Train Trip to Prague

I've made it safely to Prague, and the second of my three big train trips for this visit is now behind me. I do love train travel. I was sitting on the train today thinking about all the countries where I've travelled on trains, and I think this is the list: Spain, Sweden, Brussels, Italy, Austria, Hungary, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia, Egypt, India, China and Australia - and in three of those (India, China and Slovakia) I've used a sleeper car. The trip today was easy, although long. I left Ruzemberok, Slovakia at 10:29 and had to change trains about fifty minutes in at Zilina, and after that it was all on the save train. There was a little glitch, but nothing to substantial - essentially I was on a slightly different train route than I had planned, but it was still going to Prague, just by a longer route. All it meant was another hour - and five euro extra - but it was worth it not to have to change trains again. For the first half of the trip I had an entire compartment to myself, and after that one student moved into the compartment and we didn't say a word all day (which is heavenly for me). At the end of the day I actually met two women from Chicago who were freshly graduated from college and rumming around Europe. I was sitting in my compartment when I heard one of them call to the attendant, "Do you speak English?," so I walked down to discuss the train schedule with them (we were a little late, but I had managed to pick up a train schedule along the way - which made me the authority figure, even though it was my first trip to Prague as well). It was nice to have a couple Americans to wish a Happy Thanksgiving. From there it was only about a five minute walk to my hotel - for that matter, it took longer to find the Tourist Centre in the train station so I could pick up my Visit Prague voucher and free swag. We didn't end up pulling into Prague until around 6:15, around a half-hour late - very unusual for European rail lines - so it made for a long day. Luckily, I packed enough chips and cookies and granola bars to help me survive the trip (I've made that mistake before). Oh, and here's a picture of the bag of chips I bought in Ruzemberok at the grocery store. There's nothing quite like a big bag full of Slovakian meat-flavored potato chips - full of eastern European meaty goodness. So, I spent hours watching the snow flying over the Slovakian and Czech countryside, finished the last two chapters of Foreign Devils on the Silk Road, devoted some time to studying my Prague guide, and read a hundred pages of the Shahnameh - and took a couple substantial naps - overall an utterly sophisticated way to spend the day (even factoring in the meat flavored potato chips).