Oh boy...

It was a difficult decision to leave Prague. The city was nice, and I had actually stared to make friends at the Hostel. My last night there I had drinks with an two Australians, a Californian, and a pretty English girl, and were able to trade advice and war stories, including my trip into Berlin. It was a real nice time where I felt very comfortable. Most of the hostels (Jugandherberge) in Germany are filled with school age kids of band or sports, and run around all day, sometimes in the hundreds. Even right now there are many kids running up and down the halls, leaving me isolated, and somewhat annoyed. Supervision seems to be minimal.

But I left Prague nonetheless. I can say, for sure, that Prague is very difficult for cycling. There are few bicycle amenities; pedestrian, bus, automobile, and rail cars are in the streets. There are few traffic signals, which makes things even more dangerous as people don't seem to stop at intersections. The cobblestone streets and and especially imbed tram tracks seem are epically hazardous for bike wheels, and I often had the choice between riding between tram rails, in the door zone, or on the sidewalk which was busy with pedestrians and cafes. I've ridden in New York City, but that was easy compared to Prague. It was the first city where I decided it was too unsafe to ride, and walked the bike on the sidewalk. There were not many other bicyclists on the streets. Once out of the city, things cleared up, and my GPS did a good job on keeping me on track. I was following Google's “walking” directions as the “cycling” directions were not available. Although the route was very direct (nearly a strait line as viewed on a map) there were a bunch of dirt roads and unpaved paths that would have been difficult on a road bike. There were a few areas of muddy or overgrown tractor paths that I refused to do, and was sometimes able to find suitable roads that ran aside to the recommended path.

The bigger story heading back to Germany was hills and rain. It occurred to me that of the month I've been here I've only had two days that did not need my rain jacket while riding. I received flood advisories on my cell phone, and indeed, creeks and rivers seemed high. The terrain back into Germany was not steep like the way in, but a continuous gradual incline slowed me down and it took me four days to complete the 160 miles (I thought this may take me two days, maybe three).

Also slowing me down was the Pilsner Brewery, which I happened across nearly by accident on Google's walking path. On recommendation from a friend, and looking for refuge from the rain, I had lunch and took the brewery tour. The Pilsner brewery, located in Pilzen CZ, originated the Pilsner style beer. The tour was somewhat unimpressive and acted more of a history lesson of the old techniques and equipment that's all been retired for the newer, stainless tanks and computer control. Most impressive was the 9km of underground tunnels that were hand dug to house fermentation vessels. This was necessary to keep the fermenting beer at a cool temperature, and had a continuous flow of cold water from melting ice that ran from the high point to the low point in the tunnel system. The tour guide, which was in English, was unable to answer basic questions about the business or specifics of the brewing processes. I had a few bottles over the next couple days, and its safe to say I generally ran on pilsner and goulash in the cold wet weather.

There is something about the rain that is physically and mentally demanding. My front light quit in the rain, and I had problems with my brakes in the wet weather. My thermos came in handy again. I refused to camp and needed warm shower, good meal, and a place to sleep. Another surprise came on May 28^th which is major German holiday. All the stores and services I came across were closed, and after missing lunch and running on a half bag of pretzels, I got pretty desperate. I was lucky enough to run across a hotel keeper who opened for me. I was the only guest in the place in the otherwise dark hallways and vacant reception area. She even opened the kitchen, reheated some soup and salad (which was the first salad I've had in a month) that put me to sleep for the next 11 hours. It was more expensive then I would have liked, with chocolate on the pillow and toilet paper folded into a point, but I was desperate for a place and happy to make a deal.

The rest of the way into Nuremberg was an easy and short ride of about 40 miles. I was able to find and check into the Hostel no problem, once again has kids were running around outside as I pulled up. The Hostel is one of the nicer one's I've stayed at. It's a refurbished carriage house to the neighboring Castle and has been well decorated and appointed. I took a brief walk around the castle, that has some pretty amazing history dating back to the Roman empire. But it was Friday night, and I was hungry from riding and wanted to relax a little, so went into the city to get some cheep eats and maybe find a good, beer swinging, jovial German Beer hall. Another reoccurring theme over the past few days has been “boy, that food made me hungry.” I never found the beer hall, but I did get my wallet stolen. Yeay. I'm as much surprised as much as I am impressed that it would find its way out of my pocket with such ease; and in Germany of all places. People hardly lock their bikes here... this isn't Agrabah. I was able to cancel all cards quickly enough, but more importantly I lost all my cards and spent most of today arranging rush international shipments of replacement cards. The people at the hostel have been very helpful in printing and faxing documents, and I've otherwise been on the phone or internet all day trying to make repairs. As such, I never really got out to see the city's sites, but could add a few names to the war trials. In retrospect, I guess it's good that I did not catch and confront the thief, or get outright mugged. Still, everything down to my phone was on the cards I canceled, and I'll have to stretch my emergency funds by camping the next few days until new cards can me mailed to the next hostel that I'll be staying.

This is the first real problem I've had when traveling, and again is weighing down the whole experience. After coming to the city looking for rest, refuge, and maybe a little fun, I'm somewhat disgusted and looking forward to packing up and moving on. It's becomes a challenge to relax when problems are constant and compounding. Handling climate is enough, dealing with people that mean you harm adds a whole new level of BS to deal with. Hopefully these issues are sequential and manageable. Although I did a very through job with internet, identity, equipment choice, training, health vaccinations etc etc etc, I guess I got caught not being careful with my belongs. I was going to get rid on one of the two bike locks I've been carrying, but I think I'll keep both after all.