Travelling by train to Prague

We were out the door of our hotel at 8 am. The cost per room of 115 Euros for the night was inflated by another 25 Euros occupancy tax. We had been going to walk with our luggage to the station, but decided to get a taxi as the bags were heavy. The hotel had a taxi that could take the 4 of us for 10 Euro so we were happy with that. We were approached at the station by porters and refused their help. But in the end another one looked at our tickets and then ushered us into a Business Lounge, presumably because we had First Class tickets. We wouldn't have known about it otherwise. There were free drinks and snacks there (we had turned down the 28 Euro per person breakfast offer of the hotel!).

We were escorted to the train by our porter, who took all the very heavy suitcases, insisted on heaving them onto the train, lugging them to our compartment, and hefting them by himself up onto the luggage racks above our seats - then he demanded a large tip! We were in a compartment with 6 seats, no one else with us, with room to stretch out - so that was good. Jan and I later looked at the second class carriage situation (that we'd originally been booked into, before changing to the first class carriage we decided on just before we left home). It was ok, but a lot more crowded, much less leg-room and smaller seats, plus we wouldn't have been seated anywhere near together. We were glad we'd paid the extra.

There was a dining car, where we could sit at a table if we wanted to. I could have had a GF omelette if I wanted but settled for one of my GF muesli bars while we all had a coffee and the others bought long rolls filled with ham and cheese that were brought around to our carriage - no food included on these first class fares! This train and the facilities/services was no comparison to the one for our trip to Amsterdam.

The area just out of Budapest was very scruffy and had enormous amounts of graffiti, but before long we were out in the beautiful countryside and saw the Danube that we'd been sailing along. Some of the journey was back part of the way we'd come on the boat, getting to Bratislava just after midday, and apparently there was a stop at Vienna but we somehow missed that. On the train journey, we passed through 4 countries - Hungary, Slovakia, Austria and the Czech Republic. It was very pictureque and pleasant, though David started to feel a bit queasy with motion sickness towards the end.

On the way we checked out some of Rick Steves' tips and warnings about getting taxis in Prague. Scary stuff! We arrived in Prague on time at 4:18 pm (having left Budapest at 9:25 am) and followed Rick's advice of where to find an ATM at the railway station (David withdrew 5000 Koruna, because Euro is not the currency here - that equates to about NZ$336). We avoided the taxis there because of Rick's warning, but couldn't find one across the road where he suggested we look. We did, however know which two taxi companies he recommended (saying the others operated like Mafia, and Marion had warned us too), and luckily saw a good taxi coming our way. Jan flagged it down. I asked how much to take us to our hotel, and that matched with what Rick recommended as a price (300 Kc). He did struggle to get all 4 big suitcases in the back and almost gave up, but we managed, and were happy for him to make the price 350 Kc because of the big load with four passengers. His car struggled over the bumpy roads, up towards the Castle District where we were staying. The traffic was horrendous and the trip took half an hour. He was very nice and pointed out a few sights, so we ended up paying him a well-deserved 400 Kc.

Our hotel rooms are unusual, ours is smaller and in the newer part of the hotel, the Barrows' is bigger and in the older part. They're on the ground floor and we're on the first, with a nice view of the street, and double-shutters that will hopefully keep out the noise. We did have a few steps that David had to get our luggage up, and the lift is very small.



The hotel receptionist was lovely, and we found out that breakfast is included and the internet wireless is free. She recommended a lovely restaurant just along the road, where we again sat in the open air and had a really lovely meal. I handed over a gluten free Czech language card and everything was fine. It was a lovely, warm evening and had been a hot day.

Back at the hotel, we managed to Skype Andrew, and found that FaceTime works too! Tried to call Michelle but she was already at an 8:00 am lecture. No good calling Ross, he won't surface before midday. If you try to Skype or text us, please keep in mind that we're 10 hours behind you :-)