Cesky Krumlov and the Weird Train Ride

Note: this post is not in chronological order.

It's a lovely day here in Cesky Krumlov, a quaint old city in the south of the Czech Republic. A little bit of hazy sunshine has offered the best weather I've seen in days - weeks even. I know I've described just about every city I've visited as beautiful, but this one - man, it's cute. It's a UNESCO world heritage site, which means something to the effect that it's really old, really well preserved, and really charming (I'm sure wikipedia has a better definition, if you're interested). The old part of town is just a small village of orange-roofed houses and cobblestone streets, surrounded by green hills dotted with fall-colored trees. One skinny river hugs the village in the curves of it's S shape, and a big old castle overlooks it all. I wish you could all see this.

I got here two days ago and have been doing little more than resting and reading, and squeezing in a glass of mulled wine here and there. Somewhere between Prague and here, I caught the nasty cold that's been lurking in the shadows along the way, hitting fellow hostellers in every place I've been. But I'm telling you - this is the place to be sick. The only thing important to do in Cesky Krumlov is to just be here, so I'm taking my time (and getting good rest).

OH - I almost forgot the train story!

Back up to when I left Prague.

I had all my directions set to travel from Prague to Cesky Krumlov. I knew I had to switch trains in a town called Cesky Budejovice. I find my first train, no problem. It's one of those compartment-style trains, and I end up sharing my compartment with an older Czech gentleman, who smiled at me nicely and reminded me of Mr. Rogers. Anyway, as I'm riding the first train, I seriously was thinking to myself - Gosh, this whole train travel thing - piece of cake. I've got it allll figured out. Look at me, on my own, traveling through the Czech countryside. No problemo.

So I know I need to transfer trains at about noon. Around 11, I'm just watching out the window when the conductor comes by, opens our compartment door, shouts something in Czech, closes the door and moves along. I think - hm, maybe the next stop is a major transfer point or something, and he's just coming by to announce it? Anyway, the train stops at the next station, which looks like a very small station, and the man in my compartment puts his coat on, smiles and says something to me in Czech, and gets off the train. It's not my stop, so I just sit back and wait for the train to start moving again. Maybe a minute or so goes by, and the man I was sitting with comes around and knocks on the window and motions for me to come outside. I notice a lot of people are getting off the train, so I figure something must be up. So I grab all my stuff, get off the train, and the nice Czech man starts talking to me in, well, Czech. Of course I can't remember the name of the stop I'm going to (in my mind, it kept changing to Cesky Bonnaducci), so I start digging in my purse for my itinerary. Finally in his tangle of words, I hear him say Cesky Budejovice, so I smile and nod and look all excited, like an idiot. He motions for me to come with, leads me out of the train station to three buses, and points to those. Just to be sure, I pull out my itinerary and show him, and he nods. Then he sent me on my way the bus and waved me off like a grandpa sending his beloved granddaughter off to school (picture me marching off to the bus, backpack and all).

So, the bus is packed, and I'm assuming the bus is going to take us to the Budejovice place. After about 20 minutes, we stop in one town near the train station, a few people get off, and we continue. We get to another train station, and everyone starts getting off. It is not Budejovice. So finally I ask this guy next to me if he speaks English, and he just says - train! train! - while pointing at the station. So, I got on the train. And somehow I got to Budejovice.

Apparently there was construction on the train tracks or something.

Anyway, I found the next train from Cesky Budejovice to Cesky Krumlov easily enough. I wish I had taken a picture, though - it was the tiniest, oldest, two-car train. Seriously, it was two little cars, and that was it. I felt like I was in a toy. To make matters even weirder, I ended up talking with a few people on the train - one from St. Louis and three from Chicago. So in this little train car carrying probably 20 people to a little city in the countryide of the Czech Republic, at least five were from midwest USA. What are the chances.

So then. I leave tomorrow for Vienna - and to get there I have to take three trains.The first connection is in Cesky Budejovice.

If you don't hear from me for a while, come looking.