Innsbruck-Munich-Prague-2010-07-24
\nAfter dinner I went back to my very nice room in the Hilton.\u00a0 I started to relax a little and flipped around the \u201cdial\u201d on the tv.\u00a0 After food I got my second wind.\u00a0 I opened the window that at first would not close.\u00a0 That was bad because there was a common balcony right outside my window\u2026\u00a0 I figured it out.\u00a0 Also my room was right in front of the lift.\u00a0 I liked that, but that adds to the noise and traffic.\u00a0 There were screaming me-me\u2019s running around the halls\u2026\u00a0 harrumph\u2026
\nAs I sat and relaxed for a few and watched tv I could hear music in the distance\u2026\u00a0 calling me\u2026 I could also see flashing lights and excitement in the city\u2026\u00a0 my strength was renewed.\u00a0 I cleaned up (a little) and left the hotel seeking the sight and sound.\u00a0 I wandered and kept listening for the music\u2026\u00a0 there was also Limerick Bill\u2019s Irish Pub to check out\u2026 since I was out.\u00a0 The bad news is that it was raining a bit\u2026
\nI walked semi-aimlessly listening for the music.\u00a0 Finally I could hear it and determine the direction or origin\u2026\u00a0 good thing I have good ears\u2026 it turns out that there is a New Orleans Festival going on in the middle of Innsbruck Austria\u2026 what are the odds?\u00a0 The music was really good, it was free and the beer was reasonable!\u00a0 I started talking to this group of women next to me.\u00a0 One had red hair, a pale freckled completion and green eyes.\u00a0 I decided to strike up a conversation\u2026\u00a0 I asked if she was from Ireland.\u00a0 She said no, she was from Innsbruck\u2026\u00a0 wow, would not have guessed.\u00a0 We chatted and enjoyed the concert and then they went off.\u00a0 The concert was great and in English and fantastic jazz.\u00a0 What a find!\u00a0 Did I mention that it was also free :>\u00a0 after that I decided that the Irish pub had to be visited.\u00a0 After all I was going to be leaving in the morning especially considering the rain\u2026\u00a0 I went into the pub and ordered a black-and-tan\u2026\u00a0 not to be had so I pointed to another guy\u2019s beer and stated that I would have one of those to which a guy next to me declared that is was called a beer\u2026\u00a0 thanks :>\u00a0 not only do I not speak the language, but at this point I am not certain what language it is that I am not understanding!\u00a0 So I chat with these guys for a while and then meet the boys from the band\u2026 the band turns out to be a classical Austrian band with full dress\u2026\u00a0 you can look up what that looks like, but it is a bit fance\u2026\u00a0 I start discussing world politics and they buy me a beer.\u00a0 They appreciate practicing their English and they are amusing\u2026\u00a0 we talk for a while.\u00a0 They are going out and about and by now, I need to head back to the hotel.\u00a0 I found it without use of a map or phone!\u00a0 I AM getting better\u2026\u00a0 the room was cool and nice.\u00a0 I figured out how to close the window and the bed was comfy!\u00a0 I slept\u2026
\nI awoke at my usual 8:00 or so time frame\u2026\u00a0 I did go to bed before 2:00am after all, so I woke up fairly early.\u00a0 I contemplated my next move.\u00a0 I knew I needed (wanted) to get to Munich to get to Prague.\u00a0 I knew that the Munich train ran every 2 hours\u2026 and there were only 3 trains to Prague.\u00a0\u00a0 It turns out that the 10:26 for Munich might just be able to make the 12:44 to Prague\u2026 so far so good, but I think I have to change trains in Schwadolf for Pague.\u00a0 The cool thing is that these trains are not crowed and I don\u2019t have to make reservations.\u00a0 I just pick the train hop on first class and away I go.\u00a0 The conductors hardly even look at my pass as soon as they see first class, nice.
\nI had a very nice chat with a guy from Z\u00fcrich.\u00a0 He is originally from Washington, DC.\u00a0 We talked about travel, the states the good thing and bad about the states and Europe.\u00a0 He works in research at an insurance company, so we had lots to talk about.\u00a0 He told me that in order to maintain his US passport he had to pay income tax to the US even though he pays Swiss taxes\u2026\u00a0 it did not seem right.\u00a0 We talked about Boston, and New York.\u00a0\u00a0 It turns out he went to school in Boston\u2026 a little place called Harvard\u2026 you may have heard about it\u2026 hmmm.\u00a0 When I left the train he gave me his card\u2026\u00a0 Dr. Brian Rodgers\u2026\u00a0 Swiss Re\u2026\u00a0 I may have to hit him up for a job :>\u00a0 he was very pleasant to talk to and put me on to a great pair of shoes that I have to look up\u2026 apparently Panama Jack makes some really nice shoes!\u00a0 I need some good walking shoes\u2026 although my feets are feeling better thanks to the needle and the gel insoles\u2026 I think I walk 500 miles in each place I visit, so I still have 2000 miles to walk\u2026
\nMy phone is funny.\u00a0 Every time I enter a new country I get a txt welcoming me\u2026 I also get some txt\u2019s from the originating company, Greece.\u00a0 All of the other ones are in English\u2026\u00a0 I have many messages that I in Greek that I have no idea what they mean.\u00a0 As long as the phone keeps working I will be happy\u2026\u00a0 less than a week to go\u2026
\nI have a whole business-class (better than first class) cabin to myself!\u00a0 I hope the next leg is as good\u2026
\nI arrived in Prague right on schedule and still had not made reservations.\u00a0 I wanted to physically see the place before I committed.\u00a0 I also figured that I might even get a better price than on-line.\u00a0 I gave up walking and grabbed a taxi.\u00a0 My big guide book told me that taxi drivers in Prague are not to be trusted, so I asked him why he did not have a meter and asked him ahead of time how much it would be.\u00a0 He told me 20 Euros, which was way too much.\u00a0 Then he proceeds to drive me around in circles.\u00a0 I know this because I am tracking him with my phone.\u00a0 I am sitting right next to him, so I show him that I know what he is doing\u2026\u00a0 he laughs\u2026 hmmm.\u00a0 We get to the destination and I try to give him 10 instead of 20 and he starts to get pretty miffed, so I relent :<
\nI get to the hotel and it is really nice, and in a good location.\u00a0 It is a 5 star hotel of the Eurostars chain.\u00a0 I stayed in one in Madrid.\u00a0 This one is the Thalia.\u00a0 I get to the reception desk and ask him how much for a room.\u00a0 Well he quotes me a price significantly higher than it was on the internet!\u00a0 I let some other people go before me that had reservations and I knew my issue would take a little more time.
\nI offer the man at the desk of giving me the internet rate, or I will just go outside and book it myself.\u00a0 He goes away for a bit and then returns and give me the room at the rate I want and includes breakfast :>\u00a0 the room is only $75\/night and it is one of the nicest rooms I have stayed in.\u00a0 It has hardwood floors, three skylights, flat-screen tv, etc.
\nI ventured out down town to check things out but it was getting late.\u00a0 I went to a TGI Friday\u2019s\u2026\u00a0 I know I should be eating Prague food.\u00a0 I had a nice Prague breakfast this morning.\u00a0 I had a nice chat with a couple from a neighboring country and they both spoke English.\u00a0 They had just moved in together they used to live 2 hours apart\u2026
\nI wandered back to my room and crashed!\u00a0 I don\u2019t know why sitting on a train for 9 hours is so tiring\u2026
\nOff to see the sights!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Innsbruck-Munich-Prague-2010-07-24 After dinner I went back to my very nice room in the Hilton.\u00a0 I started to relax a little and flipped around the \u201cdial\u201d on the tv.\u00a0 After food I got my second wind.\u00a0 I opened the window that at first would not close.\u00a0 That was bad because there was a common balcony right […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-287","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-europe-2010"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7vq9N-4D","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatup.brantct.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/287","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatup.brantct.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatup.brantct.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatup.brantct.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatup.brantct.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=287"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/whatup.brantct.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/287\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":289,"href":"https:\/\/whatup.brantct.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/287\/revisions\/289"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatup.brantct.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=287"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatup.brantct.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=287"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatup.brantct.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=287"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}