Sunday 1st January – I Miss My Van

I woke up around 9am feeling hungover despite the previous night’s drinking diet of only water. During the night I’d been up a few times to go to the toilet, I was sick with the virus again. There was nothing solid inside me, only liquid, and I could feel it churning uncomfortably in my stomach and below. As I sat on the toilet, I kept saying to myself, “It’s better than vomiting, it’s better than vomiting”. I eventually cleared everything out, then went straight back to bed feeling sorry for myself while I waited for the shower. Alex must have been having a beauty session he was in the bathroom so long, so I sat up gingerly in bed and started packing. I was mostly done by the time it was my turn.

Shower finished, breakfast had been served and I was feeling better. Oma had done a special with a huge bowl of cooked eggs and a little piggy on everyone’s plate for charm. I explained using hand signals (use your imagination) that I had taken another turn for the worst and disappointedly ate only plain toast. Alex translated to Oma that I was sorry I couldn’t eat any of the food she’d made during my stay, but she dismissed that notion and gave me a hydration drink to help with my problems. It was like drinking water with flour mixed in but if it was Oma it was bound to do me some good. If that and the drugs I was taking didn’t start helping by the end of the day, I would be going to the pharmacy to get something stronger.

I was the first to leave home to catch my Bla Bla ride to Prague, leaving the house not long after breakfast. I gave Oma a big hug and said “Auf wiedersehen” then did the same to Opa. I thanked them for everything they’d done for me and they requested I keep them up to date with my travels via photos. I wished Sabrina and Alex a safe drive back to Tilburg, then I was off, travelling solo again.

I carried my gear to the train station and caught two trains to my Bla Bla meeting point in east Berlin. It was right by the east side gallery I’d explored yesterday so it was handy to be familiar with the terrain. I walked a few streets to my driver’s apartment building and I did not enjoy it. Probably worsened by the firy chaos of the night before, it was a dodgy neighbourhood. The streets were littered with rubbish, every wall was covered in graffiti (and not the artistic kind) and any sort of area resembling a garden was a patch of dirt with broken toys and bikes lying around in it. As if to prove my suspicions, on my way I saw a fist fight break out between two guys, a girl trying to separate them. Probably a lover’s tiff. If it wasn’t morning I wouldn’t have felt safe.

I was glad I didn’t have to wait long, within minutes of sending my driver a message, he’d appeared in his Audi wagon. He let me sit in it while he went upstairs to collect his things then he was back with his girlfriend. We drove around the corner to pick up another passenger and that was the last stop we would make during the four hour drive to Prague. My Czech hosts told me two useful pieces of information. The first is that we were heading towards a -7 degC day in Prague and that the city celebrates the new year with fireworks at 6pm on new year’s day, instead of the eve. Sweet! We would make it in time for me to see a choreographed show of fireworks. I had a short nap after we hit the autobahn then woke to frosty fields with owls lingering in the tall branches of trees , surveying the cold. The driver was a Savage Garden fan, we listened to it most of the way which was a nice throwback.

After dropping off his girlfriend and the other passenger, my driver very kindly dropped me off at the door of my hostel. He handed me my bags, I thanked him, paid him EUR12 and walked in to the hostel through the hole in the wall to see where I’d be sleeping. I did not have a good impression of the Chili Hostel. The lady that checked me in was not very helpful with information and forgot to give me a towel. I was disappointed to find that my room was on the fifth floor (no elevator) and again I got stuck with a top bunk. The lack of cleanliness was worrying and the place desperately needs a maintenance man. There would be enough work to keep someone busy here for at least three months. I suppose when you’re paying only EUR5 a night it is to be expected. I’d just had such a good experience at St Christopher’s Inn in Paris that the bar had been raised. I went back down to reception and got a bath mat for a towel. When I asked for something bigger, she told me that all the towels were that size. After the hospitality of the last few days, I was in shock. It was not an option for me to be sick here.

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I hadn’t eaten since my toast in the morning and didn’t really feel the need to, but my tummy needed something. I used the disgusting hostel kitchen to boil some water and warm up the rice and stock Oma had sent me off with. I was grateful she had, I didn’t want to stomach anything else. I managed the whole lot ok and took some more drugs. My tummy was still upset, but it wasn’t behaving too badly. I rested in my room for about an hour, finding a happy place after neatly making my bed and settling down to blog, having not written anything for a while.

At around 5:30pm, I ventured out onto the streets of Prague where it didn’t take me long to find the crowds of people heading towards the bridges over the river and collecting to watch the imminent fireworks show. It wasn’t too crowded on Charlie’s bridge, I managed to find a spot a few people deep looking out at the hill just north of the city.

The show started and the predictable “oohs” and “aahs” emanated from the crowd around me. Unfortunately, the show was dampened by the haze in the sky, which was only made worse as the fireworks continued, adding smoke to the haze. I feel for the poor organisers and operators who had obviously laboured through extensive choreography only to produce colourful blankets in the sky, instead of defined sparks and patterns. It still created a dramatic effect, representing something like what a bomb might look like going off over the horizon. It was all over after about ten minutes. While there had been some “wow” moments, the smoky curtain shamed the performance.

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The crowd quickly dispered and as I moved with them I wondered where they would all end up for dinner. I was happy it was only a short walk back to the hostel. I stopped in at a church on the way back, just because I saw other people walking in to it. I stayed for a while in the entry foyer to listen to one song on the organ. I think it was rehearsal for the concert that would be on later in the night.

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My disappointment in my rooms had ebbed by the time I got back and retreated back to my bunk for some planning of the next few days. After battling with shitty Wifi reception and getting sick of translating the Bla Bla website, I gave it away and had an early night, hoping that I’d wake to find my stomach steady.

Czech Republic Fact: Not only do they speak a different language, they insist on having their own special currency too! Annoying.