears as if he's staggering a little. Too much Pilsener?

A small aside: it appeared to me that after we entered the Czech Republic the train was held to a lower speed than what we were doing in Germany. I mean, we were moving along! When we passed another train (going the other way) it was whoosh! and gone. It seems that the tracks are a little less even, we're swaying a bit more and the ride is a bit bumpy. Perhaps they're not suited for the speed we achieved in Germany. It is night now, though - are trains supposed to travel slower at night, much like the day/night speed limits for trucks on some US expressways?

If I could go back and do anything different about this train ride, I'd go back and buy an extra bottle of water, I'd have something to eat (though I wasn't really hungry before boarding) and I'd have bought something to munch on during the ride. I've only got a package of M&M's I'm bringing for Kerry from her friend Lisa and some chocolate mints I bought in Germany to break a 20-Euro note. Can't eat the M&M's and I've had 5-6 mints already. Too much of that good thing would be bad.

Another stop; this one is Rokycany. Boy, the brakes are squeaking! No new passengers in this car. The conductor just came through and asked a sleeping Mr. Pilsener for his ticket. Looks like he's got one, but in second class, and he's being sent to the other part of the train car. And that's another interesting feature of this train - first and second class. First class definitely has nicer seats (and six to a compartment with a sliding door on the first train, which helps keep the noise down if the train is full). First class is also guaranteed a seat, which is why I bought a first-class ticket. (Of course, with the company paying for my air travel, I could afford the 77 Euros for the train.) But there are both first and second class seats in each train car. One section for each, split (I think) down the middle. Makes good sens, when yo think about it. There's no reason a train would have to be split up into so many cars all first class and so many cars all second class, like an airplane's sectioned off from front-to-back, first class to steerage, er, that is, coach.

Just passed 22:00, and I guess this typing is going to keep me awake. I hope and pray my co-workers made it to London. They were due in two hours ago, I think, staying overnight near Heathrow for a somewhat-early return flight to Chicago on Saturday morning. My own return is Tuesday, first a 10:00 flight to Copenhagen, then a 15:30 flight to Chicago, and a limo ride home. I have exactly four hours to lay-over. Time to eat lunch, grab a magazine or a book, buy a snack of some kind for the 8-hour flight home and wait for a short while at the gate.

I was told that the trick of flying to Europe is in sleeping on the plane, then staying up all day and going to sleep at your regular time; regular time, that is, at your destination. The trick on coming home, I'm told (though it didn't work for me last time), is not to sleep on the return flight, but go to sleep at the normal time at home. That means I'll get up by 6:30 and go to bed at the equivalent of 29:00. Will it work this time? Maybe I'll sleep until I wake up, then go into work. At least for one day.

22:20 This stop: Horovice (yes, there's some punctuation missing). This is the first stop I've seen where a signalman is out with a lantern.

I took a few pictures of the Munich station - I left at 16:45, right during the heart of rush hour. What a busy place! Many, many different tracks (1-36 upstairs but even more downstairs). A nice young lady helped me navigate through the screens of the ticket machine. You don't get an actual ticket, any more, from your travel agent - just a code number. Find out how to enter the secret code and you just may get your ticket! Actually, had I understood their English translation of the German terminology, I'd have been able to get the thing myself. It's easy . . . once you know how!

22:40 We were supposed to be there in five minutes. Hope Kerry sees that we're delayed, and that it's posted how much longer it will take (25 minutes?). I was looking at the map of the area around Prague; it seems that the train line winds way south of the city, then runs roughly parallel with the Vlatav river for a while before crossing it. The train line literally loops back on itself - is it climbing a steep grade, perhaps? It seems like we're climbing, to me. And moving pretty good, now, too. Need to build up speed to get up the hill?

22:56 There's the bell! That means a stop is near. And as we're definitely in town, will it be the terminus, or a local stop? Local stop: Prichoo K Nastupisti. Let's see how many more locals there are.

Have we exported graffiti, maybe? It was present in Munich and it's present here. Some was even present on buildings in the middle of nowhere in Germany. Some of it's pretty cool, but some of it is just nonsense. Looks just like back home, though.

Boy, the train is making a lot of noise! Seems like we went through a tunnel. Hey, here's our stop!

Off the train, down the stairs - there's my daughter! We took one metro line down one stop, took the other to the end, found the tram after a mistake in direction (my fault) and got to the hotel. What a day!

I'll update the other posts (Days 3 and 4) and get them out some time after this weekend, unless I get in a writing mood. At 2880 words, this is a post-zilla! Probably a record for this guy . . .