The Hills will be Alive Shortly... with Music Sounds.

Day 13.
Prague -> Salzburg

Urgh... last night’s slumber was disturbed by morons being loud in the hallway – it’s like being back at Founders! We had to get up early to get our train only to get there and find that it was 25 minutes late... the announcer kept coming on being like “this hi-speed train has been delayed” “hi-speed?” I cried. The irony. Anyway Miranda went and asked someone about the train because we were worried we would miss our connecting train... so she asks the guy “Excuse me, are we going to miss our connection?” “Oh yes.” Concise. Helpful. Crap.

Eventually, the train pulled in and we got in any carriage not knowing where to sit because we actually didn’t need a reservation this time – yay! We got in one of the carriages which looked like the ones out of Harry Potter and we were joking that soon the Dementors would turn up... they sort of did as this crazy ticket man started telling us, in Czech... well something – I don’t speak Czech but he didn’t seem to understand that. So the logical thing for him to do was to speak LOUDER. Yeah, buddy, we’re not deaf... He started gesticulating and we eventually worked out that we couldn’t be in that carriage for reasons unknown. We hauled all our stuff to another spot and sat down. That sounds easy – but it was not. There were these huge crazy gaps between the train coaches and everyone we crossed I was waiting to slip through and live out the rest of my life as a spot on the train tracks. I’d be dead do that doesn’t really make sense but basically it seemed like a life threatening journey... It was then I realised shortly after we had sat down that the carriages we were just in – were no longer attached to the train. No idea where they had gone or when but instead of seeing the other carriage through the window I saw scenery.

This was another long train ride. Sigh. We managed to keep ourselves occupied... The newspaper Miranda looks like she is reading – is in Czech. There was an article on the new Terminator movie and that’s all we grasped... At least it was warm. No... wait... actually this train wasn’t – I remember it was freezing. Prague, the city, is not what people expect when the go to Eastern Europe because it’s so beautiful and modern... when you look at the transit system – wow... that’s backwards. The toilet emptied onto the train tracks! Bleeeeh! Unlike all other trips our tickets were checked at least three times... and our passports where checked when we arrived in Germany – no stamp though.
This train ride was a train ride of “Wenceslas” because the women next to us wouldn’t stop staring... it was weird...
Because our train was delayed we had to wait in Landsut for another one. This is in Germany but we managed to find some magazines in English to pass the time. It’s good to go back to German speaking countries because at least we know some German to get by... I feel bad from Czech Republic because didn’t even try to speak it... Sorry Prague!

Our train arrived and it was only about three coaches long and therefore crammed full of people. That and it smelled like a horse’s ass mixed with the smell of someone having gone to the bathroom in their seat. Very pleasant. We assumed that everyone on the train was going to Salzburg to do a Sound of Music tour like we were... Our assumptions were confirmed when they started singing.
We got to the station and were in Salzburg! Yay! I needed to use the bathroom so we went looking... At train stations you always have to pay to pee but the door was open so I went in... the only thing was the door had some weird coin-operated mechanism which meant that people could see through the gap... the cleaning lady ended up seeing me but at least it was free! Also the door locked itself and I was trapped inside the cubicle for a bit... Still – FREE WEE!

Got to our hostel and were in a six bedroom female dorm. It was a pretty swish place. It said it had been remodelled in 2008 and you could tell given the key cards and fancy goings on.