Day 76 - On the Road Again

It has been lovely being pampered by the family, but all good things must come to an end. We spent most of the morning preparing for our departure. Cz sorted and re-packed our bags to be more air and train friendly, while I walked to Tegel and sent off some packages. I tried to do it in German, but the minute the Postal Lady hear my accent, she switched over to English. Being lazy, I followed suit.

We had another terrific meal with H and B, before H drove us to Berlin HBF. We arrived at the station quite early in order to meet a friend from NY for coffee. She is an artist, and plans to live in Berlin for the next two years to soak up, and work in the atmosphere described in the previous post. It was great fun catching up, and we got to play know-it-all with tips about Berlin.

We met near the great steel horse sculpture. It is a giant metal bronco bucking over a glass-windowed box. In the box are old bits of the original HBF, train engine parts, photos and other memorabilia from the early days of rail. Back when trains were called steel horses. I'm guessing it's a metaphor.

The train ride to Prague was largely uneventful, made less-so by the presence of several very lively, very cute children. Well, they were cute to us; I'm sure their antics were exasperating their parents to no end.

Prague felt like an old friend. We navigated from the train station to the hostel map-less and hitch-free. After settling our stuff and dashing off a few quick e-mails, we decided to take a little walk around the city. At the end of one street, we saw a huge, well-lit dome. We meandered that direction, and discovered the huge, state museum that we had previously seen only by day. By night, it looks less like a museum and more like a grand, haunted castle. Old museums being what they are, I wouldn't be surprised if the reality lies somewhere in the space between.