A lesson learned about trains

So, this post is going to be about how careful you have to be when taking trains places. This past weekend, Katie and I went to Prague, although we arrived much later than we expected to. The series of events that made us so late started with the first train we got on. We were supposed to take an ICE from Dusseldorf to Frankfurt, but the sign said it was going to be late. After we had waited a while for our train, we saw the time change on the sign, but the train number was the same. So, when we saw a train pull up, we atomatically assumed it was ours even though it didn't look like an ICE. Well, it turns out it was not the right train and we arrived at Frankfurt at 12:00 at night, an hour later than we were supposed to. Because of this we missed our night train to Prague. We got another itinerary from a train attendant that didn't speak English, so we tried that one. The night train that we were now supposed to take was completely full and the lady would not let us on the train! Instead she left us (two girls) out in the middle of the night at this sketchy train station!! So, not knowing what to do we go downstairs and the first guy that talks to us asks us where the police station is...not a good sign. Then this Pakistani man comes up to us and asks us if we are going to Prague because he is going to Leipzig, which is on the way and he missed the train too. He tells us to follow him...so we do...I don't know why, but it seemed to be our best option. He got us to the main station again (where it was not as sketchy) by taking a tram we did not have tickets for. At the main station he was really helpful. He got a new itinerary for us to follow, bought us sodas, and let us use his computer. We had a four hour wait in the train station because our train did not leave until five in the morning. He stayed with us and we chatted. I think we was a truely nice man, and I felt a lot safer having him with us. Well, he made sure we got on our train okay and then waved goodbye. We made it to Nuremburg, our next stop, but then we managed to get on the wrong train again! We ended up in Wieden instead of Schwandorf. So we had to take a train to Schwandorf and then a later train to Prague. We finally made it to Prague on Saturday evening instead of Saturday morning, but at least we made it!! Of couse this all could have been avoided if we had just asked someone if the train we were on was the right one. Therefore, I have learned that it doesn't hurt to ask, look carefully at the platform signs and train signs, and that ICE's are white not red!

Anyways, in Prague we had a great time! We went out the night we got there and walked around. It is such a beautiful city!! We also went to an organ concert accompanied by an amazing oboe player and alto singer!! The concert was at this cute little church in the old town of Prague. I'm so glad we went because it was a wonderful concert! The next morning we went to see the astronomical clock strike the hour, and then we went to the Jewish sector and toured several synogogues. The Jewish cemetary there was really interesting because there are tombstones everywhere, and they are crammed in anywhere they could fit. Later we went up to the castle and toured the buildings up there. There is an amazing view of the city from up there!! Also the night before we walked across the famous Charles' Bridge and rubbed the statue of St. Peter. The last thing we did before we left was buy some puppets because they are known for them in Prague. The train ride back was non-stop and we got couchettes to sleep on!! Overall we had a wonderful time in Prague, but we could have done more things there if we hadn't taken the wrong trains! Lesson learned...hopefully!