July 7th Monday afternoon arrive in Prague by train

On the train I sat across from a guy whom I had no idea where he was from. After some time I asked if he could speak English. "Amir" was a physician from Vancouver. Incredibly we had both attended American River College in Sacramento in 1980, and had a common math teacher, "Mr. Givant," who used to call guys "toots" and kick people out of class.

In past travels to Europe and Japan, I had bought guidebooks and language cassettes well in advance to prepare. Here on the train to Prague I did not know a single word of Czech, had no guidebook, had never seen a map of the city, and no idea where I would spend the night. Borrowing Amir's "Lonely Planet" guidebook I read that we would not be arriving at the main train station; We would need to catch a subway there. And Gypsy pickpockets were a problem at the main station.

The trip was a little more than two hours, with the first hour traversing a river between steep hills and cliffs.

Upon arrival at the station Amir and I were approached by people offering to drive us to see rooms in private residences. We decided to do that. I took the room at the first stop for $35/night for four nights - paid in US dollars. It was a large master bedroom with a private bathroom, within an apartment arranged to provide a private entrance hall, and only two blocks from the main street.. (The Marilyn Monroe poster reminded me of the movie "Shawshank Redemption," so I checked behind it for a secret passage.) It required three keys to enter: One to get in the big doors from the main street; one to get into the residence; and the third to enter my room. I did not see Amir again.