Train mishap

So, we were to take the train from Prague to ceske budajovice (Budweis). Transfer to a different train, take that into Cesky Krumlov. Seemed easy enough.

Well, it wasn't.

We got to Budweis no problem. Had about 10 minutes to our connecting train. Based on the departure time (12:07) we found our track (track 2) there are only like 6 tracks at Budweis, so it wasn't that hard.

However, the track didn't say Cesky Krumlov, it said whatever the end of the line was. So, to be sure, we checked the board inside the station, it confirmed Cesky Krumlov was a stop on the line. Track 2, 12:07 departure. All good, so we thought.

Train pulls in at 12:05 on Track 2, so we get on. Everything is good, ah, not so much. Shannon notices the train goes north, not south. I don't. Luckily, we don't have seats cause we don't speak Czech and can't ask anyone to move over. Sign on the door says Pilzen. Uh oh, that can't be good. We think it's ok, but as we follow the map and watch stations go by, we realize we're on the wrong train. Oh crap. We ask the conducted and he confirms we ate not on route to Cesky Krumlov.

He starts to type on his little PDA. We think he's charging us for tickets, like our pass isn't valid. Turns out, he was helping. He was printing out the train routes we need. So nice. I should point out that he doesn't speak English and we don't speak Czech, but we communicated.

So, we get off at the first stop Civenive in rural Czech Republic. It's pretty much every scene you've seen depicting communism. We did not belong. But it worked out. Waited a half hour for our train, went back to Budweis, had lunch, and caught our train.

In retrospect, it was a series of mishaps. Both the train to Pilzen and the train to Cesky Krumlov use track 2. The former departs at 12:02 going north. The latter south at 12:07. Well, both trains were late. So at 12:07, the only train departing was to pilsen. The Cesky Krumlov train had not arrived. And the sign at the bottom of the stair case only listed the route through Cesky Krumlov, not the other route.
When we returned to Budweis both trains were in the station at the same time AND were both listed on the platform.

Such is life when traveling I. Countries where you don't speak the language.

We successfully took trains from Budapest to Vienna, Vienna to Bratislava (and back), and Vienna to Prague. I guess we were due for a mishap. Oh well, no major harm. We can look back on it and laugh.