Hello from Prague! (and train robbery)

Hello from Prague!

Today is an awesome day here. The sun is shining and it is warm enough to wear a T-shirt around town. The city is bigger than I expected and quite beautiful. I went and saw St. Basil's cathedral and went up the Petrinska Rozhledra Tower which are separated by a beautiful Mala Strana park.

The tourists in town are very different than the ones encountered before. Much more fashionable and smell good. Probably alot of honeymooners. And people with oversize sunglasses.

Last night I took the night train to get here. The lonely planet and some other tourists warned about stories of the cabins being filled with sleeping gas and thieves rifling through posessions. Some people suggested that it happened mostly on the Polish side of the border.

Anyway, when I got to my cabin, I met a Czech there named Looba who was returning from a week of work at his companies division in Poland. He had not heard of these gassings, but this was his first week on the train. We did lock the room up and in fact I almost fell out of my top bunk when trying to open it in the middle of the night when the customs guy came to check our passports.

I was surprised that at 6:30 this morning that the conductor opened our door and was asking for our passports and wallets. Our cabin had been broken into! Looba's jacket was missing. I did not notice any of my possessions missing. Looba showed me in the door where they had separated the rubber seals so that they could get access to the chain. I don't think we were gassed, I think the theives opened up the door quickly and snatched the first small, good thing they could find which was his jacket (and fortunately for me - not my daypack or pants which was in the corner above my head).

The conducter did recover his jacket with Looba's ID, but his cash was gone. About 150 CDN worth of Polish currency. I felt bad and Looba wasn't too upset but he may have been in shock. It was nice and a bit surprising to me that they only took his cash. If it had happened to me, I wouldn't have minded the cash being gone as much as my passort and recently re-aquired ATM card (thanks to my Dad who was able to pick one up from CIBC and Fedex to me in Warsaw).

I had heard that people have used belts as additional protection to try and keep the cabins closed on Russian trains. I think on my next night train, I'm doing something else (like a combo lock or small bike chain or alarm) that should slow the thieves down enough to get the attention of the car attendant. The conductor told Looba that there are gangs operating on these trains and trains to Bratislava (I think it was Bratislava) and that this usually happens once a day.

I met a couple English guys (Nigel and Mara) this morning and we may be going to go see a hockey game together tomorrow. They originally were going to go see a soccer game, but are now keen on hockey - they just need to make a final decision on whether or not to spend the extra day here. I met a couple Aussies last night who recommened a two day tour out and around Prague, so I may do that on Monday.