Thursday, May 31
We left our apartment around 6:00 am to get the train to Prague (pronounced Pra-ha in Czech). There was some issue with the elevator the night before so we gave ourselves some extra time in case we had to carry our luggage down six flights of stairs. Fortunately, all was in working order. We walked to the train station as it was just a block away.
The train station looks just like the ones you see in all the movies. It’s a tall building with a glass dome. There was an electronic board that listed all the trains and, as a happy change from Bulgaria, the tracks were all clearly numbered. Since the first class fare was only $15 more than second class we elected to sit in first class for the 6.5 hour trip. We sat facing one another with a table in between us. Underneath there were outlets in several formats. When the train was proximate to a sizable city (about 50% of the time) we had free WIFI too. We even posted a blog message from the train.
As we were nearing our destination we received a message from our host that we should not take any of the taxis at the station but should call an Uber or use a similar service. We heard of similar issues in Budapest. “Freelance” taxis are to be avoided. They often charge ridiculous rates and have been known to abuse their riders if they don’t get what they want. Since our apartment was only half a mile from the station we decided to walk. It was a great way to start seeing the city before we had settled in.
Our host met us at our apartment and helped carry our luggage up to the fourth floor (there’s no elevator but we knew that when we took the apartment). He was very gracious and even stocked our frig with a few bottles of Czech beer. He was very disappointed when we told him that we didn’t drink beer – Czech beer is supposed to be some of the best in the world. We promised that we would try it. Our new place reminds us of a garret apartment like the one you usually see in productions of La Boheme, which is funny because Prague is the heart of the European region that, before World War II, was referred to as Bohemia.
After settling in we took a walk around our neighborhood. We’re right smack in the middle of the Town in district one. The main pedestrian way, full of all sorts of shops, museums and other attractions, is just steps from our door (after you climb down four flights of stairs).
One of our stops was at a T-Mobile store. T-Mobile has extensive coverage throughout Europe and we were able to get a plan that we could use in more than a single country. It’ll be nice to have the same phone number for more than a few weeks. We got four gigs of data for $9; that’ll last us at least a month. Their pricing in the U.S. is much higher.
For dinner we just couldn’t resist trying the street food. We found a stand that was selling all manner of bratwurst, knockwurst and sausage. We bought a bratwurst and split it in half. Deborah ate hers plain. I slathered mine with sauerkraut and topped it with a generous portion of brown mustard. We’re definitely going back to try some of the other varieties.
You may recall that we said that there was some debate as to whether Hungarians or Czechs invented the Chimney Cake. Here in the Czech Republic they’re called trdelník and we saw them for sale everywhere. Here they serve them filled with all sorts of yummy things. We had one filled with Nutella and soft ice cream. It’s a good thing we have stairs to climb or we might start to put on some weight. I think we’re going to love it here.
(Chimney Cake Filled with Nutella and Ice Cream)
Distance walked: 4.9 miles