I found Melissa last night here in Cesky Krumlov!
I will eventually get my hat back, yessssssssss! Anyway yesterday
was quite an adventure! I somehow managed to get my silly ass up
pretty early to show, but I didn't have time to shave. I packed the
rest of my things and made my way out of the hostel. I saw Michael
and the Idahoan before I left. Hopefully I'll run into Michael down
here in Cesky Krumlov before I bail out to Italy. Anyway, the day
before I had purchased my ticket at the Florenc station and also figured
that the bus would be leaving from Florenc. Well, 10:30 rolled around
and I'm sitting on platform 14 and I'm the only person there except this
other lady. I had showed her my ticket and everything seemed to be
in order, so I was just sitting there staring off into space and wondering
why I was the only person there. After a while she tapped me on the
shoulder and wanted to see my ticket again. She only spoke Czech
and she was trying to tell me something about the metro. I didn't
understand and she went and found someone who spoke English to tell me
I was at the wrong station. It was really funny so I went back to
the ticket office to attempt to explain my predicament and eventually had
to just buy another ticket. It was taking a long time to get the ticket
and I probably pissed a lot of people off. The ticket lady and I
took a long time to got over the location of the bus station. Anyway
after I finished my conversation with her some other kind Czech lady walked
up to me and asked if I needed any help and if I understood where I needed
to go. I pretty much had figured out where I needed to go with the
ticket lady so I thanked her for the offer of help and headed towards the
metro to catch my bus. After getting on the wrong metro I eventually
made it to the bus station at about 11:00am. My bus was at 3:25pm
so I caught up on my reading of Ivanhoe and nearly finished it sitting
on the floor of the metro station.
There were quite a few people on the bus heading to Cesky Krumlov.
I sat next to this young Czech girl, she was 21 and talked to her the entire
ride. Her name was Alena and she is a student studying economics.
We had a great time talking and making jokes. Anyway when we got
to Cesky Krumlov we got off at the main bus station and I tried to get
into Hostel 99 but they were booked so I made my way over to the Travelers''
Hostel. These guys at the hostel know Petr! We were talking
about the Czech Republic and Broumov when the bartender was asking me if
I know about the "multicultural center". It was nuts! Both
the bartender and the reception guy know him. Anyway, Ben, this Aussie
and I went out to get something to eat at some cafe. It was majorly
cheap. I think Cesky Krumlov is cheaper than Praha. I had Kung
Poa chicken and potatoes and a few beers and I think it was only 100 Kc.
Ben and I then headed down to the Snake Bar and had a few beers there.
I had neglected to mention that while we were sitting and waiting at the
bus station I met a few other people from the States. We were talking
about where we were staying in Praha. When I told them I was staying
at the Clown & Bard they asked me if I knew Melissa, a Canadian, I
couldn't believe it! I told them she stole my hat! I also told
them she will likely be staying at Hostel 99 and to let her know I want
my hat back.
Anyway, after a while when we were at the Snake Bar in walks Melissa,
without my hat. We were harassing each other about my damn hat all
night. She won't give it back to me until I answer some silly ass
riddle about some burning string. I may never see my hat again, d'oh!
We hung out there with some pretty cool Aussies until they kicked us out.
Ben and I headed back to the hostel some time after 2:00am and pretty much
crashed. It's taken a few hours to write this entry since I've been
interrupted a dozen times. There are two Spanish speaking guys in
my dorm today so I hope we hook up for some cerveza later on. I also
finally finished Ivanhoe! I traded it for a book about the Dutch
Trading Company. Anyway, going to do some light reading and possibly
surf the Internet.