I went to Eastern Europe at the end of September, to meet with a long time net.friend (net.twin even!) of mine, who happened to be in the area. The weather was amazing, and it was a very relaxing break :) Photos are now up!
Woke up with a slightly fuzzy brain (I think I had one beer too many!). The morning started with working out transport to Prague. The Eurolines bus website refused to let me book any tickets for the same day, and a few phone calls (conducted by Wilma in German) proved that the phone help desk was about as useful as a cup made of fishing nets.
We headed to Neustadt bahnhof to buy train tickets, as I had lost faith in the Euroline bus service. It cost more, but I was sure of transport :)
We then took a walk along the Elbe to the new bridge being constructed in Dresden, via a memorial to a Canaletto painting (showing the old Dresden bridge and buildings).
I got to try out the selling point of my new hill shoes (waterproof) by going through a stream. The shoes held up, by not letting any water through :)
At the bridge, I learned of the silliness surrounding the bridge, that most of the people in Dresden were against building. One point came out which was that Wilma expects the council to name it Canaletto bridge to make it sound old. Either way, I do think it is an ugly bridge, and has little architectural value for the place.
We walked back, and paused so I could put my feet in the river to cool them down ... super hot sunshine and no wind made the walking hot work!
Back in to Neustadt, the plan was to go to a place called "England England" for lunch, but it was closed.
We went to "Currywurst", and got curried wurst with french fries, nom nom!
After that it was off to park for laze in sun and political discussion.
We went back to Wilma's flat at 5 to ensure that I could get my hostel booking, get tram times and then we had some pumpkin soup .. I have to admit sadly, that I didn't like the pumpkin seeds, the rest was uber tasty though!
We caught tram 11 to Hauptbahnhof, but it was delayed by dynamo football crowds causing trouble for the police, it was a little unsettling, so many police about, firework bangers going off, and sirens everywhere ... maybe one day football crowds will stop being so unsociable.
Because of those troubles, there was a high police presence at Hauptbahnhof. I said farewell to Wilma and headed to platform 3 for my train. The train arrived platform 1 instead, good job I read the signs in the station instead of ticket!
I found my reserved seat and I got to have whole cabin to myself for the whole journey! :)
The train left 10 mins late, possibly due to the dynamo stuff ... I have promised to send Wilma a card from Prague (even though I was sure to see her the next day lol!)
At 1950h my reception crossed from "o2 De" to "T-mobile cz".
At 2000h the train arrived at Decin border control, and there was a long announcement saying it was border control, but train only stopped for 1 min. I'm glad I didn't get off for a passport check!
We made it to Prague on time, but finding the exit to the station was tough! I found myself on a random street so went back in and tried again.
I found another exit (main one) but it was quite a walk to find tram (I had to stop and ask the police how to get to the trams ... fortunately one officer spoke English :) )
There were no machines in the station that took notes for a tram ticket, so I erred on the side of caution and got a taxi to the hostel.
The hostel is right on top of Roxy's night club, and very central to the old town in Prague ... it comes with a locker for your bags, and free wi-fi in the kitchen/bar.
I refreshed the eBook at the breakfast bar and went to sleep ... I get to meet my net.twin tomorrow, it's been at least 14 years of online chat, and now there's less than 12 hours till we prove to each other that we are real, Arooooo!!!