For our first full day in Prague we booked a tour accurately called "The Ultimate Tour" from our hotel at a discounted rate. It would be a 6 hour tour via walking, boat, and tram. We ended up getting lost just before the powder tower as we stopped to buy postcards at a street vendor that took too long. We lost the tour for a full hour and a half and were lucky enough to figure out that we could catch them back at the boat if they left around noon down at the river. We found the tour after they returned from the river and was told by some of the others in the group that we didn't miss much since we had seen the old and new town the previous night. Needless to say, we got really lucky.

The tour brought us to the Jewish section and the clock tower, and then we ate a traditional Czech lunch. I had goulash, which is meat in a sauce and is served with the local version of dumplings. The tour continued on to the Charles Bridge which was having work done on the left side but still was enchanting, especially with the views of the castle up above. Crossing the bridge we then took a tram to the Prague castle, which was beautiful as it was located on top of a nearby hill and was situated far above the town below. Views from up here were stunning. They had stoic guards that stood watch at the entrance to the castle and the guide stated they are a poor version of the changing of the guard at Buckingham.

After the tour which ended at the castle, we wandered around the city on our own spending time getting good luck on CharlesBridge by rubbing one of the mural sculptures engraved into the bridge and then continued back into the city. We had planned to catch our train to Krakow just after 10pm when it was due to leave and since it was around 830pm we wanted to stop by "tesco," an English food store to pick up snacks and other necessities. After convincing Norin to get a cab with me, we headed to the tesco near the river, and then planned to head onto our hotel to pick up our bags before heading to the train station. Around 9pm Norin reviewed the train tickets and panicked when she realized the train was due to leave at 935pm (21:35), not 1035pm (22:35) as we had misread them. We had just gotten out of the store which was near the river, on the other side of the city, and since cars aren't allowed in the central part of Prague we had to race to our hotel, grab our bags and be at the train in record time. We told the taxi driver of our dilemma and with the little English he did understood, he was able to read our tickets and knew we had only a few moments to spare. We offered a big tip if he was able to get us to the station in time, so he was racing extremely fast through the city, and as a result we made it to the train with literally 1 minute to spare, all exhausted from running and carrying our luggage. It was extremely close!

Norin went off to her sleeping car in a girls' only room and I went to share a couchette with 5 other travelers, which included 2 shady locals and 2 British girls. I struck up a friendship with a young Prague local named Matt who was on his way to visit his brother in Krakow. We discussed the history of the language and how Czechs value their language which is similar to Slovak. He went on to say that due to previous generations being forced to speak German and then later Russian, they embraced the chance to speak their own language when given the opportunity. I later learned that Czech was developed by two men who traveled to each city to develop a standard language about 200-300 years ago, which is relatively recent in terms of the evolution of a new language. We discussed physics, energy, and transportation. He stated that Prague was the first country to develop a rail system and as a result became a very wealthy country, rivaling the other great European centers of Vienna, London, etc. I inquired about the mafia taxis and he explained that they are not mafia how most understand it, but they are people who charge as much as 8-10 times over the fare, and have been kicked out of the city by the government and police but always return to fool unsuspecting tourists.

Matt and I talked in a separate train cart in first class when the English girls who were in my room stopped in to say they weren't staying as the guys were odd and kept locking the door many times so they decided to sleep in first class. I stated I would stay next to them as well so I got my bag from the sleeping room. Later that night 3 Czech conductors got very angry at our decision to move to another part of the train, even though couchettes are more expensive than first class rooms as couchettes have beds. For over 30 minutes we attempted to explain our reasoning while the men only understood limited English. We eventually paid 5 dollars to stay and I ended up sleeping in the same room as the girls as a result of the ordeal. After falling asleep we were woken up by the Polish conductors who replaced the Czech at the border, and went through the same ordeal again but they were more relaxed. After speaking with the Polish conductors I took a trip to the bathroom where I viewed 3 Polish police/military with guns walking up and down the train inspecting it. I must have looked shady leaving the room just when they boarded, but I swear I was just using the bathroom.