While touring Europe I experienced both enjoyable and frustrating situations. Our party started out with four but was reduced to two in Frankfurt when half of our group flew home because of work commitments.
It would be impossible to go into every single detail without boring you stupid so instead I will highlight two incidents that will hopefully provide amusement and warning to any would be travellers.
Example 1 - Prague, Czech Republic 25th July
I was really starting to enjoy my time in Prague. It was the 5th City we had visited and was by far the cheapest. Additionally, only Paris before it could rival its historic splendour.
Our first night in the city had been spent in a local bar/nightclub and had been very entertaining so our second night was set to follow suit. After spending the day doing the tourist bit at Prague Castle and surrounding area we retreated back to our hotel or
pension.
On the way back we decided to stop off at a nice family orientated restaurant just up from Wenseslas Square. The meal itself was very nice and very cheap. At this point we were running short of cash and good cheap food was hard to find. Anyway, after the meal our group left the restaurant arguing over the bill with each other. One member of
our group, often regarded as brash, arrogant and generally a pain in the neck claimed he had paid too much. This was possible, but no one else ever complained about their share.
In the confusion I noticed my bag was no longer with me as I had left it in the restaurant. On returning to the restaurant only minutes later, my bag was nowhere to be seen and the waitress who was previously been able to speak English and German found her language skills desert her somewhat. The frustration was compounded by some
local residents taking great amusement in our plight. Terribly, my friend had left his passport, travellers cheques and rail pass in MY bag, whereas I lost a camera and a tape walkman. My documents including my passport were not in my bag as I was not confident of not getting it stolen. Ironic.
So what did I learn from this experience? For one, don't have loud conservations mocking Neville Chamberlain's 'Peace in our Time' speech which 'gave' the Sedetenland from Czechoslovakia to Nazi Germany while you are having dinner in a Prague restaurant. They might just get their revenge.
Example 2 - Somewhere in the Austrian / Italian Alps
With our party reduced to two we entered the final leg of our trip which involved touring Italy and visiting Rome, Florence, Genoa and Milan. The intent was to get the night train from Munich to Rome and work back North through the country. Things were going fine, we figured we would have to pay extra for a night train so visited the ticket office in Munich the day before we travelled. For a very reasonable sum of around 15DM we reserved our seat on the train to Rome.
Our journey began around 9pm in Munich and took us through Austria. I found the journey amazing as I was not sure of our exact route and was interested to see
where we were going. The train was stopped for around 15 minutes at what was an obvious border crossing. Looking out the window I saw road signs to Verona and
figured we must be in Northern Italy.
On international trains, ticket collectors check your ticket when you enter every new country. On this occasion an Italian guard appeared to check our rail pass. Amazingly he kept asking for 'supplemento, supplemento. I however, had done my homework and was
sure this guard was trying to make some extra cash. The extra fare was only about £7 each but neither me or my friend had any lire, and besides it was a matter of principle.
After a shouting match with the guard which involved insults that neither of us could
understand, a elderly, possible head guard, appeared. He was a more pleasant friendly older man and explained the situation in clear English. If we couldn't pay the supplement we would have to leave the train, if we did not leave the train we could be
arrested. Since the police had guns and spoke a completely different language, being arrested wasn't the best idea. Very reluctantly we left the train at a place called Treno around 150km north of Verona and right in the heart of the Italian Alps. We were
fortunate to be allowed off at Treno as the older guard let us stay on till then as it was easier for connecting trains.
Fortunately the weather was very warm for 2am and we only had to wait another 2 hours for the next train, bound for Florence, Milan and Venice. Yes it confused us too. Apparently the train split into three at Verona and each part went to a separate destination. Unfortunately, our part, going to Florence was the middle segment of the train and it took the Italian rail authorities around an hour to 'discover' what was
missing that would make the train move.
After changing at Florence we arrived in Rome 7 hours after we should have, but at least we made it. I even had the claim to fame of falling asleep in the Colloseum later that day.
So remember, if the natives behave in a way you don't like, it sometimes helps to grin and get on with it. I must have learned something because I'm going back to
Central Europe in the summer.
|
