Sep 5 – Time for a Nice Person story. Today is a travel day as we set out for the city of Olomouc (OH lo mootz) about three hours away. Google Maps has been giving us fits, telling us to walk 5 minutes to the bus stop, then changing it to 15 minutes. As Jim and I sat side by side this morning, it gave us totally different routes!

Following one of Google’s suggestions, we walked not to a bus stop, but to an old train station we didn’t even know was there. We bought tickets to the next town, where we could get a train to Olomouc. Waiting with us in the nearly deserted station was a young woman named Klara, who was going to Olomouc as well. What luck! We rode with her to the main station at Kolin.

Klara showed us where to buy tickets at the big station, then told us she’d be waiting up on Track 2. The ticket seller had no English, but wrote on a piece of paper 2 – 11:32. We thanked her and went up the stairs to sit with Klara at Track 2. A minute later the ticket seller rushed up the stairs, waving another piece of paper on which she had written 2 – 11:38. It turns out that the 11:32 train was going to Poland, and she was afraid we’d get on the wrong train! Two Nice People of Czechia in one day!

We rode in fine style in our half-price-for-old-people seats and enjoyed the spicy chicken sandwiches we had purchased for our lunch. When we got off the train in Olomouc, Klara found us again, handing us a piece of paper containing the trolley number and the name of the stop closest to our hotel. Thank you Klara and train lady!

So now we are in Olomouc, staying at the historic Lafayette Hotel (yes, our Lafayette, from the Revolutionary War, and, of course, Hamilton!)