The Rain Never Falls on Gorbechav

5:42. I am sitting in class 25 minutes from the train station. My train leaves at 5:56. Hearing the Chariot's of Fire theme song, I race out of the building. My Uggs, the new Nikes, beat loudly on the cobblestone causing everyone leisurely shopping in the town square to stare at me. They don't run anywhere in Maastricht, ever. Not even as a form of exercise. I might as well have been one of those half horse people from Fantasia galloping through the streets.

I swear the train station was not this far away last week. Did I just get punk'd? Focus Katie. You have six minutes to get 1.2 miles. Knee up toe up. Open your arms. Do it for a comfortable bed tonight! If you miss this train you're sleeping on the tracks. As bicycles whiz by me I am trying to remember how much money I have on me. I am seriously considering bribing a biker to give me a ride. I feel that's what Mandy Moore would do right?

I race into the station at 5:58. I can't breath and I've begun to perspire. Awesome. Meghan was there waiting with my backpack. More than slightly disappointed we grab some dinner before our next train. And with a beginning like that you know this weekend promises good times.

Another night train... we can so handle that. Personally I love night trains. What's more European than a backpacker on a night train? Probably a lot of things. This was no ordinary train however. It was like mobile Discovery Zone or something. We went in our little compartment to find 2 three-story bunk beds folded out of the wall. Oh did this have potential. We scurried up and down, hung upside down, took over all six beds with our junk.

Then we decided to create a home. First floor living room, second floor bedroom, third floor movie theater. What are we thinking? There are 6 sheets and 6 blankets... we are creating a fort! We were in the movie theater of our fort watching One Tree Hill when the train man walked in bringing some other woman to enter our fortress. Slightly embarrassed we tried to tear down our fort without them noticing. Then we had to scamper down and evacuate the first 2 floors. Still the best night sleep ever.

We arrived in Berlin for the day and decided to hit up the big touristy locations before heading down to Prague. We were taking pictures under the Brandenburg Gate when we noticed a mob of paparazzi and reporters. We went right on over there pretending to work for the NY Times or something.

We started snapping pictures of this old guy and his pals having no idea who they were. Finally we asked one of the reporters... Gorbachev. Who else would you meet under the Brandenburg Gate? The miraculous thing was that as soon as Gorby arrived at the gate the rain stopped. I don't know if you could tell by my awesome hair... but it was pouring all morning until Gorby showed up. Coincidence? I think not. Most people think he lost all power when the Soviet Union collapsed. For the most part this is true, with one exception. Rain. Mikhail Gorbachev controls all of Europe's rain.

Next we went to the Holocaust Memorial which is pretty much a giant maze. Best hide & seek course ever. They should seriously look into having the H&S world championships there. It would last for weeks.

After everyone was sought we Berlin walled it. Apparently there is not too much left of the wall. They had guys there giving checkpoint Charlie stamps on our passports.

Then it was time to Czech out Prague. Get it? Czech... Check? That's like their favorite joke in Prague. If you can use that play on words to name your business or create a tacky shirt you're golden. Our train to Prague was a little more crowded than we were used to. It was all compartments which happened to be completely full. At first we stood in between the two trains like right outside the bathroom. But then I discovered this charm. In the walkway of the train outside the seating compartments are tiny little fold-out "chairs".... yeah, let's call them chairs. It's like the kind you'd take to a football game or something. They were awesome. We hovered 5 inches off the ground in a 2 1/2 foot wide aisle with all our luggage. My favorite part is a tie... Either staring into the people's compartments who actually had seats or having to stand up and move all our stuff out of the way every 8 minutes when someone walked down the hallway. You should have seen us when the food cart lady came.

The unconventional travel was a nice segue into unconventional lodging. For some reason they put me in charge of finding a hostel. Ha. Amateurs. I booked us all a 2-night non- inclusive stay at the Racek Botel. Yes, that's right it's a botel, a boat- hotel. It might not have been "centrally located to Prague" or have the "top of the line ammenities" or a "mattress" per se. But everyone can now say they once stayed on a Botel on the Vlatava river in Prague-ish. For some reason they decided to stay at a land hostel the next night. Boring.

Prague was so beautiful! We hung out in Old Town most of the day and listened to live music and took pictures with Jan Huss.

They also have this giant astrological clock they seem to be extremely proud of. Hundreds of people congregate each hour beneath it to watch a skeleton holding an hour glass chime a bell. Then a rooster crows and then apostles all roll by. It was just overrated enough to be fabulous.

We walked up 7 million steps to see Prague Castle. It's not your usual castle, but I'm still a fan.

There was a tiny little six flags looking village on our way back to Old Town. The shops were cute but they could have used a mini mine train.

As all of you know Wednesday was my birthday. Six hours before your March 11th, I turned 22. Best 22 years I could have asked for. We went to not-a-croissant bakery (I can't eat another one) to eat and when I returned the Jonas Brothers had decorated my room for me. All sorts of chocolatey treats were sent my way. Some in the shape of Bayern Munchen footballs. Happy March 11th to you all.