I started this post while sitting at a cafe in Bratislava, continued it on the late bus to Budapest, and finally finished it in our hotel where we plan to spend at least a couple of days so we can hopefully catch our breath for a bit.
On the morning of April 24th we repacked our bags, putting all of our Czocha stuff and everything we didn't think we would need or want in our extra rolling bag in preparation to mail it home at the earliest possible moment. Then we arranged for a taxi to take us to the closest train station before heading down to breakfast. Our plan for the day was to get to Prague as early as possible and still have some time to explore the city. In hindsight that was overly optimistic.
At breakfast we said our goodbyes to all the new friends we'd made and politely declined their requests that we return in a couple of weeks for the next event. It was hard to resist the urge to promise to come back. We've both toyed with the idea since and although we know we might have even more fun doing it a second time, it just really isn't very feasible and it can be very draining. Still it's sad to know we'll probably never see all these wonderful people again in our lifetimes. Kat on the other hand has become Facebook friends with many of them and can still share in the fun.
The taxi arrived and we negotiated a price to take us to Horni Rasnice, the closest train station inside the Czech Republic. Czocha was only 20 minutes from the station, but the ride would cost us about 200 zloty, or about $50, because it was apparently rare for anyone to go out there. Also our driver spoke only German and Polish, making it difficult to communicate. We pretended we knew what we were doing and loaded up our bags to set out.
The ride took us along old country roads and through small run-down communities. Our first sign that things might not go as planned was when our taxi driver got lost and had to stop and ask directions from a couple of policemen parked on a side street. They looked as confused as the driver and pointed vaguely in a direction and the ride continued. Eventually we found some old overgrown rails and wondered if there used to be a station here that no longer existed. We decided to continue on across until finally we came upon an old abandoned train station out in the middle of nowhere. With bars across the boarded up windows, stained and peeling walls, and padlocks on the doors it was just the kind of place you would expect to be haunted.
In my mind's eye I had imagined a full-service train station with a ticket booth and an ATM where I could get some Czech crowns, since all I had on me were euros and polish zloty. We had also hoped for wifi access to pass the time as we waited since the train wasn't supposed to be by for another couple hours. This place wasn't even manned and there was no way inside the building. The only signs that the station might still see some use was a depressing little metal shelter with a bench and a trash can next to it and two sets of rails that passed in front of the station: another rusty overgrown track and a more modern and well maintained-looking one.
Just to add to the drama of the situation the weather had turned suddenly frigid and windy. We had definitely not packed enough cold weather clothes for the trip, thinking that the weather would be relatively mild. I immediately regretted giving my only scarf away.
Our taxi driver sounded as skeptical about leaving us there as we were feeling about getting left. Despite the language barrier we made it clear that he felt we were making a mistake and urged us to go into the little town nearby to get coffee and wait for the train out of the cold. He even offered to stick around and shuttle us back to the station later when the train was due, for an extra 40 zloty of course. With more confidence than I felt I reassured him that we would be fine and thanked him for the ride here. He relented, but made sure I had his number just in case, although I'm not sure how much good that would have been since we didn't have a phone between us that worked in Europe.
After he drove away Kat and I settled in for a long, cold, and lonely wait. Kat bundled up in every last layer of clothing she had including two jackets and a wrap thing she wore as part of her witch costume. From time to time while we waited there were little flurries of snow. I think I even heard some wolves howling in the distance. I grew restless and wandered around the building looking for clues. I did find a paper schedule plastered to the wall which seemed to confirm that there was a train due in about an hour that would take us in the right direction, but Prague was not listed as a destination, which I found a bit worrisome. There was nothing left to do but return to the shelter and wait.
Not long after that we heard a train approaching, but from the other direction. A small single car train, something more akin to a streetcar or tram than a true train, arrived and stopped at the station. The car looked practically empty and nobody got off and we remained seated. After a few moments the little train started up again and moved away. Our spirits perked up a bit after that to at least know that our station was still in service, even if we had no idea where the next train would take us.
Right on schedule at 12:08 our train arrived and we quickly climbed aboard, happy to be out of the cold and moving again. I had hoped to find an attendant that I could talk with to confirm our eventual arrival in Prague and negotiate with for our tickets. Unfortunately, it was completely empty except for the driver who was in his little locked booth. There was an automated ticket machine in the car that had no English instructions and seemed to only take Czech coins, of which I had none. The train began moving again as I struggled with the confounding contraption. I eventually had to admit defeat and returned to my seat. I picked up a schedule pamphlet and attempted to puzzle out our route, but once again failed to find Prague listed anywhere. All that was left was to accept our fate and wait to see what would happen next.
At the next stop we picked up a handful of new travelers. After they had all settled in and the train was moving I decided to try my luck. I walked through the car asking if anyone spoke English and could help us out. I mostly got negative head shakes and questioning looks, but wasn't having much luck. Finally, a young woman who had been listening to music with earbuds in looked up at me as I passed back by her and asked "Do you need help?"
I gave a sigh of relief and an emphatic "Yes, please!" I explained our situation and she immediately came to the rescue. First she explained that this train only went as far as Liberec, where she happened to be going herself. When I admitted that I had no coins to work the machine she purchased two tickets for us, which came to around 50 crowns, or about $3. I offered to pay her back but she insisted it wasn't necessary. When I asked how we could get to Prague from Liberec she suggested we take a bus and even offered to walk us to the station when we arrived. I thanked her profusely and then we returned to our seats for the ride to Liberec. There was snow flying outside the windows by this time and it got steadily worse as we went along. Thanks to our new friend we weren't kicked off the train when the ticket checker eventually came through the car.
When we got to Liberec, Czech Republic, our guide was even better than her word. First she walked us into the train station while I got some Czech koruna from the cash machine and then took us down the street to the main bus station. She handled the transaction, getting us two tickets to Prague on the next RegioJet Student Agency bus, and I paid the bill. The next bus wasn't for a couple hours so she continued her tour of Liberec by walking us down to the local shopping mall where she was headed after all. That's when I remembered to ask her name and tell her ours. Her name was Petra Linh and she was a student with Vietnamese and Czech parents. Apparently there is a large Vietnamese community in the Czech Republic. She wrapped up her tour by showing us a coffeeshop where we could get internet access and then took us to where our bus would be picking us up in the square just outside the mall and even pointed out the big yellow ones that we would be on.
With her mission complete Petra said her goodbyes and I took a quick pic to immortalize her good deeds. She refused any sort of repayment and seemed genuinely happy to have just been of use. We hugged and she left to pursue her own errands. I like to imagine she continued on to save an old woman from being struck by a car, worked her usual shift at the soup kitchen, and then found a starving kitten to take home and adopt before calling it a night.
Kat and I took over a bench at the coffeeshop with our backpacks and rolling bag. At this point I was really starting to get annoyed by lugging around the extra bag and was looking around for a way to get rid of it, but I didn't want to get too far away from our bus when the time came to leave. We ordered a couple drinks, took turns hitting the pay-to-poop bathrooms, 5 crowns each, and spent some quality time on the internet. By this time it had been over three days since we'd left Berlin and fell off the grid and into the magical world of Czocha College. I think we were both starting to go through some withdrawals. Our first priority was to check in on the cats back home and thankfully there were emails and pictures waiting for us from our pet-sitters. It looked like everything was going as well as could be expected so we started to feel much better.
After a quick lunch at a pan-Asian place in the food court it was time to head out and look for our bus. It had begun to snow slightly again as we waiting at the bus stop and watched the big yellow bus before ours load up and leave. That's when I noticed they advertised internet access during the ride. We thought that was so cool and immediately dubbed them the Internet Buses. Our bus arrived on schedule and we transformed our backpacks into luggage again using the flaps and zippers to hide away all the straps before loading them in the storage compartment. Have I not mentioned how cool our backpacks are? They've been a great purchase and we're both really impressed with them. When fully loaded with the front and back packs it really balances out the weight.
The ride to Prague took 3 hours, but the bus was big, clean, and comfortable complete with internet, personal video screens, and a charging station for usb devices. There was even a bus stewardess and some free drinks available. All for only 200 crowns. I'd say it was a heck of a deal and we rode in relative comfort all the way to Prague. It would be the first of many bus trips we would take using RegioJet Student Agency.
By the time we arrived in Prague it was past 18:00, long after we had expected to be there. We were exhausted, still coming down from our high at Czocha Castle, and a bit drained from the stressful adventure of just getting to Prague. As we stepped off the bus we stepped into a chill wind and shower of rain. All Kat wanted to do was get to the hotel, but I wasn't exactly sure how to get there so we attempted to navigate to the closest landmark, the main train station Praha hlavni nadrazni, to look for tourist info and maps. As I bumped the rolling bag across the uneven cobblestone streets I became obsessed with finding a way to ship it home as soon as possible.
As happens when you're tired and in a hurry you tend to make a few mistakes. First we took a couple wrong turns and lost track of the signs pointing the way to the station. We came around a corner while searching for signs and Kat stepped into a massive hole in the sidewalk and almost fell flat on her face. Other than having that sudden unexpected step down she was fine, but we both realized how close she had come to getting badly hurt. We dubbed it the "Rill Hole" and have since found many more holes like it all around Prague and other cities, lurking around every corner just waiting to claim a victim. You really have to keep a sharp eye out because about half the streets and sidewalks are under some sort of major reconstruction at all times.
We managed to find the train station and grab a map, but they couldn't help with the rolling bag at the tourist desk. I could tell Kat was fading fast so I had to plan the quickest route to the hotel and not make any more wrong turns. Pouring over the map and our guide book it looked like it was just a few short blocks away and that we could even take a tram. We walked out to the closest stop and waited in the wind and rain for one to arrive. A few minutes later one pulled up but it was packed to the gills with people and nobody was getting off. We looked at each other and agreed it was time to just walk to the hotel.
Several minutes later we staggered and rattled our way right past the hotel, missed it, discovered our error, turned around, and finally got out of the cold. Check-in went fine and when we got up to our room there was a nice surprise. Gary and Carol had thoughtfully ordered some champagne and a cheese plate for the room as a birthday gift. The ice wasn't even all melted yet. We immediately crashed, took showers, and climbed into bed while sipping champagne and nibbling fruit and cheeses. We didn't even go out for dinner that evening we were so tired. Kat fell asleep almost immediately and I stayed up a bit to work on posting pics and blogging.
Next time I'll cover how we spent my birthday site-seeing in Prague.
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