Dresden to Prague

At some point, I'm going to have to go back in time to write about Muhlberg to Dresden. I feel like I am meeting so many good people everyday that it saturates my thoughts and takes a little longer to process. Right now, I am writing after spending my first full day in Prague. 

 It rained everyday that I was in Dresden, though I think this is my favorite place thus far on tour. I wanted to really pause here for a little while longer.

 If it weren't for my proclamation that I was going to ride to Prague, I may have just stayed. It rained even more when I left on Sunday. Every time I leave a large city, it tends to take me longer to leave town than I'd like. I get sucked in. I always think of an errand that I could have run. I love the services and connectivity there. 

 My friend that I met at Yenidze gave me an extra rain jacket. I accepted, but I didn't think I would need it.

 It turns out it really helped with getting me started the first 20 kilometers. I'm not sure why things work out like that, but I'm thankful that they do. On this tour, somehow, it just seems like I'm given what I need sometimes. The trail was wet and muddy in certain places, and my bike is still gunked up from riding through long puddles and places where the paved trail would just disappear. It reminded me of riding on the C&O Trail between Cumberland and Washington, D.C. at times. 

Some of the mud was my fault. The Elbe River paved route would switch sides of the river, and I needed to pay more attention to the map to see where I needed to cross. Bridges aren't plentiful, but there are ferries from time to time. Oddly enough this was the first time that I had a paper map with me this whole trip. I think it really helped because my cell hasn't always been very reliable when I move away from cities. I biked through the sog and fog until I reached Sachsische Schweiz Nationalpark. Rocks were starting to emerge from the hills. 

I didn't hike up because it wasn't a very clear day. It's like when I went to the Grand Canyon and there was a cloud inside the canyon obscuring the view. I'll have to visit some other time. I got to talk to an older couple from the United Kingdom, and we talked about how unintelligible English is from the other continent. They said they had trouble understanding Richard Gere, and could barely watch anything American without subtitles. I told them that I had trouble understanding Ricky Gervais, and they seemed surprised. It would be fun to watch some television with them.

I biked a little farther to Konigstein. 

Even though I had energy to go farther, I saw on my handy paper map that this was the last campground before crossing over to the Czech Republic. I had had a hard time with getting to Denmark and then to Germany. It's silly, but I wanted to check over things with technology and write people before I was disconnected again. 

The campground was a little weird and their space for tents was right next to the reception building. As I was checking in, the guy working there had on a campground jacket, a clipboard, and was talking to other campers about things in German. He looked very official like he worked there. He was working from his bicycle outside. I gave him my passport, and as soon as I handed it to him, he rode away it. I couldn't find him for 5 minutes. He was in another office, and then left. I soon as I saw him, I yelled, "Mein pass-a-port bitte." He seemed annoyed but went into the office and fetched it for me. That was the first scare I'd had in a while. I didn't sleep very well. I did another long day on my bike the next day until Litomerice, Czech Republic. Before getting to the CZ, I ran into another cyclist who lived outside of Rostock who was doing the same trip. 

We rode together, and it did make everything a little easier. I didn't know that the CZ didn't use the Euro, so I had to get some Czech crowns to use. (Don't be like me.)  He also had good instincts about reading the signs, and I helped by spotting the signs that he would miss. It's comforting sometimes to have someone else with you when you enter a new country with a new language and new currency. I was comforted to see that a German person did not know one word of Czech. He was guilty of what some of us Americans do, though he was able to pick up on the words more quickly than me when he asked the server. The only Czech word I know is thank you, and it sounds like 'dickweed' to me. I feel odd saying it.

 I stayed at a campground at Litomerice and didn't really sleep well again. This campground had a bar that made the people there howl and laugh into the late hours of the night.

From Litomerice, I rode alone on my way to Prague. It was a scenic day with a little more pavement and sunshine from days previous. It felt like a long ride, but there were so many views from along the river and on the sides of mountains, which made it seem shorter. Here are some of the things I saw. 

 Honestly, I really struggled with finding the hostel. My cell died before I reached the hotel, though I did manage to write down the address. There was traffic congestion and no room for bicycles. I tried charging my phone at this mall restaurant with wall outlets and bought the horrible "light burrito" filled with what I presume was dog food and Chinese vegetables to warrant sitting there, but alas it was a dummy outlet. 

This is the first time I parked my bicycle and then hailed a taxi to get to the hostel that was not far away. It always works out in the end, but sometimes it's not as easy to reach the end as you think it should be. I also broke my cycling rule that I should always enter a large metropolitan area in the morning if at all possible so that I can be alert and awake for whatever may happen.

I have always held such romantic feelings for Prague, and yes, it's very beautiful, but it's different from what I imagined. It's like the alstadts I saw in Germany but bigger and more exaggerated with more ornate details. I took today to recalibrate and luxuriated in just being able to walk slowly down whichever street I chose. I sat on benches and by fountains and just let myself think.

 I'm not sure if I ever had a clear vision of the city in my mind, but the reality and dream of this place are mismatched for me. Even though I haven't explored the city fully, I haven't seen any sort of friendly way to ride bicycles in the city. Usually, I am fearless but cars zip by fast, curbs are high, and there isn't much room for bicycles. It kills the dream a little bit for me. I have met even more good people here though. The friendship train keeps growing.

Other things of note:

The guy who kept saying cheers from across the patio whenever I would raise my beer to drink.

The inline speed skaters who collided on the bike path, like a mentos commercial gone wrong. 

The mountain I climbed right before reaching Prague.

The first mention of Eurovelo Route 7 in anything on the trail.