A Little Adversity

To say things have unravelled quickly would be an understatement. Last night (Friday the 21st), within two hours, our weekend and post-weekend travel plans had completely evaporated and we were required to start back at square one. First: a call to Ralph to make sure we were still able to stay with him for the weekend and possibly into the early part of next week. Next: a text message saying he would be gone for three days, returning on Tuesday and that staying at his flat was no longer possible. Second: heading over to see Iveta's friend and pick-up the car that we would take to Germany and possibly elsewhere within Czech Republic. Next: a text message saying that when they went to try starting the car, it wouldn't start and that use of the car was no longer possible. The damage inflicted: no place to stay, and no way to get there. In other words: totally fucked. So we had to quickly figure things out. My friend from Nuremburg was going to meet us Sunday in Munich for Oktoberfest. We decide to look at hotels in Nuremburg and wind up finding one for two nights with breakfast for 100 euros. Not half bad. We looked online to find pricing of trains and found out we could get to Nuremburg one-way for 475 CZK or approx $35 USD. Good deal. So we had a place to stay and potentially quite affordable transportation. Things were turning around for us. In addition to that, instead of staying in Munich for a few days, we'd meet my friend in Nuremburg and ride to Munich on the train with him Sunday morning and spend all day taking in the festivities. Afterwards we'd head back to Nuremburg, sleep in the hotel, and leave the following morning for Bamberg (a small city to the north of Nuremburg) renown for brewing the best Rauchbier (smoke beer) on the planet. After spending two days and one night in Bamberg we'd head to Plzen and stay for a few days with a friend of Iveta's sister. So for now that's the plan. A loose plan but a plan nonetheless and an excellent plan salvaged from the wreckage of a previous plan that held so much promise. In reality, when we'd gone to the station to find out the real pricing of trains we initially found it to be much more. Much more being like 2000 CZK or $120 for two people one-way. After finding the buses to be equally less affordable we went back to the station to accept the fate and pay the price to ride the train. After Iveta spoke with the woman at the desk, she helped us a great deal by finding a way to cut the cost of travel in half! So here we are in Domazlice, nearing the German border and things are fine. Update when we get to Nuremburg. Tomorrow Munich with Tilman, Monday Bamberg, Tuesday Plzen? Sounds damn good to me :] Goodbye to summer and hello to autumn :]

Zach 09.22.2012

PS: Photos and entry about Oktoberfest to come at a later date...for now we'll be heading to Bamberg for the day and night, and then we're off to Plzen for a few days! Ciao!