Day 11

I just hopped on the train from Dresden to Karlovy Vary, Czech Republic. Funny thing is... I do not really know if I am on the right train, or even the right car for that matter. I would be stressed out, but its not like I really have to be anywhere.......

......Oops............. I just got booted out of first class. See what I mean.
Funny, there is not much difference between the two.

It takes quite a bit of common sense to travel like this. Trying to read another language is like trying to solve a crytoquote at best. Matching numbers is easy, though, so I get by.

I am changing trains in Usti nad Ladem. I had never even heard of Usti until today. It is right across the Czech border. I am looking forward to chilling out for a few days in Karlovy Vary since I have pretty much been on the go. I need to do laundry, use the Internet, drink some cheap beer.

I am looking down on some of the most beautiful scenery. The train is following the River Elbe through a canyon type gorge with picture perfect, colorful, and pristine German cottages lining the side of the river and up the side of the gorge. There is a long stone wall mysteriously placed in the woods looking out the window to the other side. I wonder why it is there. I have fantasies about knights fending off barbarians.... but really the wall is much to short for that. Oh well.

LATER after CHANGING TRAINS IN USTI

Holy crap, Toto, we are not in Western Europe anymore. The train station in Usti looked so much different, so much dirtier, run down, and so much more socialist. I did not have too much trouble figuring out which train and where, the trouble came when I had to use the bathroom. I do not yet have any Czech crowns, I only have Euro and it costs 3 crowns to use the potty. The horrible lady was not going to let me use it, but I haggled using exaggerated body language and she would not settle for less than 2 freaking Euro. That is like 40 times the actual cost!
How do you say 'I am out of my f'ing element' in Czech?

LATER

As I began heading further West into Bohemia towards Karlovy Vary, my mood began to lighten. This time, the train followed the River Ohre. The terrain went from butt ugly to more hilly, then almost mountainous. There were fields of wildflowers and children playing down by the river.

Getting off the train and beginning my long walk through Karlovy Vary was like walking into Disney World for the first time. It is absolutely beautiful here. A canal, that I can only assume rivals Venice, flows right through the valley. Beautiful, ornate, amazing European buildings tower on all sides and extend up onto the mountains on either side. I easily made my way through the city center, through parks with fountains, gazebos, flowers, ponds, and ducks, through the cobblestone streets lined with Prada style shops marketing expensive jewelry and restaurants. THEN I tried to find the freakin hostel. It was then that I realized, after hauling my heavy backpack through the big town for 45 minutes, that the hostel was up a very steep lane, up the side of a mountain. So I began the ascent, cursing the two bottles of German wine I had purchased in Meiben. The steep lane kept climbing, and I realizëd that I was no longer in Disneÿ World. To make a long and frustrating story short, I walked around for an hour and 45 minutes trying to find the place and could not. I was sweaty, my face red from exhaustion, hungry, menstral, and in no mood to keep looking. So I walked into the first hotel I saw and tried to say 'Do you have any rooms available?' Luckily, the girl spoke English, but unluckily there were no rooms. I consulted the guide book and it said to book in advance on weekends because the town fills up with German tourists. Great, it was Saturday.

Someone was smiling down on me because the next hotel I walked into (even though the girl spoke no English) was free and I was booked a room for 68 US dollars. I took it. I not only took it, I begged for it. I relished in it. And when I made it up to the forth floor, unlocked the door to my very own room, with my very own bathroom, my very own shower, with my very own TV, and a towel and soap waiting for me... inviting me to clean up and relax, I danced around.

I ended up calling Mom for a pep talk that evening (thanks, Mom). I took her advice and ate a wonderful meal, had a great Pilner Urquell, and fell asleep watching 'Meet the Parents' dubbed over in Czech.