The German ICE (Inter-City Express) trains must be reviewed well. They accelerate smoothly, are quite comfortable, and deliver you quickly to your destination. Even better than my trip from Leipzig to Dresden on and ICE train was, because of the scenery, the leg from Dresden to Prague on a EC (Euro City) train – a great trip through a lush river valley.
My arrival in Prague brought with it a pleasant surprise – significant local use of English – signs were in English, people would speak English and even begin talking to you in English. It must the result of a town that sees significant tourism whose native language does not extend significantly beyond its borders.
As it was raining, I donned my rain jacket overtop my fleece and departed the train station as one of the few or only people wearing shorts (they’re great, I’ve never had skin stay wet for hours after the rain stops, as pants can). I found my hostel, which was very nice and centrally located, and set out to explore the town – wandering through the old town Square, across the Charles Bridge (where some kind of movie scene was being filmed), and wandered around the Prague Castle area. I then grabbed some pictures at the John Lennon wall, found some curried chicken in a hole in the wall restaurant which I assume to be a Czech permutation of what we might be familiar with in Canada. The night was completed by joining a few Canadians from my hostel for a pint at a pub cloaked in Soviet propaganda and entirely below street level and devoid of windows. It was a neat cavernous atmosphere but a little smoky.
Tuesday I woke up early-ish to some rain and abandoned my plans to run, and then to visit two ossuaries, preferring to be well rested and experienced one small town well. The rain slowed down and I purchased a ticket and boarded a train to Kutná Hora. At the ossuary (Kostnice), I purchased admission for the chapel and two churches.
The ossuary was surprisingly un-creepy. It was interesting seeing the massive piles of bones, and one might think such a picture of death would be creepy or engage emotions, roughly analogous to visiting a concentration camp (where you see evidence of death, but not so clear as stacks of skulls). I think the fact that most of the donors of the bones died of non-malicious causes, such as a plague, helps explain this away. The ossuary was built to hold bones exhumed to make space in grave yards for more recently deceased individuals and was meant to serve a public good. Having said that, apparently some bones show signs of being attacked but I am not skilled enough in forensic anthropology (or any anthropology) to have taken notice.
The church down the street included in the packaged admission I purchased was very nice, and I was quite pleased to be able to walk along a pathway into the attic in the lower roof area of the church – getting to see the structure above the domes which flank the main hall of the church – very neat!
The final church included in my package was several kilometers away. While I could have taken a bus, I was rather glad to walk and explore the small town. I passed a gas station pricing gasoline at 34.70 Kc/L (approximately $2 CAD/L), some obviously communist-era apartment buildings (but recently painted!), crossed some train tracks and a river before climbing a hill and finding the surroundings of the church… under renovations. Fortunately, it turned out access could be had by a side door. This particular church was a large gothic style church with flying buttresses; it is quite impressive architecture whose took several architects and had been interrupted by the thirty years war.
I wondered back to the train station and caught a train to Kolin then changed trains to head to Prague. The train system, even in the Czech Republic, seems to work quite well. The trains operate smoothly and are quite pleasant to travel on.
I arrived at the hostel in the early evening and had an interesting conversation with a lady in my hostel room who is a medical student in South Africa – the difference in societies sounds remarkable.
Wednesday morning I went for a run through the city and along the river then showered and packed my bag. I picked up some groceries and wandered a bit through the city before heading to the train station. I had a bit over an hour until my train left so I pulled out a book and began reading. Shortly I was interrupted by a gentleman who had a ticket to Kutná Hora and wanted directions on what trains to take. It was difficult to communicate in English but he indicated he was from France, so I tried French before he mentioned English was his stronger language. Ultimately I retrieved the timetables I had printed for the day before from my recycle bin and copied them onto a sheet of loose leaf paper for him – he was quite appreciative. I never expected that I would be the one providing directions on how to reach a rural Czech town!
Since leaving Prague’s main train station, I have been aboard a Deutsche Bahn train for about 1 ½ hours. I just heard a lady ask someone if this section of the train is “zweinen klassen” (spelling?), which must mean second class. I suppose I can understand why she might double check – not only were there police officers outside talking with a passenger who just got off (perhaps that passenger didn’t have a ticket?), but the seats and quite comfortable and spacious with accessories like 230V plugs for electrical appliances, spacious seats, and table areas large enough to hold laptops. I did quickly check out the first class cars through the window when taking a picture of the locomotive, and they are, of course, even swankier.
Speaking of police officers, I noticed quite a few in Prague – I wonder if this means there is limited crime because of constant supervision, or if the volume of police is a response to significant levels of crime.