Praha to Firenze via Vienna - Oh what a ride!

So, me & Jillian striked it out on our own, taking the train from Prague to Florence. Our train was to depart at 1:33, and we still needed to purchase tickets. We took a cab from Chotoviny to Prague, leaving at 11:00. Prague is only an hour away, so we had plenty of time. Well, the traffic into Prague was horrible (Seattle horrible), and then our cab driver got lost. We arrived at the station at 1:oo. We bought our tickets, and used our best travelling strategies to navigate the train station and the train itself. We had a pleasant ride up to Vienna, where were to make out connection, with the exception of some very drunk Polish gentlemen. They were hiding from the conductors because they did not have tickets, and man oh man, did they smell like a distillery!!! The conductors found them in our cabin, stopped the train, and kicked them out. I cannot express how grateful we were that we were not going to have to " enjoy" these gentlemens company for the remainder of that leg.

At the Vienna train station, Jillians friend Johannes surprised us with a gift backet of nuts, oranges, and tequila. Thank God, because we had no idea how to find out what platform we needed to be on to catch our next train. Johannes got us where we needed to be, and we boarded the train. We purchased tickets for beds, instead of seats, because it was an overnight trip. We ended up in a (very small) room with 2 girls from Texas, Parker and Kelbey. We shared our Tequila, they shared their wine, and we a hoot of a time with them. However, the woman in the room next to us did not have such a good time. The Polizie cam and arrested her for havig a fake passport. There was a bit of a hubbub while this was going on. I think the policeman thought we were flirting with him, because we kept peeking out to see what was going on.

We got into Florence at 6am, with very little sleep. Nothing was open yet, so we ended up at a McDonlads by the train station to use the restrooms (bad idea), and get something to eat (bad idea). The bathrooms were disgusting, there was no toilet paper (thanks for the Kleenx, Mom!) , and there was a woman bathing in the sink. The woman behind the counter hated us and her job. She made us wait for our food, and was rude rude rude! We talked to a British couple next to us, and she was horrible to them, too. Not a good start in the City of Flowers. We wandered around, and found a hotel. The hotel is beautiful, 2 blocks from the Dome, and everyone is so very very sweet.

I am almost out of time at the Internet cafe , so ....to be continued!