Czech-German Rail
A third member of our travel party has become
ill. We are going down like flies, but it was time to move on from Prague
regardless. We started with an early breakfast in the hotel and then packed our
bags and lugged them down the narrow stairs of the hotel. The simplest thing we
did today was to catch 2 taxis to the Prague railway station. It all became
much more complex after that!
Arriving at the station an hour before our 0935 train,
we gradually worked out the system and eventually discovered which platform our
train would depart from. Rather confusingly it was the train to Munich we were
catching but changing at Schwandorf after 3.5 hours, with another hour of train
travel to Nuremburg after that.
Having worked this out we proceeded to our
platform, only to have that change at the last minute, but as it was the
neighbouring platform we didn’t have far to go. It was kind of comforting that
many people seemed as confused as us. Boarding the train was a free-for-all and
understanding the seating - which were pre-booked, and which were available -
was very tricky.
We finally worked it out, with
a little help from some locals, but the end result was that our group was
scattered throughout the carriage, as was our luggage. We soon learnt that there
was still no certainty that the unbooked seats we had claimed would remain
ours, as apparently people who booked seats online at the last minute could
still appear and demand the seat.
The two young women who had
claimed seats for their handbags were none too pleased when Wallsy and I asked
to sit in each of the apparently unbooked seats beside them! Having commandeered
the seats from the handbags, we settled back, a little disconcerted by the
system, to watch the white-coated countryside and towns flash by, albeit at
speeds of up to 160kmph.
Due to police intervention
we missed our connecting train at Schwandorf but owing to our late arrival, it
did mean we only had to wait half an hour, instead of an hour, for the next
train to Nuremburg. The German police had boarded the train at Furth im Wald,
the first stop over the Czech/German border, and conducted a random passport
and identity card check, which caused the delay. They failed to check those of
our little group, so we obviously didn’t fit the profile of whoever they were
looking for.
The other notable thing that happened when we
crossed into Germany was that all train announcements, previously delivered in
Czech, German and English, were suddenly reduced to German only. Not
particularly helpful.
As we travelled towards
Nuremburg the snow cover became less widespread, revealing green fields - a
sight we had previously not seen during our time in Germany, Austria or the
Czech Republic. We arrived at about 3pm
and drove across town via taxi, to our hotel which happens to be right next to
the square housing the biggest Christmas Market in Nuremburg. Lunch/Dinner was
on the top of our list of wants once we had checked in, so a few of us set out
for a nearby restaurant to satisfy our desire for food, before hitting the
market square and browsing the wares.
Wallsy and I listened to the
Christmas choir who were performing in front of the Frauenkirche for a while
and then browsed the stalls, finishing the tour with a coffee and ‘pulled out
donut’. On returning to the hotel room, we checked the time, thinking it must
be about 9pm, only to find it was 17 minutes past 7!
It’s been a long and
eventful day.
Choir performs in front of Frauenkirche
Nuremburg by night
Nuremburg by night
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