Every international trip Anna has ever taken has had at least one crazy day. You know, a day where strange things happen and you can't decide whether to freak out or to laugh?
We did both yesterday.
We left Kraków around 11am with two planned connections in Katowice, Poland and Hranice na Móravê, Czech Republic before our final stop in Ceska Trebova.
We arrived well at Katowice but our next train was already late by 15 minutes. As the train was ultimately headed to Bratislava and Budapest, there were quite a few foreigners who spoke English on our car. This didn't prove too helpful until later on.
Although the second train was late and our connection to jump aboard the third train was short, we didn't worry too much.
We did, however, start to worry when Anna looked out the window at one of the stops to see an auto repair guy pointing at something on the tracks below our window. He started flailing his arms at someone on the other end of the train to get their attention. Once he disappeared and the train lurched forward a few minutes later, we hoped the problem had been fixed.
At this point we were in Ostrava...just one stop away from getting off at Hradice. JUST ONE.
Anna looked out the window and saw 3 firemen rush along the platform. This was followed by the conducter screaming something in Czech over the intercom and running crazily through our car. We had no clue what was going on but most everyone seemed irritated but calm. So we stayed calm too.
That's when we met our saving grace...Anna Mari! (Great name, right?) She lives in Warsaw and was traveling to Bulgaria. She also speaks English quite well. Hooray for us as we speak Czech quite poorly!
As the conductor would scream in Czech over the intercom, she would tell us not to worry. She said, "The lady is acting like somebody is dying! She needs to calm down." That made us feel better and so we sat and waited.
At one point, they said the train wouldn't be repaired for 5 hours. The conducter started giving everyone different itineraries. We took our new plan and got off the train. A few moments later though, the train roared back to life. We all ran aboard excitedly!
In the end, it all worked out and we only arrived 2 hours late. We got to talk more to Anna Mari about life in Poland, current events, and growing up as the daughter of a diplomat to Yugoslavia in the 90's.
We exchanged emails so maybe we'll have a new Polish pen pal. Bonus!
The two Annas!
We are currently staying at the home of our guide, Josef. He kindly waited for us at the train station for two hours since we had no way to contact him.
We ended the evening at a restaurant down the road from his place in Litomysl. Both of our meals included crispy, perfect potato pancakes and a couple Bernard beers.
All in all, a hilarious, entertaining and happy day. We're excited to finally be in the Czech Republic!
Rog + Anna
Holy Cow! Somehow I missed this entry until Auntie started asking me about it and I didn't know what she was talking about. So glad all's well that end's well!!
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