Ruth, waiting for the train in Kutna Hora.
Remember the other day when we bought first
class tickets? Well even though first class is not expensive it makes much more
sense to buy second class. I found out that there is a “group” discount. And if
you are two people traveling together, you are a group! But you can’t get this
discount in first class. So by traveling second class, we pay the reduced price
for the second class ticket, and get a 40% discount on the companion fare. And
if you have a third person, that person gets a 50% discount on their ticket. So
our 130 km (81 mile) train trip from Kutna Hora to Svitavy cost a total of 277
korunas ($13.85).
The next thing I found out about Czech
train travel is that you can in fact book a reserved seat in advance. But
apparently nobody ever does that because it costs extra and the trains are
rarely full. So if you sit in the reserved seating area, you will only get
moved if someone comes along holding a ticket for that seat. But nobody ever
does.
Our train arrived a few minutes late, and
we had a connection to make in Kolin. As it was, we only had a few minutes to
make our connection. Kolin is a larger city so they have several platforms and
it took us a few minutes to figure out which train was ours. By the time we ran
up the stairs to the platform, the train started to pull away! If we had been
even one minute sooner, we would have made it! Oh well, this just meant that we
had to wait two hours for the next train.
Ruth stayed and watched our bags and I
walked to a local grocery store and bought some lunch items. We just sat on the
platform and had our lunch and watched the people until our next train arrived.
The two hours actually went by very quickly.
Kevin, on the train to Svitavy.
When we got on this train at 2:35pm, we
took the very first compartment, one that was marked as reserved. When the
conductor came by to check our ticket, it was no problem. And because this was
the reserved section, only one other girl came to sit in our compartment and it
was near the end of our journey.
Mostly factories and farmland along the way .
We arrived at Svitavy at 4:00pm, about two
hours behind our plan, but it didn’t matter because our couchsurfing hosts
Andrew and Chisono had said they wouldn’t be home until 3:00pm anyhow. We had
walking directions to his flat, and it was only about a mile away.
Waiting for the rain to stop.
As soon as we got off the train it started
to pour with rain! We found shelter under a building entranceway and a lady on
a bicycle quickly joined us. We said hello in Czech, and then she went rambling
on, her laughing about getting wet in the rain, and us laughing about the fact
we didn’t understand a word she was saying! We did tell her in our very simple
terms that we didn’t speak any Czech, and she laughed again.
The rain let up and we set off for Andrew
and Chisono’s place. We were almost there when a car pulled up and started
asking us questions. Of course we had to once again explain our lack of the
Czech language and they laughed and said in English “oh, you are tourists?” and
told us to enjoy our visit! Immediately after, a minivan pulled up and there
was Andrew asking if we are Kevin and Ruth! We were almost at their flat but he
drove us the rest of the way.
We spent the next couple of hours talking
and getting acquainted. Andrew was born in this town but he had gone to Australia
for a year to learn English. There, he met his wife Chisono who is from Japan , and had also
gone to Australia to learn English. They were married in Japan six
years ago, and moved back here to begin a family. Now, they have two boys (5
and 2) and a 3 month old daughter.
They had only just arrived back from a
vacation in the Czech highlands and suggested it would be easier to go out for
a bite to eat. We went to a nice little spot where Ruth had a chicken fillet
with roast vegetables and I had a local specialty of boneless pork knees with
horse radish, mustard, pickles, and bread. The meal was great, the prices were
great, and Andrew says he will meet us there for lunch again today.
Kevin's dinner.
Their flat is fairly large, but with five
people living there it is full. So Andrew’s father has a fully furnished flat
that is sitting empty at his business, so that is where we spent the night.
It’s in an industrial building, but it’s very nice and it’s like having our own
apartment! We have stayed in some interesting places through couchsurfing, and
once again we have met some interesting people! In fact, on the way over to
the flat, we stopped by Andrew’s parents house to say hello to them. We quickly
practiced how to say “It’s nice to meet you” in Czech, and we enjoyed a short
conversation with them. His mother's English is actually quite good, and they
were suggesting places we could go for a hike.
Today, we will explore the town of Svitavy , where my
grandmother was born back in 1905. This town has some interesting history,
which we will tell you about in tomorrow’s blog post.
I often think of how fortunate we all are that English is a common language throughout most of Europe. Otherwise, can you imagine?
ReplyDeleteLooks like you had another great day and meeting more people on your journey is fun.
ReplyDeleteI love reading about your adventures. The woman in the doorway, the others asking for directions. So much fun.
ReplyDeleteRuth looks so alone sitting at the train station!
ReplyDeleteDinner looks interesting!
ReplyDeleteHope the rain stops for you, it makes it so much easier to explore. No Mud!
Enjoy this part of Czech
and another great day....the digs sound excellent...
ReplyDelete