Czech-ing In

Today was my five-hour bus ride from Berlin to Prague. Once we left the German capital, the scenery consisted of snowy fields, snowy forests, frozen lakes, and a few wind farms. We pulled off the autobahn to pick up more passengers in Dresden. Shortly thereafter, I couldn't read any of the road signs, and I knew we had crossed the border into the Czech Republic. I dozed off for a bit and awoke surrounded by Prague.

I'm staying at a hostel with lots of character. There's a wonderful bricked cellar with a kitchen for our use, a pub, and a dark and cozy sitting area. I was thrilled that there was a lift, but it gets me only 3/4 of the way up to my room, and it's just as cold as outside. The hostel has the usual light timers, but they're set for something like 10 seconds here. I'm in the dark a lot. (Speaking of which, it was pitch black by 4:30 this afternoon.) My room, on the other hand, has a motion-activated light in the bathroom. It comes on easily and frequently--just walking by the bed will set it off--but it turns off just as quickly. It did so while I was, uh, "seated," and no amount of arm waving would turn it back on. Maybe that's why my room has a padded door...

I'm sampling a local bottle of two-buck Chuck (actually, a merlot that I got for $2.63). I'm trying to decide what to do for dinner. I'd love to go to the pizzeria two doors down, but that would require bundling up and venturing outdoors in way-too-cold-for-Pat weather. Or I could stay here and have the Portuguese dinner for $4.28. Think I'll go take a look before I decide.

Tomorrow morning I'll have a range of breakfast options. The cheapest, the so-called "real backpacker," is all of $1.61 for bread and water. More precisely, that's all-you-can-eat bread, one glass of mineral water, and jam. Perhaps the latter counts as the fruit of the day. I am seriously over bread, so I will likely have to upgrade to something with other possibilities.

Here's hoping we don't get the pile of snow forecast...