April 20, 2019
Day 33: Prague to Leipzig - A Change of Plans
We are sorry to have to report a serious family emergency back home. We need to get back as soon as possible. So we have rejigged the plan of the tour. Today we trained to Leipzig, where we are storing the bikes with friends. Next day we actually will hang out with these friends. Then we will train to Frankfurt and fly to Seattle. In Seattle we get to see grandchildren, but just over night. After that it's the ferry from Anacortes to Sidney, which is on our home island, and a short drive to home.
There is still lots of interesting travel to report, including the heart stopping events of today's train odyssey, and the Leipzig Easter Market, coming up tomorrow. Stay tuned!
Nervous about missing our train, scheduled for 10:30, we got up at 6:30 and by 7:00 were at the hotel's breakfast buffet. Again, it had features not seen elsewhere, like those hot dogs, and today, sort of stir fried mixed vegetable cubes. Best of all was the table of cakes and strudels, with a notable strudel made from poppyseed and with a jam layer. Poppyseed, by the way, is "mak", and is one of my only Czech words.
No later than 8 we were packed and ready for the 1/2 km ride to the station. We did that, and rolled into the building. At that point we looked at each other and a few puffs of sanity penetrated our brains. "What are we going to do, straddling our bikes here for two hours?". So we rolled back out, and headed for Wenceslas Square. Predictably, it was all still there - the statue, the museum, and the food vendors. No problem, we circled it again. But this time we spied a group of school children looking up at a balcony. Based mostly on this evidence, we are prepared to revise our guess about the likely Velvet Revolution balcony. It is just a little bit up from being directly adjacent to the Hotel Europa, and looks much more the part of such an important piece of history:
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About this time, we began to have second thoughts about having no cash money on us. Not that we wanted to buy anything, but surely having some would be a good idea. Our stock of Korunas had been drained by first a restaurant and then a shop, that somehow required cash. And our euros had drained away somewhere as well.
Now there is something a bit off about Prague and currency exchange. We had wondered about when it was mentioned by the clerk at the hotel, and then when we noted some huge lineups in front of currency exchanges:
We expected from what we had heard that an ATM would rip us off, but we were prepared for a little of that. I went up to one clearly labelled Euro - CHK, but no matter what I tried, it was only willing to dispense Korunas. We then spied an exchange desk, staffed by a human. I went in and handed the lady my Euro card. We only take cash, was her reply. I walked out puzzled. Did she want cash Euros, in order to give me Korunas? I could do that at the machine!
So Dodie had to go in. She determined that the lady would take Korunas and dispense Euros. Aha, so she did have euros after all, just not in exchange for my card.
Ok, I went to the machine and withdrew 6000 korunas. That cost me 263.81 euros on my card. Then I took my 6000 korunas and handed them to the lady. She returned 232 euros. That means I paid overall about 32 euros to get my 232 euros. 32 euros! That's four restaurant meals.
We also dug deep in our pockets and dredged up a pile of Czech coins. I brought these to "my" lady, and she gave me 11 euros. Ok, who knows.
Now that we had no Korunas, we obviously were buying nothing until we would leave the country. So we rode our bikes into a shopping mall. I did spot this one thing of interest. But that would take 10,000 korunas. That is a hefty price tag!
Since it was still quite early in the morning, the big crowds had not turned out yet. We were amazed at how quickly, on our bikes, we circled around a good chunk of yesterday's slow walk.
So soon we were back at the station. Now we began a strange form of tv watching. You spot your train on the big screen and note that the track is not given yet. But it's ok, because your train does not go for quite a while and it is still near the bottom of the list. So you watch it slowly climb, while the clock draws nearer to your departure time. As the minutes go by, tension mounts. Great TV! I took the shot below, showing our train, EC174, nearing the top of the screen. There are 12 minutes to go and we are just standing on the ground floor of the station, watching TV?
We decided to go up one floor, closer to the platforms, where someone told us there were also screens. With some number of minutes (fewer than 12!) to go, we got the track number and headed for it. But suddenly we were in a river of people. I tried a photo, but we were "running" with the bikes, while also trying to get through:
We reached the platform - no not quite - there were flights of steep stairs, and swarming with people. That's how I can call this journey heart stopping. I grabbed my 100 pound bike and carried it up. No time or room for niceties like taking off the bags, making several trips up and down, etc.
Someone carried Dodie's bike, I think. Once up there, we found the platform jammed with people. We watched the train arrive and Dodie spotted our carriage trundling by. We jumped on the bikes and rode down there.
The man whose knees make an appearance in the above photo turned out to be Peter, who lives in Prague but is married to someone from Idaho. We had a lively chat. One thing we learned is that he considers Trdelnek to be purely tourist hype. As a local, a thing like that has no place in his life. But for tourists like us, it was a big thing. This is often the case with the experience of tourists vs locals, we think.
Out the train window, we sadly could see the Elbe and its radweg slide by, together with towns where we had had hotels reservations, before cancelling them all.
We had a change of trains in Dresden. At least this time we had been able to find out that we would arrive on track 17, and leave on track 3. We readied our bikes at the trains' door, and carried them down the steps when the thing stopped. Then it was a further flight to get down to where we assumed a tunnel would give access to the other tracks. I carried Dodie's bike (with luggage on) but ended up bumping mine down, It actually worked ok, with heavy use of brakes, of course. But at the bottom, nothing. Just an exit to the street. Incredulously, we put ourselves on the streets of Dresden, cycled, and re-entered the station. We searched for and found track 3. Yes, up another set of stairs!
We found a car with a bicycle symbol, with a number that also corresponded to our ticket - well one of them anyway. Assuming (correctly) that we had only seconds or minutes to spare, we began to hoist my bike up into the car. I was immediately set up by not one but two conductors. After they switched to English, the message was "You have to have a bike reservation!" "We do have bike reservations", I snapped, wondering how many more seconds before the train would start to leave. Up went my bike.
They absorbed my reply and came back with "You can only take one bike on the carriage". "What nonesense", I shouted, and frantically grabbed Dodie's bike for the upward shove.
Now here's where it helps to know that Dodie has had a problem with her hyrdaulic seat post, basically since she got the bike. If you pull up on the seat, the seat and part of the post will come off. Rather than puzzle out the reason for this, or god forbid, bring the thing to a shop, we have just been careful with it - not to pull up on the seat.
Now back to the "frantically grabbed" part. The seat and post flew into the air, lazily did a few rotations in slow motion, and sailed under the train. There was no way to retrieve it. I had literally thrown our project under the train! With some choice further words for the two conductors, I finished putting what was left of Dodie's bike aboard.
We carefully lined up the bikes in the bike space, and were there when Mr. Big conductor got on the case. He explained that we had one reservation for the one bike spot on this carriage, and one for a spot in the next carriage. "Yeah, well are you going to hold the train and help us carry this bike from one to the other?" "You should have carefully checked your ticket in advance", was his Germanic reply. You can fill in what you imagine was my Canadian response!
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Our friends in Leipzig actually live in the neighbouring town of Markranstadt. That's a pleasant 15 km cycle, and we had made a GPS track for it. But how pleasant would a cycle be with no seat?
We then stood looking at the naked remaining post. Dodie helpfully pointed out that a device like that used to be used in doing torture deaths. I had the idea of slapping a water bottle over it.
In the end, Dodie tried a few variants and with the help of the electrical tape that every cyclist must carry, she came up with something that would possibly prevent my torture demise today.
A pereceptive reader will have picked up that it was Dodie bike that had its seat thrown under the train. So why was I on the rack? Fortunately, the seat posts of our two bikes are the same - so Dodie got my seat.
It turned out that the makeshift seat worked well enough for 15 km, and we arrived in good order. Jurgen greeted us, and as usual we were very glad to see him. That is not only because we love him, but because we always seem to have some bike crisis when showing up at his house. We usually think of the time he came out on his bike and found us on the highway in the dark after our GPS ran out of power!
Jurgen and Birgit are parents of Christian, who came to our farm on an exchange program more than ten years ago, and who has stayed in Canada. Christian came with his friend Marius, whose parents Jo and Karla live here nearby. Marius also stayed in Canada, and both young men remain frequent visitors at the farm. In fact, they are two of our best friends.
Jurgen and Birgit and Jo and Karla have come to Canada often since Christian and Marius broke the ice. In turn, we have been in Markranstadt twice before. We are very fortunate to have met all these wonderful people. But it's more than that. Christian is part of a large extended family, all living very close to each other in this village. The head of the family is Oma Kate, Birgit's Mom. We have come to love her too, and to know a lot of other family members, especially Christian's sister Anya.
So as soon as we arrived, Jurgen ushered us to a family Easter party already in progress at Oma's. We were beat, and dehydrated, but this was soon put right. At a party like this, there is lots of cake and coffee and many other kinds of drinks.
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We are glad to be safe now with the family, and we have one day to chill out with them. They will hang on to the bikes, so the next train leg should be easier to manage!
Today's ride: 18 km (11 miles)
Total: 1,735 km (1,077 miles)
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Ken and Triciy
5 years ago
You do come up with the best stories though! Losing your saddle under the train is one for the ages. And so chivalrous of Steve to offer his saddle. Beau Geste!
5 years ago
5 years ago
That wistful photo out the train window of the Elbe twisted my heart a little. All of us far from family and home always wonder how we can make it back if we are need be, it’s a constant algorithm running in the back of my mind during a trip. It’s a sudden swerve from riding along our chosen path back to the path of service and care of our loved ones.
Best wishes to the Grampies and their family, of which we are provided ample evidence, is their torte of choice.
5 years ago
We have had some pretty harrowing train rides but yours absolutely takes the cake! Glad you survived! I apologize for the incompetent behavior of the Deutsche Bahn!
5 years ago
5 years ago