Going to Prague
I woke up around 8 and hit the streets after a little Christmas breakfast at the Ibis hotel. There were surprisingly 2 other tables in there. A 40 year old lady by herself and a pair of grandparents and their grandson. Wonder why those people, were not celebrating w family. Losers!
I knew noting was going to be open so I did what I did the day before - went to the castle, weaves through the shut down Christmas market, and decided to walk up and down the river. saw a few sites I hadn't seen before but I did. See something I didn't expect -- an open Starbucks! I would have gone in but I don't drink coffee so I kept on rambling.
The train for Prague leaves at 41 past the hour every hour so I got to my hotel to check out at 11 and headed for the train station. Picked up some Mickey d's then to buy my ticket. Prague, 2nd class, departing at 1141. Got the printout and noticed something - the ticket didn't list a platform number to catch my train. It said BUS. Derrr. What? No clue where to catch a bus and I have less than 5 mins till the scheduled departure. I hit the DB information desk and the lady pointed me outside to the only bus waiting outside -- a DB bus headed nonstop to Prague. So knew? S here I sit on the 3.5 hr buried to Prague. No traffic. Double decker bus. 14 seats in 2nd class with 5 of us on the bus. 1st class, upstairs is much more full.
What have i noticed on the bus? Solar panels everywhere. On farm houses. On hillsides. I don't know what they use, whenever I am in Europe it is always cloudy. But they do harness something I see a lot - wind mills -- scattered on hill tops. Big ones. Spinning. They spinning homey, they spinning!
Nothing it open countryside from the time we left nuremberg well into the czech republic. Smal town spotted thruout the trip. What do these people do? Farm? I don't get it.
After getting to the train station I was out on the street within like 2 minutes. Again, I love the train system here. A little pricey but you can get to your train or bus 5 mins before departure and then be out of the station within minutes. Instead of 1.5-2 hrs at airports in the US. I was staying about a mile from the train station so I used my iPhone to direct me. Crossing street after street with no stop light or stop sign. I think the only intersections with lights are those that are crossed by street cars. But it all operates very smoothly, even with all the pedestrians crossing as well.
Got to my hotel and checked in, and by that time it was dark. It was only a little after 4 but the sun sets at 4. And most of the sites close around 4 or 5 so my plan was to just wander the city and plan out my stops for the next day. I just wandered without a plan north through some of the streets and then without warning came upon the old town square. It was quite a sight. A huge astronomical clock. Christmas market with a giant Christmas tree and a singer performing on a stage. Then the huge Tyn Church looking quite old with its layer of black something on the towers. And people everywhere. The busiest Christmas market I have ever seen. Roasted chestnuts. Sausages grilling everywhere. And Trdelkin. So delicious -- just baked dough that's rolled in sugar and walnuts. I had three in two days. But I wandered through the market and the surrounding neighborhood several times before settling in for one of those grilled sausages w mustard. So good. Street meat, does it get any better than that?
So not too much else to talk about here. It started raining, it was cold, and. Or much was open so I went back to my hotel room to plan the next day and watch the one channel in English - sky sports news. Oy. The same crappy news every hour.
So then I went to sleep!
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