Turns out, the guy's got one hell of a brain. He just finished up his second masters degree... this one in Political Science at Cambridge in England, after getting one in Stanford, where he also got his Bachelors. He is going into Harvard Law in the fall.

We wandered along the path where the wall once stood to the Checkpoint Charlie Museum and saw the stuff there. At one point, he decided that he needed to get to the train station and said he should take off. We said good-bye and I thought that was it. I had gone through the museum fairly quickly and we ended up out of the museum at the same time. He had a couple more questions about seeing Unter den Linden and Alexanderplatz.

So I walked him through it a bit, pointing out the Neue Wache, and the story of the anti-militarism military parade that they had in East Berlin. I showed him what remains of the Palace of the Republic, where they had the first Berlin book burning, all the historic points of Berlin from Friedrichstrasse to Alexanderplatz. From there, I got him to his station - Ostbahnhof. We had gotten along well together and he asked me if I wanted to join him to Prague. I said no at first, but thought about it and decided there's no better time than the present.

The only problem is that his train left in 25 minutes and my stuff is with my family in Lichterfelde, along the other side of town. I asked him if he could wait til the last train, two hours later. He said ok, and we were off to my aunt and uncle's house, to get my stuff. I was afraid they might be upset at me getting out of town quickly for a couple days but they didn't seem to mind much at all. Possibly because I'm an easy houseguest to have. I ask for little, and sleep in the basement. In fact, my aunt made us sandwiches for the trip over.

After the bus and subway, we got to Zoo Bahnhof with just 15 minutes to spare. We decided to attack the ticket purchase from two angles. He'd wait in the international line, which moves slowly and I'd wait in the Express purchase line. "Expressverkauf" is for people who know what they want, and want it for their trains leaving in 15 minutes. I wasn't sure if it would work for International trains though. Turns out my hunch was right, and I had two tickets in my hand before he had advanced more than two spaces in line. It turned out to be a relatively cheap trip, a little under 37.50 Euros.

The train is a Czech one, run by a German crew until Dresden when the Czech company takes it over. The cars are quite comfortable and seem to be of a more customer friendly variety than some of the other rolling stock that I would occasionally see out my window after crossing the border. I'm honestly amazed at how quiet and smooth these trains are. Amtrak pales in comparison. One thing that I noticed as we sailed through Brandenburg and Saxony is that the East German railway had a stop in nearly every small town... many of which appear relatively abandoned, or at the very least quite run down. Of course, most of Dresden looks run down as well. The Dresden station, as well as most of the city was rebuilt after the second world war by the communists, whose main contribution to architecture was the concrete box. Looking out the window, row after row of identical concrete slab apartment complexes that appear utilitarian at best. I remember thinking to myself that I'd hate to live there and be drunk, cause Id never find my apartment again.

Dresden comes and goes and the border checks start. It happens in reverse. First we're entered in by the Czech guards and exited out by the German ones. Rarely in Europe do your passports get stamped if you are American, but I got two stamps in one day. I felt proud. Since we left the city of Dresden, the tracks had more of left followed the Vlatva river, the same that runs through the city of Prague. The tracks were built in the valley of the river and made for some impressive views as we approached the border.

Brent and I continue talking and he continues to amaze me. He interned for Clinton, he's travelled the whole world. And he's younger than I am. I wonder where he finds the time. At our last stop in Germany, we exchanged engines. This is a common occurrence in Europe. With the German Czech border, there may be a valid reason - different current levels for example, but in much of Western Europe there is a standard. Yet engines change at every border. Its clear who operates the train inside and outside the train, why should the engines be any different.

Finally, we arrive in Prague, a pleasant four and a half hour trip. Most Czech stations have not been majorly overhauled since the Velvet revolution in 1989... but you can tell the difference between signs that are post Communist and pre Democratic. Older signs were only in Czech, German and Russian. Nowadays, the Russian is replaced with English and the Cyrillic is almost nowhere to be found.