More Foodage and Train Thoughts, June 12

Sitting on the train from Prague to Munich at 9:30 and we've been awake since 7. Air woke up at 5:30 this morning because she thought that I had yelled at her for not getting up on time (not true at all) and so I have no doubt that on this 6 hour ride she'll pass out sooner than later. C is already doing the nod, but then we've had to acclimate to the general pattern of train travel: up early or out late, sleep when you can and, if you can sleep, you'll pass the time faster. This works especially well on long hauls because, like flights, the short hops are just more stressful that the long ones because you're always worrying about the connection.
Our last night in Prague we went out for dinner-- we make a point of eating the local cusine at least once in every city/country we go to-- of real Czech food. Rude though it may seem, we shared our food with each other, and it was delicious. Air had some type of pork-cut in whipped cream and cranberry sauce (yes, as sweet as it sounds) with plain dumplings that seemed more like someone had cut a loaf of really thick and moist bread than the American idea of dumplings (or is it Asiatic?). C, whose stomach is still not 100%, had a dish of chicken pieces cooked in a garlic-ginger sauce. I had veal goulash, which I always thought was more of a really thick stew, but it turned out to be really thick veal gravy with absolutely wonderful, tender veal cuts. My dumpling was made with bacon fat cut into the dough, which strange as it might sound was absolutely fabulous. Thick and rich and a delight to eat. We also shared a dish that, on the menu, was called "Chicken Sticks in Honey Sauce" that turned out to be tender, fall-off-the-bone drumsticks in a nice sauce of honey and spices. C about died of happiness at it (he loves chicken). I loved the roasted potatoes that came with it, which I dipped in the sauce and enjoyed thoroughly.
Not only was it the first real MEAL we've had since Gaeta, it was the best one. Even the wursts in Salzburg were really more like fast food; this food took about 30-45 minutes to cook and come out to us, nicely presented and all. I can understand now why the Czech Republic has the highest rate of alcohol consumption in the world-- beer is cheaper than water, soda, or coffee. Air and I had the local brew with dinner, which wasn't too bad. Most of the people we met who talked about Czech beer said it was awful piss, but then again these are mostly younger travelers who tell their drinking stories around the table at night. To be fair, we all trade stories about train mishaps, drinking woes, the interesting ways one can get their stuff stolen... As well as the best hostel to stay at in so-and-so city, or the best place for cheap, good eats. As a group, we like to spend our time at night in the hostel or in a larger group traveling about a city, just because most of the fun of hosteling and traveling is other travelers.
Pub crawls are popular here, almost to the point of ridicule. Way back when (as if I'd actually know when in the dark ages before the dawn of computers or telly) a pub crawl was exactly as it sounds: a group of friends would go down the street to all the bars and have a pint at each. Thus, by the end of the night, it became more of a crawl and stumble than anything. You learn something new every day. Another is that if someone tells you in the summertime (June-August usually) that they have real Sicilian canolis, then they're lying. The goats of Sicily have nothing to eat in the hills during the hottest months, so they stop producing milk, thus no ricotta cheese to fill the canolis. Funny, huh?
Thank goodness that this train is German, not Czech-- the windows don't go down, but there is actual air conditioning. It isn't 93 degrees in here like it was on the way to Prague.
What a hellish trip that was, the train to Prague. I'll save that story for another post.