A Tandem Tour of CZ and Austria

Pilsen to Prague, Czech Republic by train (4 miles by bike)
Sunday, May 23, 2004

We woke up early (around 5:00 a.m.) and were packed and ready to go around 6:00. Breakfast didn't start until 7:00 so we went for a brief walk around town. It was a cold morning with blue skies, but storm clouds on the horizon. After a very good breakfast buffet shared with a German bus-tour group at the hotel, we rode to the station to catch our 8:03 train (we didn't want to miss it, as the next wasn't until 2:00 p.m.!). We were dismayed to see at least 10 other bikers waiting for the same train. When the train arrived we were a bit nervous that we'd be able to get on, since it only had a small baggage car. The conductor asked where we were going (in German), and when we told him Prague he motioned that he would take our bike last (which made no sense to me since the others were getting off before us, but what do I know about trains?). He loaded all the other bikes before ours, and then couldn't figure out where to put our big tandem. I thought he was going to leave us, especially when the other conductor started blowing his whistle and motioning that he wanted to get going. Ginny had already boarded the train with our bags and was getting nervous, since she heard the whistle blowing for the train to leave and I wasn't yet on the train. Finally the baggage handler picked the tandem up and more or less tossed it over the other bikes and then wedged it in somehow (I didn't want to look!). I ran and got on the train, much to Ginny's relief.

The process for transporting the bike on the train was interesting. We had bought a bike ticket the night before for 20ck and gave it to the conductor when he loaded the bike. He then affixed a claim check to the ticket and returned it to us, putting the other part of the claim check on the bike. When we picked up the bike in Prague we had to show him the claim check before we could get our bike back. A good way to ensure your bike doesn't get claimed by someone else at an intermediate stop. However, whenever we travel with the bike by train I'm always paranoid and keep a close eye on the baggage car at each stop. After about 1.5 hours we arrived in Prague at 9:40 to light rain.

We waited a bit in the dark and dreary Prague Hlavni nadrazi (main station) hoping the rain would pass, but to no avail. Suiting up in our rain coats and pants, we headed off down Wenceslas Square where a lot of workers were disassembling the barriers that had been put up for that day's Prague International Marathon. Although we had reservations at Pension Unitas, we stopped at a few other hotels to ask about rates. All were very expensive.

We found the pension, but since it was too early to check in we left our bags in the luggage room and had to lock the tandem out in the rain in the (gated) courtyard. I wasn't too happy about this, and told the desk clerk that in our booking e-mail I was told we could leave the bike in the luggage area. Unfortunately, I didn't bring that particular e-mail with me, so had no way to prove it (when I got home I checked my e-mail, and saw that they did, in fact, confirm that I could leave the bike in the luggage room while we stayed there). At least the courtyard was gated and locked. Later that night, after a new desk clerk came on, we brought the tandem into our room and left it there the rest of our stay with no problems. This was the only time in all our bike trips to Europe that we had to leave the tandem outside.

Pension Unitas is pretty basic, but clean and well-located. If you are looking for big hotel amenities, look elsewhere. If you are happy with a good location, a clean room and bed, and shared facilities, it's a great value. We'd definitely stay there again. Our room was long and narrow with two separate beds and a wardrobe/closet. Bathrooms and toilets were down the hall and were shared by the 16 or so rooms. Despite the limited facilities, we never really had any problem finding an open shower or toilet.

After we checked in we went out to start touring Prague. Although it was a cold, rainy, gray day, there was still a lot to see. The marathon was winding down, and we got to see the last runners coming in. They looked fairly miserable after running a marathon in cold, rainy weather. Rock bands were playing in the main square and there was a lot going on. We stopped at a pizza restaurant and had a good lunch (and warmed up a bit) and then went back to the room to unpack and take a short nap.

After about an hour we walked over to the Charles Bridge, which was close to our pension. It started to rain again (are you sensing a theme here?), so we retired to the room to freshen up for dinner. The heavy rain didn't show any signs of letting up, so we put on our Gore-Tex rain jackets and headed out to find a restaurant. We looked at the menus at a few places, but all the tables were full. We decided on a restaurant on a small back street where we had found Internet access earlier in the day. The food was good, but they gave us miniscule portions and tacked on a few charges that were surprising. The first was a 20ck "cover charge" ("ouvert" in Czech) for the privilege of eating in the restaurant. The second was a handwritten "euro tax" on the receipt. I'm not sure if it was justified or not, but I wasn't in a position to argue with it. All of the various guidebooks we had read warned readers about the unscrupulous dealings of restaurants in Prague. Although I'm sure there are many honest establishments, it's a shame that the city has such a bad reputation in this regard. We did feel that we were being taken, though, and it left a bad taste (pun intended) in our mouths. Tired from all the traveling and the bleak day, we headed back to our room around 9:00 for an early-to-bed night.

Daily costs 5/23 (in CK): Train to Prague and bike ticket: 190ck; snacks: 40ck; lunch (pizza): 280; dinner: 450; pension: 1400; misc.: 100. Total: 2460 ($93 US).