Travelogue: Bohemia

So finally here's the first travelogue post. I was already on the road for about two weeks when I had the glorious idea to take notes, but fortunately I'm snapping photos all the time. They're a good memory aid.

Day 1 - Thursday, 7th August 2014

Somewhere in a small village near Dresden: The owner of this blog is very busy packing everything he deems important and saving lots of stuff on his laptop. Originally he wanted to start early in the morning, but since he is dawdling about wants to be prepared as well as possible, the start is delayed until 4pm. Just in time for a rainshower, that at least ends very quickly. And the shortest way to the Elbe river is well-known already.

So I'm passing the open border that has a column still marking Czechoslovakia and proceed to set up my tent for the first time, on a sandbank directly at the riverside to be exact. No, I never tried it even once before because I'm dumb. And it's getting dark. Shit man, what have I brought on myself here? And how the hell is this junk supposed to result in a three-dimensional construct? Well, in the end I somehow manage to set it up. Learning by doing. The introduction post has a few other pictures and some words about the trip in general:

Blog entry: And here I go.
(Well, the about page might be better for some info since it's a little more up to date.)

Day 2 - Friday, 08th August 2014

The phone's alarm is waking me just before sunrise. There's a long way to go after all: At some point in the evening I want to arrive in Prague and thanks to yesterday's delay I have a lot to catch up on. Slowly I'm crawling outside, it's cold and foggy. The tent is all wet because it rained the past night. Somehow I have to curl it up and shove it back into that strange bag there. A slip of paper on the drawstring says: "Store the tent under completely dry conditions only!" Sure, but... how? Was I supposed to bring a hairdryer? After I somehow spread the cover over the bicycle rack I start cycling again. All that setting up, disassembling and drying... will it be like that all the time now? Somehow I'm already losing my motivation. But we know: Lots of really great things start out really shitty and humans need a surprisingly short time to get used to completely new circumstances. Just be a little patient, let's see what the world looks like in a few days time.
A flock of birds is escorting me in low flight while the sun is rising over the mountains behind me, covering everything in a magic light... Somehow everything's right in the world after all.

The way continues all the way down south heading to Prague, passing fields and villages, going uphill and downhill, sometimes following the Elbe river. My GPS' map helps to knock up the route. It's getting hot and I'm cycling topless, since the Czechs are walking about like that as well. From time to time there are apples on the wayside waiting to be plucked. Two times I get chased by some unleashed mutts, it's kind of surprising what amounts of preserved energy can be set free in times of need.

In the afternoon I come across two pretty strange places: Overlooking the village Želízy there are two giant stone heads, like some kind of miniature Mt. Rushmore. In Mělník the crypt of a church houses skulls and bones of more than 10000 people. Infos and pictures here:

Blog entry: Bones

Strange by the way: I expected to feel at least something while looking at those human remains, but... nope. After a few hundred years the bones of those anonymous people from the middle ages are nothing more but things...
Subsequently I did my first shopping for food and after a few more hours, late in the evening, I finally arrive in Prague.

Day 3 - Saturday, 09th August 2014

Midnight: None of Prague's cheap hostels got any free space. So I just stay awake to explore the city. The generously illustrated "city tour" can be found here:

Blog entry: Prague at Night and Day: A World City Awakens

It's not exactly a bicycle friendly place by the way. Lowering the pavement at crosswalks? Nah, why should they. And raw cobblestone is fine even outside the historic downtown. Oh, and speaking of crosswalks: On one of them someone lost their bag of fruits, I enjoy the meal. Tasty banana and apricot.
Noon: After about twelve hours of exploring and taking photos I order a cutlet with fries at a diner. Shortly afterwards I realize that I would have prefered rice over fries and almost fall asleep while waiting. The cutlet is horrible, the rémoulade is godlike. More or less strengthened I fight my way out of the city afterwards - The center was great, but the way out is just confusing and unattractive. Finally I find my way to a cycling road accompanying a riverbank. And yet again there's a bag with fruits for me on a bench. This time it's apples.

Evening: I'm not exactly cheerful and completely exhausted. Which is kind of to be expected after 30 hours of being on the move. And yet again there's those doubts, I ask myself why exactly I'm doing this shit. But: Sleep deprivation brings negative thoughts, after a good night's sleep it will surely be fine again... Later, during sunset, I come across an open air jazz concert in a meadow which lifts my spirits again. Just sitting around for a little while, relaxing and enjozing the moment. I continue cycling for a until it's gotten dark. Finally I set up my tent in a forest that for some reson has got a soccer ground. Now it's time to get a good portion of sleep.

Day 4 - Sunday, 10th August 2014

The tent is wet again, but this time I can let it dry in the morning sun using one of the goals. Delight ensues. And then it's time to move on, to Pilsen that is. Thre's lots of "Ahoi" saying Czechs on the way as well as a Frenchman who is also on a cycling trip and wants to go to Prague. I send him to the direction I came from.
Around noon I notice: Today's the day of closed shops (What a silly custom!) and it's hot. I dump my T-shirt in the next well available and put it on again. Cold! Basically it's working, but it would make more sense with a long-sleeved shirt. A little later there are some discounters on my way that are open even on Sundays. Great, let's get some bread rolls and, more importantly, cool down.

This stage is following a bicycle path by the way, doesn't always take the shortest route but offers a lot of variety. Now and then it's leading through a forest, passing a few lakes and also a hidden church. This is where I see an oat field for the first time in years. Come to think of it, where does all the oat usually come from?

There are also small rural stores everywhere along the way. In the late afternoon I even find one that's open. Inside sits a Vietnamese guy who sadly doesn't accept Euro. So I just spend my last 15 Korunas for a beverage. Meanwhile outside there's a bunch of relaxed Czechs hanging out and drinking beer. One of them frequently comes into the shop to get some fresh cooled bottles. Looks like a good life here... One of them relieves me of my old water bottle and asks where I'm going. Sadly I don't understand a word. Unwaveringly he continues to talk to me and somehow manages to make me understand that I have to go five meters back and around the corner in order to reach Pilsen. Cool, would've cycled all the way up a shitty mountain.

In the evening I gloriously arrive in Pilsen. The infrastructure is so bicycle friendly here! Completely different from Prague. Along the way I snap a picture of an illuminated gate that somehow looks important. Later I find out: It's the brewery's gate, so it really is somehow important. The Pilsner has its name because of this city after all.

For two days I'll stay here in female friend's living community. A roof above my head! A matress! Electricity! A bathroom! Hell yeah.

Day 5 - Monday, 11th August 2014

The two ladies and their cats just moved in a few days ago, so unfortunately they don't have an internet connection yet. Well, I'll just go look for a hotspot later if there's something to be done. For now it's just chilling and consuming fried broccoli, which is not just edible, but even tasty. I'm surprised. Meanwhile there's a rainstorm outside. Looks like I arrived just in time. Yeah!

In one of Prague's fully booked hostels I got one of those tourist maps, which happens to have a phonetic joke dictionary on its back: Czech phrases written in such a way an English speaking person would be able to pronounce them more or less correctly. Seems like it's plenty of fun for Czech speakers, the girls have a lot of fun with this. We arrive at the topic of languages in general and the both of them assemble some Czech tongue twisters for me.

Blog entry: Fun with Czech

In the evening the weather got better and I go outside. There's some kind of music festival going on and in the square in front of the Church I find a group of French performers doing stunts with a "giant wheel". I really like the background music here...

Before going to sleep the girls and me watch Disney's Tangled. I wasn't the one who thought of this.

Day 6 - Tuesday, 12th August 2014

Still chilling a little ~

In the afternoon I go outside again, looking for an exchange office to get a few more Korunas. And I need some WiFi. In the tourist info I ask where you can find internet here. Discovery: Tourist Informations usually offer free WiFi themselves. I should remember this, could be useful one day. I take care of some stuff before the joint is closing, afterwards I just keep squatting for a few minutes in front of it because they left their router running. Apart from all that I took some photos of Pilsen's colorful facades today.

Day 7 - Wednesday, 13th August 2014

Time to move on. I buy some stuff in the supermarket and start to write down my expenses. Maybe I'll put them on this blog as well some day, let's see. The goal by the way: Not spending more than €5 a day.
I take photos of some price tags in Order to compare with Germany later. By now I did:

Blog entry: Shopping in Czechia

This section of the cycling road hasn't been finished yet, at one point there's just a giant hole and some construction workers kind of working on it. Maybe. From a nearby garden a Czech guy who speaks German surprisingly well is waving at me and proceeds to explain how to get around the roadworks. Other than that I mostly follow ordinary roads. In the evening I make myself "comfortable" in an old rundown bus shelter in the middle of nowhere. Just like that in the sleeping bag. Before sleping I watch the Czech animated movie Alois Nebel while being protected from a horrible rainstorm.

My blog's motto.

Day 8 - Thursday, 14th August 2014 (Part 1)

Looks like I chose the perfect time of year for traveling after all. The woods are full of blackberries! Close to the border I'm passing a village named Babylon. Since it starts raining pretty bad I'm getting a Langoš there. It's originally an Hungarian specialty, but well-known in several other Eastern European countries as well. And while I'm still here I also order an original Pilsener Urquell, that was important.

The final Czech locality before the border is full of Casinos and stalls of Vietnamese people selling fake brand-name clothing. At noon I pass the border back to Germany. Next up is Bavaria!

And now have some backwards cycling Czechs.