day 17: stowaway to krakow

The train conductor came by. He motioned to us to draw the cabin door and window curtains which we had earlier drawn so we could watch the shadows of the passing trees.

He reminded us to keep quiet before handing me a thick chain and lock. We had to chain our cabin door in addition to the two locks already latched.

This was my first night train in Europe. I felt like a stowaway. But stuffed in my right jeans pocket is the €27 train ticket, so I am legal.

I had a good nine hours of sleep before the loud abrupt knock on our door. I am in Krakow Poland!

• Location: Prague, Czech Republic
• Highlight: Instant noodles with sausages, home-cooked by Jerrain.
• Cost: 55 czk hot chocolate, 62 czk groceries for instant noodles and sausages dinner and snacks for night train, 45 czk ice cream.

day 16: i ate peter rabbit

I could not resist the roasted home-bred rabbit with garlic, cabbage, bacon on the menu. Going at 210 czk (approximately €8.40), this traditional Czech dish can be found in most restaurants beside beef or deer goulash.

After letting Jerrain have a bite to taste, I finished the 300-gram meaty plate which came with sauerkraut on the side. It tasted like chicken breast, while the more tender parts had a duck-like texture. It went perfectly with the sauerkraut, red wine and brown bread.

A hearty dinner at Starmomacek Rearaurant near the Old Town Square was a spledid way to end a full day of sight-seeing. We joined the Sandemans New Prague Free tour. Our guide, Colin who was from Scotland, showed us the Astronomical Clock, Statue of Jan Hus, St Nicholas Church, Old Jewish Quarter, Wenceslas Square, House of the Black Madonna and told us lots of stories!!

Jerrain and I spent the rest of the afternoon getting lost in Prague Castle and taking loads of photos.

• Location: Prague, Czech Republic
• Cost: 45 czk hot chocolate, €5 tip for Colin from the New Europe Prague tour, 90 czk soup and hot chocolate, 270 czk traditional Czech dinner
• Highlight: Roasted rabbit
• Hostel: Prague Square Hostel right around the corner of the Old Town Square - Definitely one of our least favourite hostels on this trip. Bathrooms are not only shared, but gender neutral. The bathing cubicles do not have locks so anyone can open the plastic door or peep over the wall while you bathe. Only saving grace is my bed! A ladder in the room leads to a two-metre wide platform above the door, enough for a mattress and some space for my stuff.
• Health: After a day or two of sore throat, I now have a cough. Hope it will go away soon.

day 15: rail relax

I am starting to really enjoy these long relaxing inter-country rail journeys.

Today, Jerrain and I left Berlin for Prague. Setting off at 10.37am, I had five hours on my hand to spare before our arrival into Prague-Hlavni nadrazi at 3.27pm.

What did I get up to?

• 10.37am: Finished my half-eaten breakfast, ham sandwich from Kamps@
• 11.00am: Read about Sheba leading a rebellion against King David which eventually led to his death, and how Joab killed Amasa, in Chapter 20 of 2 Samuel (the bible)
• 11.30am: Listened to the sermon 'How could God send to hell' by Paul Clarke
• 12.00nn: Fell asleep
• 12.30pm: Still napping, by this time I looked really unglam, mouth opened and drooling
• 1.30pm: Read up on Prague, Krakow, and Vienna and snacked on chocolate waffle, honey cashew nuts, and cheese croissant
• 2.30pm: Gazed out of the window - mountain and river running by on our left, and trees and occasional houses on our right
• 2.40pm: Fiddle around with my stuff, took out my iPhone to blog

Location: Berlin Germany and Prague Czech Republic
Cost: €5.60 sandwich and juice for breakfast, €2.30 bread to go for the ride, €17 five bed mixed dorm
Train: Berlin hbf to Praha 5 hours

day 14: black out!!

We ate in complete darkness. I tried waving my right hand in front of my face and I could see nothing. Not even shadows.

When I was told that we were eating in the dark, I had no idea it was going to be pitch black. In fact, I do not think I have been in such a dark room before.

The restaurant, Unsicht-Bar, had a well-lit lounge where we first chose our drinks and type of meat - fish, beef or poultry - from a set menu. Our waitress then led us in a row, hands on the shoulders of the person in front, into the main dining hall.

Our €43 four course meal was served by a friendly and professional visually impaired waitress. We had:

• Starter: small selection of fish pralines with a sauce of honey and dill and leaf salad
• Entree: fried pike perch under a crust of sauerkraut served with saffron-fennel and risotto out of vegetables, on white wine foam
• Dessert: cream of passionfruit in a mini-preserving jar and fresh couls of raspberries

I always wondered what it was like to be blind. I think I had a 'glimpse' of how it was like this evening.

• Location: Berlin, Germany
• Cost: €1.40 sweet flat doughnut for breakfast, €6.10 day trip train ticket, €43 dinner
• Activities: Topographie des Terrors, East Side Gallery 1.3km of graffiti and art

day 13.5: dance craze in berlin

My trusty Lonely Planet guide describes Berlin as a city with night owl stamina. So we did not need much persuasion before signing up for the €12 Sandemans New Europe Pub Crawl.

The new friends we met from our hostel and the New Berlin tour quickly caught our contagious enthusiasm. And we made even more new friends along the way!!

• Ben from Canada: Taught me how to say 'ey' at the end of every sentence
  
• Tim and Chris Smith and Steve from Texas: Tim and Chris are brothers, Chris hates it that everyone thinks he is the elder brother
  
• Jin Sha from Hunan: Grabbed attention with her alluring eyes once the spectacles came off
• Ariana from Brazil: She had the best party hair that night
• Diana from Columbia: She did not look like a party regular but she danced and drank as hard as me when we got it going!!
• Carlos, our 'Arrmano' or big brother: He made sure the guys we do not want to dance with are behind the wall, there was like a 'death zone' which he was guarding. He is the best!
• Kelly and Sarah from Kansas USA: Hot babes!!

The bars we covered were:

1. Zapata
2. Silberfisch
3. Ruderclub Mitte
4. XO Berlin
5. Matrix Club

day 13: and then there was silence

Jerrain and I did not exchange many words this afternoon. No, we did not fight. We were moved and deep in thought after visiting the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe.

Walking through the memorial was like passing a massive cemetary with oversized tombs. I guess that was the idea. The 2711 tomb-like concrete stelae represented the innocent deaths of more than six million European Jews between 1933 and 1945. Unlike a regular memorial, the 19,073 square metre field of stelae of varying heights must be walked through. Nobody could pass through that memorial without being engaged on a certain level. It does not leave you a choice.

The information centre in the basement put faces and names to the rather impersonal memorial right above. It was sad to hear personal accounts and track the stories of families.

This was not an easy day. But I am sure Auschwitz will be worse.

• Location: Berlin, Germany
• Highlight: The free New Berlin tour is excellent. Finn, our enthusiastic and extremely knowledgeable guide brought us around twenty over key sights in three and a half hours.
• Cost: €5 tip for free Berlin tour, €2.90 muffin and tea for breakfast, €2.80 croissant and coffee for lunch, €2.60 train, €3 computer in the hostel lobby, €3 currywurst
• People: Met many new girl friends - Our roommate Gougou or Madelaine from Nanjing China now studying in France, another roommate Kelly from Kansas USA, Jin Sha from Hunan China, and loads of Singaporeans!! Rachel who is studying in UPenn and her two girl friends, and four more people who are studying in Hamburg.

day 12: journey to berlin

We gave ourselves the much deserved rest after last night's Ultimate Party pub crawl. We woke up just in time to check out of the Heart of Amsterdam, our hostel in the centre of the Red Light district.

The seven-hour train ride to Berlin had two legs. We took the first train for about twenty minutes to Hilversum, before switching to the opposite platform for the train to Berlin.

The seven-hour train ride turned out to be a pleasant and comfortable one. Jerrain and I had a four-seat cabin (almost) to ourselves. A German lady joined us briefly. It was great we had the time to relax, nap, read, listen to our iPod and play games.

The trains are efficient and easy to figure out. For majority of the trains, we did not need to make reservations. Just turn up at the designated time according to the train schedule, fill in the date on our Eurail Global Pass, and just wait for the train conductor to come by and punch a hole in the pass below the date. I am thankful we got the Eurail pass.

• Location: Berlin, Germany
• Cost: €1.50 hot chocolate, €3.80 brownie and orange juice, €3.60 snacks for the seven-hour train ride, €7 dinner at Asian Gourmet
• Train: Amsterdam Centraal to Berlin seven hours