Munchen and Prague

I left Strasbourg and Yann's family just before 11:00 the next morning. I almost immediately missed them. Too bad little Frederic didn't end up tagging along in my backpack.

The train ride was uneventful, especially compared to the next train ride I was to take (more on that later) and I arrived in Munich and made my way to the hostel around 4:30 in the afternoon. I got my stuff settled in and got my bearings. Really, I was only here to pick up a rare beer that is impossible to get from Canada for my dad, and so I thought I'd kill the afternoon just hanging around. I found out about an English cinema and went there to check out what was playing and when. It turned out Batman Begins had just started, so I actually went right in and watched it. What a great movie! This is Batman as it was meant to be, and I'm looking forward to more. The theatre was also awesome, Lucasfilm THX certified and like an anechoic chamber with wood panelling and heavy on the class.

From there, I made my way to the Augustina Beer Gardens, to try a little of this fabled beer for myself. I grabbed a litre of it with some spare ribs and sat alone since I'd not met anyone yet. A New Yorker sat beside me and we chatted for a while and all of a sudden I saw someone very familiar walking by. I looked, thought, "Nah! It couldn't be!" I knew she was in Europe but what would the odds be that in this huge continent, in this massive country, in this big city, in the sprawling park, that she'd happen to walk right in front of me. I yelled her name. No reaction. Well, maybe it's not her. But I'd better try once more in case she didn't hear. PAIGE!!!

Turns out I ran into Paige in Munich. What are the odds?! Really. What a rare occurence. She was on a pub crawl that cost 15 Euro but I tagged along with my New York friend for nothing. It was a great time, I met lots of her friends from the BusAbout tour she was on and also got to hang out with Paige quite a bit. Of particular note, she introduced me to an Australian friend of hers who I thought was pretty cool. The three of us hung out most of the night, which got to be quite late, I think I got back into the hostel at 4:30 or something. I met Jen (Australian girl) for lunch the next day and we hung out for awhile, but I think we were both too tired to really do anything except lay on the grass and wish we were still asleep.

I also tried to mail the beer I'd bought for my dad today, but it turns out that the post office doesn't open on Sundays. So the beer and backpack came with me to Prague. The train ride there seemed straightforward enough. Then I got to chatting with three American boys. And it somehow was discovered that my pass didn't cover Czech and I was riding illegally. Oops! So they covered me for the trip to the German border by using their 5 person pass on me, and then after by just showing their tickets and hoping that the conductor didn't count or look too closely. I also avoided being counted once by sitting in a seat he'd already checked and looking busy. Anyway, it went fine but it was tiring to always be on alert and worrying.

Prague is a beautiful city, and I've spent a couple days here. The first thing I did was laundry, and then the post office. I packaged up my dad's beers with some clothes and a box I'd bought and waited in line for about 20 mins. Which wasn't bad at all, the main post office here is so beautiful they don't even allow photos inside. There was also a photography exhibit going on that was quite excellent. Anyway, my turn came and I discovered that I can't send fragile things internationally from Czech, so now I have this box of beer to haul back to Germany.

I've hung around here with a guy from Finland and three Canadians, it's super cheap and, as I said, very beautiful. I've done so much walking and sightseeing, though, that I'm completely exhausted, so I'm going to take it easy tomorrow. There's not really much by way of stories to tell from here, I'm hoping to find some fun tonight. If not, the Czech beer is good enough to be drank alone. Well, maybe not, but it is darned good.

I'm not sure what I'm up to tomorrow, either another night here or off to Berlin. I need a rest is all I know. Scandinavia is coming up quickly too, and I just found out today that John is coming to Greece probably in September, so lots of stuff on the horizon to look forward to, plus Berlin should be a lot of fun. See you in another few days!

<Prague and Munich Photos>