August 2005
Leaving Krakow, we made a mistake. In an effort to conserve funds we bought second class train tickets to Prague, Czech Republic. It was a 9-hour overnight trip. The three of us, backpacks in tow, climbed onto the train at 11PM. We found our way to our reserved car. What did we find in our tiny compartment? FIVE big, sweaty, stinky Italian men. Some cruel twist of fate had squeezed us into this 8-seater compartment with these guys. Needless to say, none of us slept much. The 3AM border crossing was a piece of cake, and we arrived in Prague at 6AM tired and dirty.
Our luck changed in Prague, however and we easily found a cute 1 bedroom apartment to rent for 3 days.
Prague is a beautiful city. I would not recommend visiting in August. There were throngs of other tourists. Never fear, we did not let that deter us. We still had quite an adventure exploring this little piece of Bohemia. We spent a day at the castle. Mom and I took our leave of Jim once or twice to do some shopping. We saw a marionette performance of Mozart's Don Giovanni...and I must say that if you are going to sit through an opera, this is a more palatable way to do it!
We indulged in plenty of Czech beer, music (lots of polkas!) and food!

Here I must mention my excitement at visiting a part of what used to be Bohemia. When I was a child and would come home from school with an assignment to find out my nationality, I would ask my mother and she would reply; from my side you are 1/4 German, 1/8 French and 1/8 Polish. My father would reply; we are Bohemian! For some reason my teachers always frowned at that answer. At long last I was visiting my ancestors homeland!