I'm working on uploading the pictures and little videos that I have from our time in Prague, but before I launch into Prague proper, I must relay a travel tale that may leave you wondering if I am somehow confusing this summer with last summer (where does she think she is? India?). Indeed, I found myself wondering the same thing as it was happening...
I think most everyone has heard about the remarkably punctual rail service in Germany. I was really looking forward to taking my first train trip with Jacob, as I had been boasting to him for months about how he would love the transportation in Germany, telling him that he could set his watch by the train schedule (I'm sure you can tell where this story is going -- but just wait! It gets better).
The train arrived perfectly on schedule, and pulled out of the station smooth as can be. I settled in, ready for a comfortable two hour ride through some beautiful scenery...
...and then we stopped in Pirna, a town on the outskirts of Dresden, just ten minutes into our ride. We were told that there was some sort of problem with the electricity and there would be a delay. No one seemed to have any information -- would it be ten minutes? two hours? So we sat and waited.
Eventually a harried conductor came through and told us that there was little chance of this train going anywhere, except back to Berlin -- so our best bet was to hop on the S-Bahn coming on the next track and take that to the Czech border. She didn't have a clear explanation of what we would do from there, she was adament in telling us that this was our only real option.
So we went to the next track, hopped on the next S-Bahn, and hopped off in Bad Schandau (a beautiful little town near the border, with the Elbe running through). When we got there we went to the information desk and asked what we should do. It became roughly clear here that the problem had to do with the electricity and the tracks, so we were facing the same unknown delay here. We stood around on the platform, with different people going in periodically to try to get more information out of the equally uninformed staff. There was no real effort to deal with us as a group, and tell us what was happening.
And then a bus arrived. We asked why everyone was getting on, and were told that this bus would take us across the border to Dečin, and that we could go on from there (somehow). So we climbed onto the crowded bus and managed to find some seats in the back. Just when we thought that it was full and about to take off, a group of 20-30 jr. high students dressed in identical t-shirts clammored on with their suitcases, stuffing themselves into every available spot, filling the isle.
So we rode, squashed together and hot (the windows in the back off the bus wouldn't open, to conserve the hardly-existant AC), up the river and across the border to Dečin. When we got there we ran into the train station and looked at the schedule. I saw that there was a train to Prague in an hour and a half, but it looked like everyone from our group was piling onto some other train. I asked why, and they said that this was the quickest way, with one more transfer in Usti. So we climbed on and were off again.
On the way off the train in Usti, Jacob banged his knee badly on something causing quite a scare for us (does he need a doctor? will we be able to walk around and see anything once we arrive after this crazy trip?). But we couldn't dwell on it too long, becuase the train for Prague arrived on the next track right away. We got in and found a compartment with a nice looking older German couple. We settled in, Jacob elevating his leg, and got ready for the final bit of our journey. It was hot and stuffy, but once we were moving, the breeze was glorious. Until the couple in our compartment shut the window and door (where does this fear of fresh air come from?); and there we were, getting nicely roasted for our arrival in Prague.
So what should have been a simple two hour, non-stop ride, turned into a five hour ordeal with four connections. It was really all more amuzing than terrible -- and as our friend Tom said, "not only did you visit prague, your train/bus trip there seems to have been a totally kafkaesque journey."
I think most everyone has heard about the remarkably punctual rail service in Germany. I was really looking forward to taking my first train trip with Jacob, as I had been boasting to him for months about how he would love the transportation in Germany, telling him that he could set his watch by the train schedule (I'm sure you can tell where this story is going -- but just wait! It gets better).
The train arrived perfectly on schedule, and pulled out of the station smooth as can be. I settled in, ready for a comfortable two hour ride through some beautiful scenery...
...and then we stopped in Pirna, a town on the outskirts of Dresden, just ten minutes into our ride. We were told that there was some sort of problem with the electricity and there would be a delay. No one seemed to have any information -- would it be ten minutes? two hours? So we sat and waited.
Eventually a harried conductor came through and told us that there was little chance of this train going anywhere, except back to Berlin -- so our best bet was to hop on the S-Bahn coming on the next track and take that to the Czech border. She didn't have a clear explanation of what we would do from there, she was adament in telling us that this was our only real option.
So we went to the next track, hopped on the next S-Bahn, and hopped off in Bad Schandau (a beautiful little town near the border, with the Elbe running through). When we got there we went to the information desk and asked what we should do. It became roughly clear here that the problem had to do with the electricity and the tracks, so we were facing the same unknown delay here. We stood around on the platform, with different people going in periodically to try to get more information out of the equally uninformed staff. There was no real effort to deal with us as a group, and tell us what was happening.
And then a bus arrived. We asked why everyone was getting on, and were told that this bus would take us across the border to Dečin, and that we could go on from there (somehow). So we climbed onto the crowded bus and managed to find some seats in the back. Just when we thought that it was full and about to take off, a group of 20-30 jr. high students dressed in identical t-shirts clammored on with their suitcases, stuffing themselves into every available spot, filling the isle.
So we rode, squashed together and hot (the windows in the back off the bus wouldn't open, to conserve the hardly-existant AC), up the river and across the border to Dečin. When we got there we ran into the train station and looked at the schedule. I saw that there was a train to Prague in an hour and a half, but it looked like everyone from our group was piling onto some other train. I asked why, and they said that this was the quickest way, with one more transfer in Usti. So we climbed on and were off again.
On the way off the train in Usti, Jacob banged his knee badly on something causing quite a scare for us (does he need a doctor? will we be able to walk around and see anything once we arrive after this crazy trip?). But we couldn't dwell on it too long, becuase the train for Prague arrived on the next track right away. We got in and found a compartment with a nice looking older German couple. We settled in, Jacob elevating his leg, and got ready for the final bit of our journey. It was hot and stuffy, but once we were moving, the breeze was glorious. Until the couple in our compartment shut the window and door (where does this fear of fresh air come from?); and there we were, getting nicely roasted for our arrival in Prague.
So what should have been a simple two hour, non-stop ride, turned into a five hour ordeal with four connections. It was really all more amuzing than terrible -- and as our friend Tom said, "not only did you visit prague, your train/bus trip there seems to have been a totally kafkaesque journey."
1 comment:
Sounds so humorous, but at the same time painful...in more than one way. Reminds me of airway travel. Hopefully you both enjoyed the scenery and Jake's knee is holding up...for it will be most advantageous for the rest of the trip:)
Love,
Sister
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