Was kind of dreading the long train ride to Praha, but had the best train experience ever! I actually had a compartment all to myself almost the whole way. It was SOOOO wonderful. The train to Katowicze (pronounced cat-o-weets) was an old one but a short, <2 hour ride. Then the train to Praha was a newer train, without only six seats to a compartment, and I was all alone until the last 2 hours. Heavenly!

Enjoyed the beautiful Polish countryside. Around Goczalkowcie began seeing mountains again (ahhh!!) and crossed over a few rivers on those metal bridges (you know, G, like the one on the way into Eugene). Saw lupine, and brillantly fuschia-colored stock, Queen Anne's Lace, red poppies and little daises everywhere. Saw a German Shepherd guarding (or hanging out with?) some goats. Saw a few deer and lots and lots of little gardens with green onions, lettuce, cabbage, spinach, and corn. Fields of wheat, green and gold, all ruffled in the wind, punctuated here and there with rows of dark trees.

Kept the window of the compartment open and it was deliciously cool and breezy. Had the fruit and chocolate (life's essentials) I'd bought in Krakow, wrote a bit, read a French detective novel (the detective is French – the book is translated into English) and read more of this bizarre Russian novel I'd picked up at the St. Pete's airport.

The first sight I saw on crossing the Czech border were three workers (in those orange railway worker outfits) roasting some kind of meat on long sticks over a fire they had built by the side of the tracks. Course, I'm assuming they were railway workers. In the States, they also use orange for prisoners....so who knows...anywhere, here I am in Czech Republic!

Anyway, had an utterly lovely time on the train. Got into Praha, got food, took metro, wandered around a bit lost but eventually found the hostel, and am off to shower and sleep. Love you all!