Konk!

Last night (my first night in the Prague hostel / inn), I konked out as soon as my head hit the pillow!! It was extremely refreshing to have a good night's sleep, to wake up on my own accord (at 7 am, no less...which was impressive and great in terms of getting a head start on the day), and not to even be disturbed by other people coming into the room later that night.

So, since I've been absent from telling you what I've been up to, let me start with my last few days in Krakow, my adventure on the train to Prague, and my initial start in Prague.

Friday, I spent the day walking around the city of Krakow, doing nothing really in particular. Later that evening, I ended up talking in Spanish to a guy I met in the hostel. We drank Tatankas (my favorite!) since I knew it could be my last chance to taste this delicious drink. Tatanka is a speciality of Poland -- unfortunately, I don't have any room whatsoever in my backback to bring back a bottle of the special Polish vodka, Zubrowka, so I'll have to just remember its flavor since I can't purchase it elsewhere.

Saturday and Sunday I spent with Romek at Tatra Mountains in Zakopone. We stayed in the traditional houses of this region that homeowners usually rent out to people (we rented two rooms, and it was cheaper than the hostel in Krakow!). The mountains were really nice. Saturday we took a leisurely walk along one of the paths for 5 hours (roundtrip) with a break in the middle when we reached the end -- I had a nice cup of hot chocolate). We went with a friend that Romek knows named Eva, who is really nice, so when she comes to visit her sister and mom in Ireland (they're all Polish), hopefully she'll send me a text to meet up with her and her husband. I discovered a cool cave, but my flashlight wasn't strong enough and so we didn't get to go in. I was quite disappointed because I love going in caves and was so looking forward to finding one and exploring it. Sunday was a great day (good thing Romek had some sunscreen in his backpack, or I'd be a lobster -- mine was back in my suitcase backpack...), Romek and I hiked for a good 6 hours in total, and thank goodness he was patient with me because it was uphill for the majority of the hike and rocky all the way up to the top, so I was stopping to catch my breath every few minutes...!

I spent Sunday night in the same hostel as before in Krakow, while Romek went off home. We got in late, got my train ticket, had a light salad, I grabbed a shower, and then I fell into bed after such a weekend of lots of walking!

Monday I got to ride my first cross-country train in Europe (could have taken the overnight one on Sunday, but I just didn't feel like it, I wanted a shower and a bed!). I liked riding the train, however it makes you sleepy easily! I set out to read, but didn't get as far as I wanted to because I kept nodding off. I made some people on the train jealous because I had bought some smoked cheese when I was in Zakopane, and some famous Krakow pretzels from the street vendors that morning. It made for a delicious breakfast seeing how the train was at 7 am. I did have a little bit of a mishap, but I was proud of myself for not getting worked up and for getting myself sorted. I saw that the time was 2:09 and we had pulled up to the station "Praha". The train was supposed to get into Prague at 1:59, and I remember hearing that it was 10 mintues off schedule, so I figured this is where I need to get off. Wrong. Especially I was confused when only a few people exited the train, and the station didn't look like I'd expected (I thought it'd be really busy with people). Anyway, the train left, and I was there wondering how I get to the Metro to eventually get to my hostel. The poor lady at the train station selling tickets tried to mime to me so I would understand (which I wasn't understanding), but eventually she was able to convey to me that I need to take a tram to the place I need to be then change to a different tram. So, I guess I bypassed having to take the Metro and also rode the tram for free since I didn't know we had to pay, no one was asking or telling me otherwise, and it's a good thing, seeing how I didn't have any Czech money yet!

I had some dinner when I finally got checked in and then went to visit the Communism Museum since it was open until 9 pm. It was really well put together (a lot of reading, but informative and interesting -- it was a combination of displays, video, replicated models, and posters to read and look at pictures).

Today I joined a free tour around one side of Prague (they work off tips), and it was good to go on. It gave me more of a sense of the city and the girl giving the tour was really nice. I made sure to put on some of my sunscreen today! Boy was it hot! I miss Ireland's weather...!!

Well, that's it for now.