June 2015 – Page 2 – David and Yanmei

June 23, 2015June 23, 2015

Night train to Kraków

[Bonus post by Yanmei.]

Originally I was optimistic about our second night train. The first night train from Florence to Vienna was horrible because we had upper beds and I was anxious about falling down and I couldn't have a good sleep. So this time we booked lower beds and also I prepared a blindfold and ear plugs, so I thought I could have a good sleep. Unfortunately something unpredictable happened.

When we arrived to our cabin we found it was six beds instead of four beds, so the space between the beds was very small. It was impossible to sit on the lower bed. I also worried about hitting my head if I sat up in the middle of the night. However this was not the worst thing. I thought David and I would have the cabin to ourselves. Suddenly two other guys came into the cabin to sleep above us. I started to despair. The first guy was very tall and strong, at least 300 lbs. The second guy after him looked like a Sumo wrestler, he looked double David's size. He had the bed above me! OMG! When he climbed into bed I saw his leg, it looked as big as an elephant's. I asked David if he could switch with the guy, but David said it was too late and not polite.

After he lied down I felt like the bed would crash down any minute, even though he was nice and didn't twist his body. I started to imagine the injuries I would suffer if the bed fell on me. I probably wouldn't die, and we had insurance to pay for injuries. But I would still have to suffer the pain. Maybe my face could get twisted and I could get disabled then David would leave me. It made me anxious and I felt helpless so I prayed to God that the bed was very strong and could support 500lbs and that nothing bad would happen.

After turning off the light and closing the cabin door, I started to smell some stinky feet. I moved my blindfold from my eyes to my nose and mouth. Also the bed was super hard. I had to turn every few minutes or it would start to hurt. I also worried about how David would sleep. After the last night train he told me the beds remind him of the ones in jail, very hard and only 1 blanket. Actually this time we had no blankets. I guess he will suffer all night, however after a few minutes I heard him start to snore.

In the morning I woke up and nothing bad had happened. I had a pretty good sleep. David told me the guy above me nearly didn't sleep and didn't stay in the bed above me much. I felt very lucky. They were nice guys. But I guess this is that last time we will take a night train.

-Yanmei

[David: also these night trains have no showers. This particular one had no dining car either so there was no water or breakfast. Luckily we brought bottles of water with us. I agree no more night trains.]

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June 23, 2015June 23, 2015

Last day in Prague

For the next leg we had booked a night train from Prague to Kraków, Poland. After the previous bad experience on the night train I wanted to abandon this plan. At least we reserved bottom bunks, but it was still couchettes not real sleeping berths.

A little while ago my brother Chris suggested we take a ferry from Swinoujscie, Poland to Ystad, Sweden. Ystad is only about 90 minutes train from Copenhagen. We need to end up in Copenhagen because that is where our flight out of Europe leaves from. I also thought taking a ferry would be fun, so I tried to arrange this plan. Swinoujscie is on the north coast and Kraków is in the south of Poland so it is a long journey. There is a night train that connects the two, but it turned out to be sold out on the date we need. So I looked into a day train. There is nothing direct so you have to make connections, and one of the connections was sold out, meaning we'd have to stay over night in another town then catch an early train the rest of the way. I even contacted a Polish travel agency to help. Eventually we felt like it was just too much trouble and stress, which is not what we wanted so we gave up that plan. I wanted to give up Poland entirely and just go through Germany to get to Copenhagen. Yanmei didn't want to skip Poland so she devised a new plan that we could live with. I won't spoil that yet though.

Anyway we checked out of our hotel at noon and had 10 hours to kill until the 10pm train. Unfortunately it was cold, rainy and windy, and also most museums were closed because it was Monday. I suggested we do an escape room. I've been wanting to try one for a while, but we always have higher priorities. There was one close to the hotel called MindMaze so I reserved a time for us and we braved the rain to go there.

An escape room is a live puzzle game. Basically you get a team and are locked in a room and you have to figure out how to escape within a time limit. The one we booked was for 2-5 people so we could do it as a couple. The theme was an alchemist's laboratory and we had 60 minutes to escape.

In the room there was a locked chest a locked desk a locked wardrobe a locked dresser and various other stylistic things such as jars with chemicals, old books etc. It was very fun. We had to work as a team and we did. Yanmei would notice things that I didn't and vice versa. For example I figured out how to open the first lock, and Yanmei found an important clue hidden behind a painting.

We ended up escaping in 58 minutes although we needed two hints to do so. The time seemed to fly by. I think we could do better next time now that we understand better how clues link together. Apparently many people don't escape even with the hints. Anyway we want to try more of these, and they have them in most cities now. It would also be fun to do it with a group of friends. I know there are more difficult ones designed for larger groups with longer time limits.

We still had some more time to kill and considered going to see a movie such as Jurassic World, but ended up just doing a bit of shopping instead since the rain stopped.

Finally we headed to the train station to catch the night train to Poland.

-David

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June 21, 2015June 21, 2015

Prague, Czech Republic

The train from Vienna to Prague is about 4 hours 45 minutes. For some routes a reservation is required, but not for this one. However I suggested to Yanmei we get a reservation anyway. A reservation provides you with a seat number, otherwise you just sit wherever there is space. Our Eurail pass is for 1st class, but they ticket lady said they only had one 1st class seat left, so we reserved two 2nd class seats. I was annoyed at myself for not making the reservation the previous night when we got back from Budapest and walked past the ticket office. However the 2nd class reservation turned out to be money well spent since the train was packed. People were sitting on the floor and standing in corridors, not something we want to do for nearly 5 hours.

We went to the hotel restaurant for dinner, since it was supposed to be nice. The service was great and they had live piano music, but the food itself was just okay. I had a Czech hanger steak with dumplings and Yanmei had a mushroom risotto.

Castle gates guarded by fighting giants. Hapsburg crown in the center. Restoration going on in the first courtyard.

The next day we did a tour. We started at the Prague Castle. Inside the castle is the Saint Vitus Cathedral. The construction of the cathedral started in 1344 and was only completed in 1929, 585 later. You can see in the picture that we were under serious threat of rain.

St. Vitus Cathedral. In the bottom right you can see a direct connection to the castle complex.

Close up on the gargoyles on the church. On the right you can see two men in business suits. These are the final architects indicating this part was finished in the 20th century despite the gothic style.

Once we got down to the river we took a 40 minute cruise on the Vltava river.

Yanmei and her Taiwanese friend she met on the tour

Charles bridge in the background. It was so hot I put on sunscreen. This jinxed us and it started to rain heavily a few minutes later.

Charles bridge across the Vltava. It was the only bridge across the river for 500 years until 1841.

The river floods periodically. The most recent was in 2002, which they called a thousand year flood, because it was the highest water ever recorded in the city's history. If you go to YouTube and search for Prague flood 2002 you can find some videos of it.

Markers on a building showing the flood levels. The smaller one highest up is 2002. The very small one lower is 1890.

Another perspective to show how high the water was, river is on the left and the markers on the building are on the right.

Finally we walked across the famous Charles bridge.

As part of the tour we had a late lunch in a “medieval restaurant”, and then finished up with a quick walk through the Jewish quarter.

-David

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