Saturday, October 8, 2011

Day 22: Prague (Oct 8)


Today's pictures can be found here on Flickr.

I had an email waiting for me when I got up, from my host telling me that the room was vacant the next 2 days and that I could stay if I wanted (I’d pay in cash at the same rate). The only things really on my agenda for the day were to do laundry and change my train ticket from Prague-Budapest on 10/9 at 12:04am to Prague-Vienna on 10/11 at 12:04am. I’d put off the Castle Quarter for Sunday or Monday.


By asking at a nearby hostel, I found the location of a Laundromat, which was just a couple doors down from the Museum of Communism which I passed yesterday. Got some lunch (the Laundromat lady was on her lunch break herself) and then dropped off my clothes for a wash/dry – the first time they’d actually go through a dryer since I left, it’s always been hang-dry after the wash. On my way to the train station, it started to drizzle and I put my hoodie up. Unfortunately, while crossing the street against a don’t-walk light, my sight was obscured and I didn’t see the policeman standing nearby. He wrote me up a jaywalking ticket (I’m sure if I had been a local I would have just gotten a warning). I didn’t have my passport on me, just my drivers license – I figured how much trouble could I get in where I needed my passport, just on the way to the train station? It was an instant fine of 200 Kc, around $10.76 with the exchange rate, and I was lucky that I had stopped at an ATM the day before so that I had money. I don’t like to think about what might have happened if I had no money along with no passport.  It was amusing to hear the cop call my name in to the station using their phonetic alphabet – “Gregor, Rudolf, Adam, Boris, Otto, Ivan, Stanislaw”. I’m now an international scofflaw, with an Interpol record for jaywalking. Sufficiently chastised, I changed my train ticket and went back to get my laundry (which ran 150 Kc, or about $8, for the wash, dry, and detergent), and stopped to watch a lady making giant soap bubbles for the kids and the crowd.

I was able to find a way to watch the Texas/Oklahoma football game online. It was the first time I had watched TV since I left New York City three weeks before. After a disappointing first half (which eventually turned into an OU rout) I left for the Indian Jewel, a recommended Indian restaurant just a couple minutes walk away in the Ungelt Courtyard.

After the gorgeous weather on my first day, a front came through and the temperature dropped from the low 70s to the mid 50s. My sweater and a jacket were fine, though I noticed that a scarf would be a good idea since my jacket didn’t zip all the way up, so I kept my eyes open for the rest of the stay.

Today's pictures can be found here on Flickr.

(Originally posted 10/15/11 at 12:02am, Bad Ischl)

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