On the way to the wedding in Poland we realized that to traverse across Europe by train on our planned route was too much. The night before our departure from beautiful Luzern, Switzerland we had to modify our route and cut out Austria and Hungary. We needed to connect through Zurich, Switzerland, to Munchen (Munich), Germany to make Praha (Prague) Czech Republic, thus gaining a day and guaranteeing our arrival before the wedding day in Poland. Our day began at 5 A.M., quick showers, out the door, and caught the 5:45 bus to the train station. The 6:10 to Zurich waited our arrival and stepping on the train with our backpacks, started the grueling day to gain a day. The first leg was a meandering hour through the mountains to Zurich and then a fast train to Munchen. The fast trains are usually 80 to 100 mph. I had tossed down water and a granola bar for breakfast en route and had to go to the bathroom. I hurriedly found the WC (water closet), unzipped but could go no further. There was no fly. I had quickly dressed and had my underwear on backwards. With bursts of laughter while trying to correct the problem I was able to finish the job. We arrived at the large train station in Munchen, Germany assuming we would take another fast train. The ticket window told us to take the express bus to Praha. It was two hours quicker and our rail pass covered the expense. We waited for the bus with 100 others, including a drunken rugby team. I dreaded a bus ride for five hours with 20 drunks. The bus driver argued with the team for 30 minutes and then banned them from boarding. Relief. We left 30 minutes late. Friday afternoon traffic out of the city slowed us another 90 minutes. Our express bus arrived in Praha the same time as the slower train.
We usually depend on the tourist service for hotel rooms and it closed at 7:00 P.M. The time was past but the office was still open. We were shown a room on a screen in our price range. Looked great. Walked the ten blocks with our backpacks, sweating and huffing in the 90 degrees summer heat. The hotel said there was a problem with our room. I said, “we can’t handle a problem at this point”. The clerk said, “its a very good price”. I thought, oh, we do have a room. We opened the door of a suite on the 7th floor overlooking the city. They didn’t have our room ready so we were upgraded to a suite with a large whirlpool bath, air-conditioning, and a feather bed. After a life saving whirlpool bath, drained the tub and then filled it to wash our clothes. That is how you wash clothes while backpacking. All of our clothing was quick dry polyester for this convenience. We did make up the time, but it was a 14 hour day of ups and downs. Live for the ups and learn from the downs.
