A train carried me and my overloaded luggage from Bavaria to Bohemia.Crossing the border by night I noticed little in the change of landscape. But when I finally arrived in Prague I knew this wasn't Deutschland anymore.
The station was bustling - bumping in the late evening hours. A stark contrast to the ghost town I had departed 6 hours earlier. Notices in Czech were indecipherable, bearing no resemblance to my native English tongue or my more recently acquired German lingo. The currency - 1000 Koruny to 30 British Pounds to roughly 60 Canadian dollars - is only mildly confusing. Still, forking out 300Kc for a coffee makes me feel like a high roller.
I walked circles for a bit before I orienteered my way into the city, my trusty map in hand. Lost, but not abandoned to my own navigational devices (i.e., lick my finger and follow the wind, which is reliably westerly where I come from...).
I love this sort of travel - taking on a big city, getting lost in winding streets. Bookstores, cafes, galleries, and markets. Certainly enough to keep me occupied for a week.
Indeed, you will see that I end up staying local the entire week.
