Trip Planning

With less than month to go, most of the trip planning is now complete. All hotels are booked and all but two of our railroad segments have been purchased. The two remaining segments are short runs (2 hours or less) and you can’t buy those tickets in advance. Likewise all of our tours have been purchased and we have also purchased tickets in advance for 1) The Last Supper in Milan, 2) the ballet Giselle at the La Scala Opera House in Milan and 3) the hip-hop ballet Julio and Romea at the old Opera House in Bratislava. We are also going to try to attend a Mozart/Strauss concert in Vienna. We know this is a bit heavy on the “cultured” side of things, but it is typical of entertainment that is available and as we like to pretend we are locals when we travel, this will give us a chance to see how the locals live. Plus, none of these events requires you to know the language.

Another aspect of planning is what to bring with you. We have both done trial packing and although it is a tight fit, all our clothes will fit in a carry-on size suitcase plus a duffle. You can’t really carry too much when you are getting on and off of trains and walking between trains and to hotels. It won't be that much walking as two of the hotels are within a block of the train station and we will take taxis to the others. We do also have one “wash” day scheduled in Prague so we don’t have to carry enough clothes for the entire 16-day trip.

Czech Dumplings and Cabbage

Finally, I have been researching what foods are typical in the countries that we are going to that we have never been before. For example, Margaret has a Czech friend who recommended that we try the “dumplings and cabbage” in Prague. I believe the dish she was talking about is called “vepřo-knedlo-zelo” which is shorthand for roast pork (vepřová) with bread dumplings (knedlíky) and stewed cabbage (or sauerkraut; zelí). It is definitely on the list of things to try, along with a good Czech pilsner.