Prague IV - Train, Bratislava I - Back to the Future

It is 400km from Prague to Bratislava, about 4.5 hours. The train arrives 10 min Sign outlate. However, it is a 70s classic, with individual compartments & sliding doors for 6 and there are fans. We make an unscheduled stop at a train station to pick up refugees from an overheating modern express. We meet Aussies on their way to Vienna. 2 of them complain about the cost of living in Dublin. They get off at the next scheduled stop.

The train finally arrives in Bratislava 20 min late. After studying the various bus and tram routes, it looks like we need to take the trolley-bus. No. 13 - lucky for us. We arrive at the 15 storey Hotel Kjev. A throw-back to the 70s communist era, with its massive reception, thick brown swirl carpet and wooden furnishings. Our view on the 11th floor is great and the welcome is friendly. The hotel is past its prime. Curved ceramic towel hooks have been broken off and replaced by Ikea hangars in the bathroom. However, it is next to Tesco and I pick up some Hungarian biscuits for the office gannets.

We walk down to the Danube and thence to the compact old town. I find a recommended restaurant but it suspiciously posts no prices so we walk on to a cobbled streets lined with al-fresco restaurant seating. I order a traditional Slovakian dish and we share a bottle of wine - our first on this holiday. The meat, pork, bacon and sausage comes on a skewer. The roast potatoes have smooth skins and the sauce is very tasty.

Egypt: Pyramids

Today, we went be coach to see the Pyramids. First up was the Saqqara stepped pyramid. Then there was the Titi Pyramid. We could go inside and had to bend double to stagger over to the burial chamber. There was very little to see inside.

Then, we went to the 3 great pyramids of Giza. There were impressive on the outside and we were told that there was little to see on the inside and it was going to cost 50% more again to get inside so I didn't bother.

We were all shocked by the camel drivers coming up to us and asking to take photos / go on a camel ride. It all starts with an innocuous conversation about where you are from etc.

We went to lunch at a buffet restaurant and then went on to a perfume shop, where you could get any big-brand perfume replicated at a discount. The tour company has built in a number of these shop visits. No doubt they get a cut of each sale.

In the evening we went back to the hotel. I thought it would be located in downtown Cairo but was actually in the countryside, somewhere near Giza. I had dinner at the hotel. Our guide, Y, recommened the grilled chicken and the burger but not the lasagne, so I had the former. It came cold and I was told it was the weather. I sent it back and got one that was positively glowing and had a couple of bread rolls thrown in.

We prepared for our 13 hr overnight train journey 1000 km south to Aswan. Or maybe it would take 17 hours. Y said that the food on the train might be dodgy so he would take us to a supermarket to get breakfast. We pitched up at a Shell petrol station shop and we bundled bags of cakes and cookies for for our morning meal.

We waited at the station and had to let 2 trains go by without boarding. I had no idea where they were going. Finally, we got on. I was sharing a compartment with 5 others. The seats reclined a bit but the compartment had no door. No stop the corridor light disturbing us, we pulled on our purloined airline masks. We were interrupted throughout the night by tea & coffee venders zooming throught the corridor.

Darwin Award Nominee: Train terminates tryst

And the winner of this year's Darwin Award should go to this couple, as reported by the BBC