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Today I took a two hour train to Castle Neuschwanstein. It’s a 30 minute walk partially up a mountain covered in a forest. I think it was worth it for the good views, a waterfall nearby, and the castle itself. Later in the day I was back in Munich and I found the world headquarters of Siemens, due to popular demand. It wasn’t too big or impressive because I think their offices are distributed throughout the country. Then I found a park in the city that has an artificial river with a fast current and rapids. A few people would even jump in and get carried down the river a ways. At once spot, people were surfing on an artificial wave, and this is in the middle of the city!

Today was mostly a travel day. My 6 hour train turned into a 7 hour train with an unexpected transfer to a cramped commuter train half way through. I left Prague at 9:24AM and arrived in Munich, Germany about 4:17PM. Today I realized my schedule is not going to work and I am changing my plans a bit. After Munich, I’m going to be heading north and I’m seeing two things for accommodation: expensive and booked up. I was only going to stay one night in Munich, but I’m going to stay two just so I can catch up. I’m trying every approach for accommodation, trying the hostels in the city cities, nearby cities, couch surfing. Finding a plan that will work is taking hours and hours every day. Not to mention my longer term plans, which I’m working on.

I headed out to the city, more specifically the old town. Like many cities, Prague is divided by a river in the middle. Today on the river was a Greenpeace boat with a banner doing some sort of demonstration against the US wanting to put missile defense radar in the Czech Republic. On the other side of the river, there is a big hill with a good view of the city. Also up there is the #1 attraction in the city: Prague Castle. Except I noticed a lot of fences and police officers around. Then I saw a sign giving an explanation. One seemingly important person in the world is visiting the same place and time I want to visit. I decide to take a break and come back later.

In the mean time I withdrew $9.50 USD worth of Czech money for some food today. That was enough to have one plate of food each at two restaurants plus some more snacks from the grocery store. So at least things are a pretty good price here. Back to the castle. The sign said it would be open at 3PM, so I waited until 5PM to take the subway and walk back up the hill, just to be safe. To my surprise, the police were there again, but an updated sign. Modified to 5PM
6:30PM 8PM, and finally ??. It wasn’t looking good, so I gave up. This was my only day in the city and in the country, so my only chance. Thanks, G.W. Bush!

Tomorrow is a six hour train to Munich.

I checked out of my hostel in Berlin and then headed over to a restaurant I noticed the day before. It was a Korean restaurant with a $9 lunch buffet, which was pretty good. They started at 12 noon, but I had a train to catch at 12:46PM. It was kind of a rush to eat, run to the nearest train station, commute to the main train station and then board. Good thing the train came at about 12:48 or 12:49 or else I would have missed it.

After two hours, I made a stop in Dresden, Germany. I walked around the city for an hour or so and noticed a lot of the stones in the old buildings are black. I wonder if that is from the bombing and fires when the city was destroyed in WWII. Back on the train again.

Another two hours or so brought me to Prague, Czech Republic. Another new country, language, and currency. I’ll explore the city tomorrow.

I had a nice German brunch buffet today. I tried lots of casseroles that included many fruits and vegetables. For less than $7, probably one of the best bargains I’ve seen. Then I tried heading to the big Siemens AG offices, got on the subway, but after I sat down some ticket inspectors came and made me pay a $27 fine for not having a ticket. So I got kicked off and walked all the way back to my room and just stayed there.

By the way, Berlin has the fastest internet connection I’ve seen so far: 7Mbps/768Kbps. I was able to upload all my original photos to a server for backup, plus have a video call with my mom using my built in webcam.

For the train, I was in a couchette compartment which contained six beds. The train ride completed without any major problems. After arriving in Berlin, Germany at 7:30AM, I found my hostel and they recommended a free walking tour. It worked out pretty well. There was a tour guide that talked about the various important places in the city and me and a large group walked around. This included walking to a parking lot, the location of Hitler’s Bunker below. It took most of the day.

Afterward I visited the Pergamon Museum. They have a few huge reconstructions of ancient monuments and site, which were pretty neat to see. Then I had some spaghetti for dinner.

Today I took a bus to the Auschwitz concentration camp. I walked through Auschwitz I, which is the first camp and is best preserved. I saw some of the first gas chambers here, a wall where it said thousands of people were shot and killed here. Then nearby I walked through Auschwitz-Birkenau, which is the second, larger camp. This is where you see the railroad tracks where prisoners were unloaded, some of the buildings where prisoners lived (most have been burnt down), and ruins of the gas chambers/crematoriums (where you see a sign saying hundreds of thousands of people died at this spot).

I went there and back with someone else at the hostel, which I think is the first time on the trip I’ve not spent the whole day out alone. Afterwards, I took an 8PM sleeper train to Berlin, Germany.

The train ride was as long as I expected. I was able to get a compartment all alone; there must not be too many people traveling this route. Left Budapest at 6:30PM, passed through Slovakia in the middle of the night, then entered Poland and arrived in Krakow, Poland at 5:18AM. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to get the best night’s sleep since it seemed like I was woken up hourly by people asking for my ticket or passport. There were a lot of border crossings, each requiring a stamp in the passport. Plus the train was older and I don’t think the heater worked in the car.

I found a hostel by 5:30AM; said I wanted to test out wireless and they had a nice 5 or 6Mbit connection, so I decided to stay here. Nice place, they also have 500 channel satellite TV, plasma screen, free breakfast, no bunk beds, and free laundry for $18 a night. Not crowded either, just like the place I stayed in Budapest. These countries are a little farther out of the way, so I guess less people come here, but they are very nice and cheaper places to travel.

I had some traditional Polish food at a restaurant here. I got two plates for $4. I ate some kind of fish-stick like “pancake” and a strawberry ravioli or dumplings.

My camera dropped from about waste level onto a stone floor today. I’ve been carrying it around in a plastic grocery bag, so I look more like a homeless person than someone with an expensive camera. However this bag was falling apart and one of the handles partially gave way and the rest of the bag slipped out of my hands. I didn’t have the lens cap on at the time either.

After a while, I gathered myself and inspected the camera. There was a big crack across the glass. However, I have a UV Filter on the lens, so hopefully it was just that part which was damaged. Unfortunately, the filter was stuck on the lens. I couldn’t unscrew it at all. So for the whole afternoon I tried to screw the filter off. I went to a hardware store and they didn’t want to help at all, then I went to four camera stores. The first store tried, but couldn’t. The second store referred me someplace else. The third store had a guy which wasn’t afraid, so he took the lens off and started banging it against the table and tried prying the filter off, glass was falling out all over the table, but still not all the way off. Forth store, the guy walked out of the building saying he’ll be right back; I think he went to someplace with a lot of tools. After about five minutes, he was back with the lens off and the rest of the camera looking in perfect condition! He said he had to use screwdrivers, hammers, pliers. I gave him the rest of my Hungarian money ($3 or so) even though he didn’t want any. Seems to be working fine right now; I think the UV Filter on the end took all the damage. So that’s the drop test for the Canon Digital Rebel XTi.

Today I took a train from Vienna, Austria to Budapest, Hungary. When I got here I first bought another onward train ticket. However, things are a little different here. It is a hand written ticket and I can’t understand anything on it. I just hope it is for the correct day and time! Also the lady who sold me the ticket kept talking to herself the whole time, which was strange. I looked around, he wasn’t talking on the phone, there was no one else in the room.

There’s another new currency here in Hungary, the Forint. 1000 HUF is about $5. I’m trying not to change money, but simply withdrawal local money from ATMs, which seems to work well. I walked around the city of Budapest for a while, crossing the Chain Bridge over the river. Budapest seems like a nice modern city overall.