We finally arrived in Prague on January 6th after a 32 hour layover in Amsterdam... So long story short, we got to the Amsterdam airport around 8 am on Tuesday. We were waiting at the gate when we noticed on the screen that our flight was delayed 2 hours. We knew then that we were screwed. Not only did we only have a 2 hour layover in Liverpool (which meant that we would miss our connecting flight), but we would be changing airlines. Meaning that if we were to miss our connecting flight, we would have to buy new plane tickets and most likely spend the night at the airport in Liverpool.
About 30 minutes later we looked at the screen again. Our flight out of Amsterdam was canceled. So we investigated our many options. We could get another flight to Liverpool but then we'd have to buy new plane tickets from there. We could take a train for $180 or buy tickets directly to Prague for $275. Finally we decided that we would sleep in the Amsterdam airport overnight and the next day take a train to Eindhoven and then a plane to Prague. So, since we didn't have valid boarding passes for a flight out of Amsterdam, we had to sleep outside of the arrivals gate... basically where people waited to meet their relatives outside of the baggage claim. And it was cold. Really cold. Apparently they don't keep that part of the airport heated in Amsterdam. So it was about 2 o'clock in the afternoon at this point and we set up camp. We all passed out, sleeping on the floor and at one point a security guard came by to tell us that we weren't allowed to sleep on the floor. Apparently that's not allowed for some reason.
At around 11:30 pm there was an announcement that the Shirpol Plaza (where we were hanging out) would be closed between the hours of 12:00 am and 4:00 am for everyone who did not have a valid boarding pass for a flight out of Amsterdam. We were nervous that we would kicked out into the snowy coldness of The Netherlands, but luckily we found a closed restaurant and slept in the chairs. After sleeping relatively soundly (except for the fact that we were freezing cold... I ended up putting on 3 pairs of pants...) until around 8:00 am. We bought our train tickets to Eindhoven and took the train. We almost missed our stop because all 4 of us were sleeping but luckily it was the last stop so the people cleaning up the train woke us up. When we got to Eindhoven, we were 4 hours early for our flight so we again had to wait outside security. Finally, we made it to the Czech Republic.
My friend Kristyna, who was an exchange student at Oakland when I was a sophomore and stayed with Kate's family, picked us up at the airport. When we got to the hostel, we immediately went to the grocery store, had a huge feast of hot dogs and bread with Nutella or cheese, took showers, and passed out for the next 13 hours. For the next few days, Kristyna showed us around the beautiful city of Prague. While we were here, the city got 36 centimeters of snow... the most that Prague has had in 16 years. Apparently it usually doesn't snow much, and when it does snow, it doesn't stick.
Kristyna even graciously invited us over to her home one day for some traditional Czech Snitzel (I think that's what you call it... it's basically fried pork). Her home was beautiful and her Mom was a sweetheart. On the streets of Prague we also discovered a wonderful thing that is fried cheese sandwiches. I can't believe that Americans have not thought of this yet as we usually deep fry everything under the sun. But the Czech people have invented this wonderfully deep fried cheese sandwich and you eat it with this wonderfully delicious mayonnaise that actually tastes better than any mayo I've ever had.
Besides the Prague Castle (aka the Royal Palace) I think the coolest thing we saw so far was the Mirror Maze, which was basically just a huge room full of mirrors. At the end of the maze, there was a room with the mirrors that make you look fat, skinny, short, tall and everything in between. It was hilarious.
Conclusion: Prague is awesome. Beautiful and just small enough to see everything important in 5 days.
Incorrect. On the train to Eindhoven, the three of you were asleep and I was awake. I woke you up by throwing my travel pillow at you. Otherwise, mostly true.
ReplyDelete~Adam
Since when do you read my blog?
ReplyDeleteThat's true that you woke me up with your travel pillow. But the train was already empty and the workers were cleaning up when I woke up, which leads me to believe that the train had been stopped for a while before you woke me up.