We woke up at 10:30am and by the time we were done showering and packing it was nearly 11:30am. Gerard had left for class before we were up and we left our bags in his room. My pass was still good for the Jewish Quarter and there were still some sights I wanted to see.
Outside was a blizzard. Huge snowflakes were falling and we tried catching them with our tongue. The city was a winter wonderland and was quite impressive. We took the metro back to the center where we ended up walking in the wrong direction. I'm glad we did though as we went to the National Museum and St. Wencelas' Square with the giant mounted statue of the famous leader of Prague. There was so much snow. I got down on my back and made snow angels!
Before heading to the Jewish Quarter we stopped at the train station and asked a lot of questions about train times and prices. We had decided to go to Krakow, Poland to visit Auschwitz and have a spontaneous adventure. We decided to catch the 9:09pm night train which would arrive in Krakow by 6:30am the next day. As we still had to get in contact with Gerard, we decided to wait until we touched base with him before buying the tickets. There was a supermarket next door to the train station and we stopped in to buy more picket supplies that we put in my book bag.
In the Jewish Quarter, I visited the incredible Old-New Jewish Synagogue. Over 700 years old, Europe's oldest synagogue was small and beautiful. Rumor has it that this is where the Prague Golem, the mythical creature created by a rabbi to protect Prague's Jewish community, sleeps in the attic.
After finishing our tour of the Jewish Quarter we were both very hungry and decided to abuse our privileges and go back to the hostel to escape the snow and cold. We had no problem getting in and went back to our favorite spot in the kitchen where we had a picnic lunch and talked to 3 kids from Argentina in Spanish and two girls from Israel. We then called Gerard to see if he was home so we could get our bags. Saying goodbye to the amazing hostel, we took the metro back to Gerard's where he made us tea and we sent more couchsurfing requests to Poland. We then left with him toward the metro, saying goodbye when he had to get off at his stop. Continuing onto the train station, we bought our tickets for the 9:09pm night train. We decided to spend the extra 10 euros for a beds in the 6 person sleeper car. Hostel and travel in one go.
The train station was very dark and confusing. When the train finally arrived, we had to search frantically for our carriage. I guess different carriages go to different places. We met the older Czech conductor who spoke absolutely no English. We lucked out by having the sleeper by ourselves. Good thing too, it would have been ridiculously cramped to share it with four other people.
We made ourselves at home and had a nice picnic sandwich dinner. Outside it was bitterly cold but our little room was quite cozy. We climbed into our individual beds and watched the train speed through the freezing landscape of white fields and silent forests. With our faces pressed up against the foggy windowpane, looking at the surreal landscape on the other side of the glass from the comfort and warmth of my sleeper car bed, I felt like I was part of Hideo Miyazaki's "Spirited Away." I watched in awe as if in a dream as our train sped through the blizzard to the true unknown of our destination. Its true when I say that within the American Psyche, Europe ends with Germany. The other countries of Eastern Europe still form that dark and cold image of the Soviet Union, the enemy, the unknown. Our whole decision to go to Poland had been so spontaneous that our current travel situation almost didn't feel real. We watched through the window, deep in our own thoughts before falling to sleep.
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