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| Berlin (Day 2) |
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| Prague |
I slept in until a luxurious 6:45 and met everyone downstairs a little before eight to grab a complimentary breakfast and meet our taxi. (We gave up on the darn metro). At the Prague main rail station (which looks like it hasn’t been touched since the 1920s and was very pretty a very long time ago), we stood in front of the screen that had rolling updates of train times announcing which train was assigned to what track. We had some money to burn, because while we were in Prague we had taken our currency that would only be good for the day we were in the Czech Republic. So Ginger, Chris, and I found the nearest convenience store and bought cold cuts, cheese, bread, chips, and fruit for lunch on the train. We burned the Czeck currency down to about 4 Cks…the equivalent of about 25 US cents.
Now, when we reached ten minutes until departure, and our train still didn’t have a track. We were really getting concerned and depressed at this point. We stood patiently, hoping it wouldn’t be too late, and really worried about being able to reach the track in time. (There was a very large number of people all standing like droids just watching the board to see track assignments). And then, all of a sudden it popped up! Munchen, track 3. I am truly not exaggerating when I say that 150-200 people suddenly started stampeding with their rolling bags and suitcases towards track 3 as the entire rail station emptied out and headed for track 3. It was insane. We kept laughing and looking around at each other in disbelief. The train was all cabins, so we filled a cabin with luggage and those who wanted to sleep and another cabin with smaller bags and those who wanted computer time and to hang out for a bit…and managed to keep two six person cabins to ourselves for about six hours. It was the best train ride so far.
And, best of all we arrived in Munich only two minutes behind schedule. We had three goals. First, we needed to get our overnight reservations from Munich to Venice on Dec 28….which were non-existent, but a super helpful English speaking attendant helped us figure out that we could take a train to Salzburg, enjoy the city for a few hours, and then take the night train to Venice. Perfecto!
Second, we had to navigate the metro to pick up our rental, which was easier said than done because of a misstep, but we made it in the end. Third, we needed to pick up our rentals! The exciting part? The VW Golf’s/equivalent were all out so they upgraded us to BMW’s! And Daniel and Chris got to drive manual BMW’s on the German autobahn (that was loaded with GPS and! Seat warmers!!!) to get us to Kaprun!
It took about 3 hours because of traffic instead of just over 2, but we had a decent drive to Kaprun and stopped for a delicious meal along the way. When we arrived in our little mountain town we were delighted and thrilled with our apartment and incredibly excited to sleep in.
Traditionally when you travel you have a night at the beginning of your trip that enables you to sleep in and adjust to your jet lag and rest…we’ve went for four days before actually getting this. So it felt reallllly good to sleep in this morning.
Now, we might not have set ourselves up for a perfect day of skiing and time on the mountain, but we are now rested, armed with groceries (which we checked out with at 12:45 when they closed at 1 pm until Monday…), and rested.
It’s a very complicated story, but because of a plethora of circumstances…and the fact that we are now rested…We spent our afternoon grocery shopping, making lunch, getting rentals and ski lift passes set up for tomorrow, checking out Kaprun and Zell am See, (I had a two year old break into our apartment while I was showering and walk in on me naked in the bathroom…), and then we decided that Christmas Eve would be our night in and I cooked a dinner for six from the groceries I discovered in the Austrian grocery store. I will declare success and triumph!!! I made pan-seared, then baked in applesauce pork-chops, couscous with sautéed mushrooms and onions, sautéed zucchini, and mashed potatoes au gratin. The crowd said it was delicious so I don’t feel too bad taking credit :)
After that we crowded around the fire Chris and Phil made us and made smores because the store in Zell am See had marshmallows!! We used chocolate covered biscuits and fire cooked marshmallows that we made on sticks Daniel, Ginger, and Chris ripped off of trees outside. And we are now about to enjoy a slideshow of some of the highlights from our trip so far.
Tomorrow we will be skiing all day! Wish us snow!!
And for now, we will wish you all a wonderfully Merry Christmas Eve, from a cute little Austrian apartment nestled in the Austrian Alps…we will post more pictures very soon and we send you warm, merry thoughts from our fireplace and hope everyone has a fabulous Christmas!
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