Descent of Speed

I flew back from Athens to Vienna. I got a hotel room across from Sudbahnhof in early evening. There was a large pedestrian mall around the corner, but most of the shops were closed. I had hoped to grab dinner and perhaps check out a movie, as it was too late to do any site seeing. Unfortunately the movies were all dubbed. It was lightly raining as I ate dinner, outside, under a canopy. After I finished dinner, I got another coke, and sat there reading my book, figuring I had nothing else to do. Unfortunately I waited a bit too long, and it started to pour pretty hard. I tried to wait out the downpour, but it didn’t seem to want to let up. Fortunately I was right next to the subway. I hopped on the subway for one stop. The subway was still down the street from my hotel, but staying near the building I stayed relatively dry until I got to the intersection. The rain had let up a bit, although it was still fairly heavy, but the street was literally a small river! I made it almost back to my hotel, and my feet were going to get soaked, within sight of my hotel!

The next morning I got to the train station about an hour early, I needed to get my luggage from the lockers. I had to take some of the items from my large bag out of the bag, because the locker was smaller than the bag (but it was deeper, so everything fit in the locker.) I grabbed that bag first, and repacked it. Then I went to get my luge, and I was unable to retrieve it! I put the luge into the locker at 10:20am, and it was now 10:30am, 5 days later. The lockers have a 5 day limit. I had to go find security to have them open the locker for me.

I needed to switch trains halfway from Vienna to Kozakov. For the most part, we’ve been pretty lucky with transfers. A good portion of our trips started and ended at the beginning and end of the line, or there was a decent gap in between.  When my train stopped in Pardibuce it was going to stop for one minute! I practically threw my luggage out the door.

I had enough time to grab a sandwich. About twenty minutes before my train was going to leave I decided to head out to the platform. I noticed a train was already there. This could be my train, or it could be a train before mine. It looked like it was my train, but I asked a conductor. The lady was standing near the end of the train, and asked if I was going to the final destination. I wasn’t, but I was going close enough, so I said yes. She pointed in the direction of the train. I wasn’t sure if she meant to go to the front of the train, or that this was the train.

I got on the first car that had a bike on the side (these have more space for my luge.) A few minutes after the train left, the conductor came through, rambling something off in Czech. I told her I was going to Semily, and she motioned that I needed to go further up, and then she walked through to the next car. I wanted to see where I needed to go, so I followed her into the next car. She motioned that I needed to go to the next car, but I would have to go outside, as there was no throughway from the current car to the next. I decided to move my bags closer, so when the train did stop I would just have to toss then off, then back on.

I went and grabbed my two small bags and brought them forward. On the way back to grab my luge, I noticed the train was stopping! The train was stopped by the time I reached my luge. I tossed my luge, and my large back outside. The platform here was hard back dirt that was about 3 feet wide. I grabbed my two bags and started to run the length of the cars. The whole time I am worried I’d get on the train, and leave my backpack on the other train. I had to pass by a light pole, which was in the center of the platform. Of course I had less than 2 feet of room, and both my bags weren’t going to make it. My luge slipped off the platform. I didn’t have time to right it, so I continued to run, letting my luge drag along the platform. As I approached the other car, I noticed someone detaching the two cars. I threw my bags on the train, then ran back to grab my two small bags, which were a little closer. As soon as I got my bags on the other train, it shut its doors and was one its way! The conductor was kind enough to hold the train for me, but it sure would have been easier to get on the right train in the first place!