10 March 2009

This trip is truly unforgettable. Travelling with mom just gets funnier as the time goes by. From playing cards in a too-small bunk, to fighting to see who can get their card in the hotel door first (although, I'm pretty sure she pretends to flight, so I open the door for her.)

Boarding the sleeper train last night, the bunks were more cramped than I remember the first one being. I guess when you are just with family, you don't mind getting in each others space. Strangers, on the other hand, are a little different. Getting into our compartment, we were greeted by a young woman who spoke both Polish and English- SCORE! Trying to keep our bags out of her way, we took the top two bunks, but werent quite ready to go to bed. Instead mom climbed up, and joined me in a couple of hands of Crazy 8 Count Down- both hand I won, by the way (the second hand was really close). We also played around with the self-timer on the camera and were goofing around before re realized our bunk mate was already in bed.

Quickly and quietly finished our game, we climbed into bed-after taking all the necessary safety precautions first, of course. We double locked the doors (the man who checked our tickets told us that 3 times in the two minutes he stopped to check our tickets), we put our bags in front of the door, so it couldn't get pushed open as easily, and we slept with our money belts on us.

Waking up in the morning we had tea and bread, courtesy of the train. We then found the Marriott, brushed our teeth, and were ready to go out again. Talk about a Whirlwind tour!

Booking a tour through the concierge, we managed to see all the major sites of Prague, including a boat ride under the Charles Bridge. I must say, my favourite part was the astronomical clock. I was really excited to see it- even if the hourly bell ringing wasn't as exciting as I thought it would be. On our own we also found the philharmonic, and the Prague Conservatory of Music. Later in the evening, we even went out on another adventure. Crossing over the Stephan's Bridge, and through a tunnel, and down a main street, and finally down a tiny street, we came across JUN- the local Scout Shop. It was very exciting because
a) We found it
b) even though it was past 5, they were still open
Going into the store, they didn't have any badges that say Prague on them, but I figured I would get cool badges in Switzerland anyways, that I wouldn't need them. We then went back to the Marriott, had a nice dinner and fell asleep seconds after. What an amazing, beautiful, and breathtaking day.

Love,
Creighton