A Day in Swandorf

So, this past weekend was quite interesting. Kathy and I managed to get onto 2 wrong trains, and miss about 3. Whoop for us! On Friday night, we had planned to take an ICE to Frankfurt Hauptbanhof, but when we got to the Düsseldorf Hauptbanhof, we realized our train was running late by about 15 minutes (etwa 15 Min. später=No Bueno). So, we figured, no big, we planned for late trains due to our past experience with trains, and therefore, we had allowed for the train to be up to 40 minutes late. Then, a train decides to come to our same platform 6 minutes later. We looked up at the sign, and the train number and destination is the same. The only thing that changed was the time, so we figured we were getting on the ICE. Well, it turns out that train was an IC, and because we got on a wrong train there, we missed our the night train to Praha. Fortunately, this really nice lady on the train helps us to figure out an alternative route to get to Prague by early morning, so we think we're doing pretty good for ourselves at this point. A tad bit frustrating, but no big problems. So we follow the plan she mapped out for us, and we take a train from Frankfurt Main to Frankfurt South to catch the night train to Dresden, which is a town that borders Prague. Well, little did we know, we ran into a witch that would not let us on the train to Dresden because as she claimed it was full despite the fact that there were quite a few empty seats in a bar area that we would have been only to pleased to occupy. So, she leaves us stranded in the streets of Frankfurt-Süd at 1 in the morning. So at this point, we are confused, tired, and frustrated. We decide to walk downstairs and talk over our options. The first person that talks to us asks us in a rather panicked tone where the police were, which was when we realized we were in a sketchy part of town. And, not just a little shady either. At this point, we become distraught and worried. We're just 2 girls alone in this sketchy neighborhood in nowhere Germany at 1 in the morning. Great day. So this Pakistani man approaches us and asks us if we are going to Prague. We tell him yes, and he tells us to follow him. Sketchy, I know. But, at this point, we are thinking along the lines of the Kinky Friedman campaign slogan and figure eh, why not. We hop on a deserted bus without a ticket in tow behind this man we don't know on our way to who knows where. We're feeling real great about ourselves at this point. We end up back at Frankfurt Main; the man figures out about 3 options for how we can get to Praha, and then, he buys us some sodas. Sweet guy really, and fortunately for us, not a crazy kook. After four hours in the Hauptbanhof listening to the man, and watching the supposed Russian mafia kids tread through the station, we get on our train. Whoop! That's what we thought. That train was fine, but the next train we took ended up being, once again, the wrong train. We end up in Wieden when we should be in Swandorf, so we take a train to Swandorf and realize the next train to Praha is not until another 3 hours. So we decide to check out Swandorf. Fun, huh. Actually, it wasn't too bad, and we found some eis on the way, which completely made up for the 12 hour mess we now found ourselves in.

We finally made it to Prague, and the city was beautiful. It is definitely one of the most beautiful cities I have ever seen in my entire life. Absolutely gorgeous! I could have started at the night skyline for hours. Anywho, that is all for now. More on Praha später perhaps, but right now, I am in an internet cafe, and this oh so considerate lady is smoking a cigarette every minute. So, my lungs are now black, and my asthma is going to get bad here in a bit if I don't roll out. Tschüss!