This morning I slept in a little and had my final breakfast in Prague. Well meal actually. I figured I'll eat big then and have a light lunch then a normal dinner. We checked out of the hotel, after I flooded the shower (due to a build up of hair and God knows what else in the drainage) and they walked me to the station. Renata and I made up after all because it wasn't worth it. Like she said, we can continue this back at home and not worry about it now. It's not worth it.
I was going to carry my bag, until I realised with my laptop inside it's easily got to be nearing 20kg now. I used to carry 4.5kg in high school and that was a bitch, carrying 4x that isn't a great idea. So I just decided to wheel it along and hope to God the wheels don't fall off! The pavement in Prague is beautiful but very bumpy so you can see why. After our goodbye I set myself onboard and I was sad to leave behind all my previous travel partners and set out on my own now. I felt like bursting into tears because I felt not only alone, but lonely. It took a few txts between Stef and I to chill me out but I'm glad I'm doing this. I need to break out of my comfort zone.
Onboard the train there were two people sitting in front of me. A fat boy and his mother. Seriously she was stroking his head and he was purring like a cat. Freaks. As I was boarding there was a lady behind me who kept smacking her bag into the back of my feet. I gave her the death look the entire train and she didn't even apologize. The best part was when I found out she was Canadian and she had to pay an extra €22 because she got the wrong ticket. SUCK IT BITCH.
I decided to just walk to the Hilton with my bag as it was within easy walking distance from the station. I sounded like a horse with my bag being wheeled and people honestly moved out of the way thinking I was a horse, thanks guys. Then I found the Hilton and far out was it awkward. The staff looked at me like "is he seriously coming in here with those clothes and that bright blue backpack with a superman name tag on it?" and my answer in my head was "yeah mate. STRAYA CUNT". The concierge loved my phallet (phone wallet) which I got off eBay. He asked where I got it from and he loved it but as soon as I said eBay he said he doesn't trust online shopping. Whatever. I got to my room and I spent something like an hour in there having a cup of tea, checking the tv, reading the hotel info and looking at the mini bar then trying the bed. I decided to have a shower and then go for a walk. So I did and I'm glad I did.
Dresden is beautiful but it's also suffered extensive damage from WWII. It's a constant reminder of what happened to the city and how it was destroyed. Only in 2005 was the church of our lady reopened after the dome was destroyed in 1945. You can clearly see the blackened buildings from the fires and the newly erected buildings after from their cleaner colours. It's sad to see a part of history gone but glad to see it has been restored to some degree. The city is very walk-able. So it's no problem if you don't want to use the trams.
I went to the art exhibition at about 7pm as it was closing at 9pm and things were starting to shut. I was told that they couldn't give me a ticket to the whole exhibition so to come back tomorrow. I went for another walk to see if anything else was open, but due to the Dresden Festival, a lot of things were shut and a lot of the city was being transformed into a market for the festival so there wasn't much to do.
Something I should have done was brush up on my German before I got to Germany. I should have realised that before when I was on Contiki, but those tours really keep you separated from the real places. So when I went to Italy I went to a stop off which everyone spoke English. I didn't have the challenge of needing to translate what I wanted into hand movements or explaining myself, or better yet using the native language I know. I know very little Germany and Italian but I know enough to get me by. Luckily there are those who speak basic English at bars and restaurants (which I don't always expect but they do anyway). I guess as much as I love seeing a global world where we can speak multiple languages in order to able to understand foreign customers to take their money easier, I do wish it wasn't the case sometimes. I came to Dresden because it's a small beautiful city on the way to Berlin, but here people are speaking English. But you see I could have used the German I know but I can't be bothered. I'm not a local, I'll look stupid. If I speak your language you'll expect more when I can't say anymore. Also it helps, like how Asians say "no English" and walk away with murder. I can do the same shit in Europe. I ordered at a little vegetarian cafe near the town and I knew what I wanted from reading the German menu on the list out the front. But I just went along and got the English menu so they knew I didn't speak any German. I still ordered the same thing I saw in the German menu out the front that I also saw in the English.
I got a mango dessert as well thinking it's just mangos and maybe a little something else on the side. No it was mango in a fuck load of cream. I've never needed to use the toilets in all or Europe so badly. I found free wifi near the hotel as well but it was slow and hardly worked anyway. When it came to the Hilton it was €9 just for the Internet. No way am I paying that much for 24 hours. I'm not even in Dresden for 24 hours! Like I paid $100, give me free Internet!
I decided to walk around the city, cross the river and then go to the hotel for a nap to go out later on.
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