The Ether Bunny

So after the wonderful adventure in Rome, Mike came back to Vienna with me, where dear Emily was waiting for us.  We had the most lovely spring break week juggling and looking at Important Buildings and enjoying the weather and eating kebabs.  Mmmmm!  (Pictoral Evidence for Various Blog-Reading Moms here)

On Thursday night, the three of us plus Nikki hopped on a bus to Prague.  We spent all of Friday there, exploring and drinking Pilsners and getting sucked into tourist traps.  We also spent a significant amount of time trying to get a good jumping picture in front of the John Lennon wall.  Sigh... 

Guess we all know who's the weakest link.  Anyway, Prague was pretty darn cool (and here are a few pictures to prove it).  We walked across Charles Bridge, juggled in front of Wenceslas Square, and so on.  Unfortunately, since we were only there for the day, we had to nix the pilgrimage to the Prague Metronome, a giant metronome overlooking the city.  A giant, functional metronome.  Don't worry, Prague.  I'm coming back!

Later Friday night, we took the night train to Krakow.  Funny story about the Prague-to-Krakow night train: it's pretty sketchy.  As in, a "Best Places to Lose Your Valuables" list includes this very train among its top 6 sketchiest places.  A few travel forums offer helpful tips like keeping the window cracked so that you don't get gassed (!!!) and pillaged by notorious train robbers.  Others suggest fashioning complicated MacGyver-style anti-lock-picking devices to keep the train conductor (who is almost certainly in cahoots with the thieves and being bribed to betray his passengers) from opening your door while you sleep.  

Despite not knowing whether or not we would wake up in the morning (and with or without our moneybelts), I think it's safe to say the four of us lived up the night train experience.  We played MASH, folded and unfolded the seats with reckless abandon, ate Czechoslovakian cookies, told stories, stuck our heads out the windows, and generally fell in love with the gold-and-maroon 4' x 6' space that we made our home for the night.  

The very best thing about night trains is... you wake up in a new country!  When 6 a.m. came, completely well-rested and not at all stiff, grumpy, disoriented or smelly, we happily bounded from our little bunks.  "Good morning, Krakow!" we chirped like little Polish birdies.  Well, basically.  And we didn't get robbed!  Or, as my dad put it, we didn't get a "visit from the Ether Bunny."  

To Be Continued...