Friday, August 7th - Leipzig, Germany to Prague, Czech Republic

We had another slow morning: had breakfast, checked out at 11 and stayed in the lobby for another hour.  Around noon we took the tram to the main railway station to catch our train to Prague.

First I have to say that it was another hot humid day.  The train to Dresden was about ten minutes late but we weren't too worried as we had about half an hour to make our connections.  Aside from being a bit warm, that train ride went well.  As it turned out, the train from Dresden to Prague was also late so everything was okay and we made our connection.  Of course I went to find the elevator instead of carrying my bag up the steps, only to find out that the elevator was out of order so I just got a longer walk and still had to carry my bags up the steps

Once on board the second train we found our seats and got settled in to a very hot compartment for six.  The other three who were already inside said it did get  cooler once the train started.  Indeed, once the train started again the AC did come on and you could feel it if you had your hand right on top of it.  Luckily we had the window seats and the AC was under the window.  That of course would be the window with the 100 degree sun beating down on it so you couldn't get too close to the AC because the side of the train was hot from the sun.

I didn't notice it cooling off a lot and after a few more scheduled stops we seemed to stop in the middle of nowhere.  Eventually the announcer gave a long update in German (I think we were still in Germany!), which the other two in our cabin took in stride.  (One of the guys had already left.)  The English version of the announcement was rather short in comparison to the German version.  I think we got, "Ladies and gentleman, uhhh, the engine is defective."  Or maybe it was "faulty".  Whatever it was it didn't tell us very much.  Luckily one of our fellow passengers explained that a new engine was coming and it would be about 50 minutes before we got going again.  I'm sure the time delay was a problem for some folks who had connections to make but it was no problem for us as we did not have any connections to make.  We were just going to Prague.

However, the heat level in the cabin did present some problems.  The AC was still running most of the time but it was doing literally no good against the heat.  Everyone was totally wet and sweaty and very lethargic.  Snoozing was about all you could find the energy to do.  The food car did a booming business and eventually they ran out of still water.  I think their 50 minute estimate was pretty close because with our previous delays along the route we weren't surprised, once we got going, to hear that we were running about 90 minutes late.  Everyone seemed to take it in stride and eventually they got some water and came around to give us each a free one, which was very greatly appreciated.  We were definitely in the Czech Republic at that point.  They were very apologetic and seemed genuinely sorry for the delay.

The train never did get any cooler so we arrived in Prague late and very hot and sweaty.  We took a taxi to our hotel and checked in, then wandered down to the main corner a couple of blocks away to have dinner.  And that was it for our day.  We were exhausted and hadn't really done anything all day.  It's amazing how the heat will knock you out.  At one point during the trip I thought about how hot and miserable (or cold and miserable) it must have been for all the Jews being transported for hours and days in box cars without food and water.  How incredibly unbearable that must have been.  My complaining seems pretty petty in comparison so I'll try and quit.

We had talked about taking the a tram from the train station to our hotel but decided against that because we were so hot and tired and hungry.  Our cookies on the train definitely didn't make for a very nourishing lunch.  Anyway, we didn't take the tram and that was a really good thing because when we checked in at the hotel they told us the tram line right in front of our hotel was closed for repairs.  We were not impressed by that news because our hotel is quite a distance out of the downtown area and we were counting on the tram to get back and forth.  However, the metro stop is just a couple of blocks down the street so we should be able to survive anyway.

There are only a couple of other things I can say about the day.  One would be to comment on the countryside during our train ride and the other would be to talk about our hotel. 

The scenery out of the train window was beautiful.  There were of course many villages,/towns/cities along the way and they had the usual characteristics that hardly need mentioning.  There were some large buildings (castles? palaces?) on a few hillsides but nothing identifiable.  We went over some rivers or streams that looked very cool and relaxing.  At one point we followed a river and we were very envious of the people out enjoying the cool water.  We even saw a few dams and locks on the river.

What I remember the most though is the countryside itself.  While it seemed flat in spots and looked almost like the prairies, there were also rolling hills and occasionally some higher hills.  I know we went through at least one section where we commented on how dry it looked, but mainly what I remember are the fields and the shades of green and yellow in and around them.  We saw fields of sunflowers but they seemed to be past their prime as they weren't standing very tall and proud and they were more brown than yellow.  I have no idea how you process sunflower seeds or oil but I think these plants were in need of processing or maybe even past their prime.  There were cut hay fields with large rolls of hay throughout.  There were wheat fields and corn fields and rows and rows of other smaller green crops - too far away to identify (that's my excuse).   There were trees dividing the fields and all along the rivers and up on the hillsides.  They were all green of course but so many different shades of green made the landscape look beautiful, especially in the bright sunshine.  It never ceases to amaze me that one colour (green) can have so many different shades.

Our hotel is a small part of a very large residence for a Technical University.  The place is huge and like a labyrinth.  They have red, orange and yellow markings on the wall to direct you but I still get lost.  It's a very strange layout and location but the price was less than half what other places in Prague were asking and, as already noted, it does have metro and tram (sometimes) access.  The residence is pretty deserted at this time of year so it's very quiet around here.  If you do get lost down some hallway there won't likely be anyone coming by to help you out.  Because there are very few students around, very few of the services are open.  However, we do get breakfast with our room so that's a good thing.  And the rooms are nice so we really can't complain.

So I think that's all for our travel day.  The touring in Prague will start tomorrow.