Descent of Speed

I spent the last couple of days of my trip in London.  Marcus was leaving London on Tuesday, so we travelled together from Eastbourne on Monday. Neither of us were in a hurry, so we took our time. We pulled into London early Monday evening, where both of took a nap before heading out to find some dinner. We went to a pub called Alberts that apparently many lawmakers go to as the pub has a bell to call them to vote!

We got up early Tuesday for a quick breakfast before seeing Marcus off at the bus station. My original plan for the day was to wander around, maybe take in a museum. But after the short walk to dinner last night, my ankle had swollen up a bit. I decided the best thing to do would be to stay of the ankle as much as possible. So I went back to the hotel for a while.

I went off to Leicester Square for lunch and to get a discounted ticket to a play. It has always bugged me that the official ticket counter doesn’t have much information on the shows. They do have a brochure that lists the shows and which theatre they are in. The brochure usually has a ad for the show, and the writer, but generally doesn’t describe what the show is about.

By the time I finished lunch, and decided on a show, the weather was improving and the sun was out, so I decided to head over to Hyde Park. My plan was to rent a lounge chair and read a book for the afternoon. Figured this would be a good way to stay off my ankle. By the time I got to Hyde Park the sun had disappeared behind the clouds, and they were threatening rain.

I decided to find a movie theatre and watch a movie. It was raining when I got out of the tube, so I figured it was a good idea. I got a soda and wanted to get a couple of Kit Kats. I was told they were only available on a promotion (buy a soda and popcorn, get a Kit Kat for free.) I asked if I could buy one, and the cashier said they would be like 5 pounds each!

Apparently the weather changes fairly quickly, it was sunny and warm when I got out of the theatre, and there was no sign that it had rained earlier.  It was getting late, so I headed back to the hotel for a short rest before I had to go to the play.

I went and saw Calendar Girls. A play about a small Woman’s Club that decided they would pose naked for a calendar, to raise money for cancer research. The play is based on a true story, and was supposed to be a comedy. It seemed to be a cross between a comedy and a drama. It was actually one of only two shows being marketed as a comedy, and I’d seen the other one last year.

After the show I stopped at a Pizza Express for my last European Pizza. I ordered the “Americana Pizza” which was a pepperoni pizza. The claim is it is choke full of pepperonis. There was like 15 slices on the pizza, not quite a pepperoni lover’s pizza. But it is difficult to get a pepperoni or salami pizza in Europe. They want to put weird ingredients on them like artichokes.

Usually when I am in London I walk everyone. Although it is easy to get around by the underground, you see less, and it isn’t always faster. But with my sprained ankle, I figured it was the best thing to do. A one way ticket costs four pounds, but an off-peak all day ticket is only 5.20 (or 5.40 I don’t quite remember.) And off-peak is defined as anytime after 9:30 am!

I haven’t been doing a very good job of keeping up on the blog. In Prague I was usually out late, and just came back and hit the sack.
We started off in Kazokov, the location of our latest race. We found some locals who had a large van, and offered us a ride to the train station. They were going home via Turnov, but I thought we needed to go to Semily. Semily is only about 20 kilometers away, so they said no problem. When we got to Semily, we found the fastest way to Prague was to take the train to Turnov and switch to another train!
I already had a hotel room in Prague, but Will and Kolby, the two guys I was travelling with didn’t. They had come through Prague on the way to Kazokov, and had found a place right across the street from the train station. I thought my hotel was within walking distance, so I headed off. I made the wrong turn, and knew I was on the wrong street. I stopped at another hotel, and they gave me directions. Recommending I continue down the street and make a left. The street I was on, the street I should have been on, and the street I ended up taking a left on formed a triangle, so I took the long way to my hotel.
I finally got to my hotel, after about a half hour, of dragging my four heavy bags. I stepped into the hotel, and said they had a room for me, at least I hoped they did because I was done walking. I was tired, and hungry. I just wanted to drop my stuff off, and head back to find Will and Kolby for a late lunch. Well I was informed there was an accident and they were going to move me to another hotel. The hotel is supposed to be nicer, and was only two blocks away. But they would call me a taxi. When they showed me where it was on the map, I was ready to walk it. I really didn’t want to wait the 10-15 minutes for a cab.
After dropping my bags off and the new hotel, I hooked up with the Canadians and then we went and had a late lunch. Kolby and I walked around a bit and saw a few of the sites, and hung out and enjoyed the breeze on the Charles Bridge. As it got later, none of us were extremely hungry for dinner, but I did want something light. But first we decided to call one of the locals that we met at Kozakov. We were supposed to hook up with some of the other riders, but hadn’t heard from them. Turns out they were all with the locals. After grabbing a quick donner, we hopped on the subway to meet up with everyone. They were hanging out at an outdoor bar overlooking the city. It was an amazing view of the city, and an awesome way to spend the evening. The bar closes early, so we walked back into two looking for another pub.
We passed one pub that was supposedly expensive. But they took us inside, to check it out. From the outside, it looks like a very small pub. There are two or three tables, and a bar, and that’s it. But you go into the back, and downstairs and the pub takes up the basement of like three buildings. It was enormous, with nooks and crannies all over.
But the beer was expensive, so off we went, to a pub near my hotel. As we approached the pub, the door was closed and locked! I was planning on walking with the guys to the pub, then head to my hotel. Everyone decided they didn’t really need any more beer, so we split up and went our separate ways.
My plan for Prague was to rest. I woke up early enough to have breakfast, and then I went back to bed. I finally got up just after noon, and decided it was time to head out and do something. We didn’t do much, had some lunch and visited a few skate shops. Kolby was looking for a shirt that he saw at the race. The clothes at the skate shops were more expensive that I expected. My shorts were too big for me, so I thought about getting some new ones. But the shorts at the skate shop were $45 or more! I only spent $10 on the pair I was wearing, so I figured I’d wait till I got back home.
We were supposed to meet everyone else at 6:00pm, at the outdoor pub. We got there about 7, and couldn’t find them. Turns out they were eating dinner on another hill, we decided we would meet up at a bar around 10. So we got some sausages from an outdoor vendor, and dinner with another rider we randomly met in the park!
At 10pm, they told us to meet at a subway station, so off we went in search of a subway. Turns out the station we were supposed to meet them at, was about the same distance from the outdoor pub as the station we walked to was! When we got to the station they texted saying we would be late, and to ask someone for directions. Well it feels awkward asking for directions in a language people might not know. So we took off in a direction, and miraculously found the bar! The bar was pretty cool. There are all of these motors (car motors and stuff) hanging from the ceiling, with moving parts (hooked up to windshield wiper motors) with circuit boards hanging on the walls. It was a pretty crazy bar. One room had a “second” story, about 6 feet high. Gotta be careful standing up, or you’d bang your head on the ceiling.
The Canadians had to take off for England the next day (a long 24 hour train ride) so I slept in late again. I didn’t do a whole lot, walked around the city a bit. I ended up running into another set of riders in the Old Town.
Prague is a really beautiful town. Unfortunately it is also full of tourists. But it was a great city to relax in. You have to be careful though, some restaurants are cheap, but some are very expensive, looking for the tourists dollars.

I flew back from Athens to Vienna. I got a hotel room across from Sudbahnhof in early evening. There was a large pedestrian mall around the corner, but most of the shops were closed. I had hoped to grab dinner and perhaps check out a movie, as it was too late to do any site seeing. Unfortunately the movies were all dubbed. It was lightly raining as I ate dinner, outside, under a canopy. After I finished dinner, I got another coke, and sat there reading my book, figuring I had nothing else to do. Unfortunately I waited a bit too long, and it started to pour pretty hard. I tried to wait out the downpour, but it didn’t seem to want to let up. Fortunately I was right next to the subway. I hopped on the subway for one stop. The subway was still down the street from my hotel, but staying near the building I stayed relatively dry until I got to the intersection. The rain had let up a bit, although it was still fairly heavy, but the street was literally a small river! I made it almost back to my hotel, and my feet were going to get soaked, within sight of my hotel!

The next morning I got to the train station about an hour early, I needed to get my luggage from the lockers. I had to take some of the items from my large bag out of the bag, because the locker was smaller than the bag (but it was deeper, so everything fit in the locker.) I grabbed that bag first, and repacked it. Then I went to get my luge, and I was unable to retrieve it! I put the luge into the locker at 10:20am, and it was now 10:30am, 5 days later. The lockers have a 5 day limit. I had to go find security to have them open the locker for me.

I needed to switch trains halfway from Vienna to Kozakov. For the most part, we’ve been pretty lucky with transfers. A good portion of our trips started and ended at the beginning and end of the line, or there was a decent gap in between.  When my train stopped in Pardibuce it was going to stop for one minute! I practically threw my luggage out the door.

I had enough time to grab a sandwich. About twenty minutes before my train was going to leave I decided to head out to the platform. I noticed a train was already there. This could be my train, or it could be a train before mine. It looked like it was my train, but I asked a conductor. The lady was standing near the end of the train, and asked if I was going to the final destination. I wasn’t, but I was going close enough, so I said yes. She pointed in the direction of the train. I wasn’t sure if she meant to go to the front of the train, or that this was the train.

I got on the first car that had a bike on the side (these have more space for my luge.) A few minutes after the train left, the conductor came through, rambling something off in Czech. I told her I was going to Semily, and she motioned that I needed to go further up, and then she walked through to the next car. I wanted to see where I needed to go, so I followed her into the next car. She motioned that I needed to go to the next car, but I would have to go outside, as there was no throughway from the current car to the next. I decided to move my bags closer, so when the train did stop I would just have to toss then off, then back on.

I went and grabbed my two small bags and brought them forward. On the way back to grab my luge, I noticed the train was stopping! The train was stopped by the time I reached my luge. I tossed my luge, and my large back outside. The platform here was hard back dirt that was about 3 feet wide. I grabbed my two bags and started to run the length of the cars. The whole time I am worried I’d get on the train, and leave my backpack on the other train. I had to pass by a light pole, which was in the center of the platform. Of course I had less than 2 feet of room, and both my bags weren’t going to make it. My luge slipped off the platform. I didn’t have time to right it, so I continued to run, letting my luge drag along the platform. As I approached the other car, I noticed someone detaching the two cars. I threw my bags on the train, then ran back to grab my two small bags, which were a little closer. As soon as I got my bags on the other train, it shut its doors and was one its way! The conductor was kind enough to hold the train for me, but it sure would have been easier to get on the right train in the first place!                                                                                                                

Athens is an interesting place. There are thousand year old ruins, and 500 year old churches. Yet it seems like the rest of the buildings were built 50 years ago. It isn’t that everything else is modern, just not old (and not even in a relative sense) and they look pretty much the same. Unlike most European cities there is no old town. I guess they just kept rebuilding.

Friday I visited most of the outdoor ruins including the Acropolis. There used to be a museum on top of the hill, but as of June they opened the New Acropolis Museum down the hill. Until the end of the year entry is only a single Euro. The museum is large, but doesn’t have a ton of exhibits. It is worth going to. The top floor of the museum is devoted to the frieze from the Parthenon (or what is left of it in Greece.)

Saturday I headed out to the beach. Most of the beach is private, or at least you have to pay to use it. I crashed on a nice public beach for the day. For lunch I found a place called Goodys, which is a fast food place.  I decided to check out the hamburger. The menu said it was a Greek burger. While the burger tasted good, it had a strange cheese on it. I don’t think it was blue cheese, but it had similar consistency.

Sunday I hit a couple of museums. The Byzantine museum was pretty nice, but relatively small. I think it is going through some renovations. The National Archeological Museum is enormous. Unfortunately it seems to have three things, clay vases, marble sculptures, and some Bronze Age stuff. That is a bit of an understatement, but really how many marble busts can you look at? I did enjoy the museum, for example they had a small exhibit on clay toys. I just wish there was a bit more of that, and less of the endless rooms of clay jars.

There are a lot of pedestrian only streets. One, near my hotel is a shopping district. But the best ones are at the bottom of the Sacred Rock. In the evening there are busters and others out selling their wares. There are plenty of restaurants with an amazing view of the Acropolis. I recommend having dinner at night, with a view of the Acropolis, at least once.

My hotel, the Attalos, is a fairly inexpensive hotel. It claims it is a class “C” hotel. And yet it has the coolest amenity, a rooftop bar. It has a perfect view of the Acropolis. I can’t see any other rooftop bars, although I know there are a few on the other side of the hill. The rooftop bar alone almost makes the stay worth it. Throw in a decent location, and nice rooms, it is definitely a winner.

The bar is closing, time for me to finish my soda and head out.

After a long day and night of travel I made it to Greece. I left on the night train from Venice heading to Vienna. The train was hot, but we had a cool breeze coming in through the small window, until the people on the bunk below me decided to shut the blinds.

I got to Vienna at 8:30, at the West train station, and decided to take my luggage to the south station (where I’ll leave for Prague in a few days.) The lady at the info counter said take tram 18 10 stops. 10 stops into the trip, it didn’t look right. So I got off at stop 11 (or did I miss count?) There was no train station in sight, but fortunately there was a Ubahn stop, which had a map. It indicated I was near the train station. About a half hour later, I got to the train station, shoulders sore from dragging my bags. And discovered that 18 does indeed stop in front of the station!

Sudbahnhof only has 24 hour lockers. Lost and found informed me I could leave my bags there for 5 days. I hope my bags are still there when I get back!

I was a little worried about making my flight. Fortunately the airport bus showed up a few minutes after I got to the bus stop, and it was only about 20 minutes to the airport.

Going through security I forgot to take my liquids out (even though I had already placed them in a Ziploc) Security pulled my bag aside, and asked if I had liquids. I took my toiletry bag out, and showed them the Ziploc. They also took a look at my deodorant. She took the deodorant over to someone else, discussed it (hmmm I hope it was over whether or not it is a liquid, and not my personal taste?) and placed it into the Ziploc bag. I’m thinking they would re x-ray it, but instead she hands me the Ziploc bag, and sends me on the way. I guess they are afraid it will spill?

I did my research, and figured out how to get from the airport to my hotel. Take metro line 3, it stops about a block from my hotel. 6 euros, simple, easy, cheap. Well I thought so, until I got to the airport and discovered that the metro is out of commission until the end of the month! I had to take the bus, which stops one stop short of where I expected to be. It wasn’t so bad, just a simple walk through the pedestrian streets to my hotel.

I spent a couple hours wandering around Athens. I visited the old ruins of the Zeus Temple. There are 16 columns remaining (and ONLY 16 columns) one of which fell over about 150 years ago. What happened to the rest of the temple? And why those 16? There are 13 in one corner, and three individual ones in the other corner. Seems a little odd.  There was also a few foundations in the area, and lots of marble. Hard to tell what marble was there before, and what is “new.”

Right now I am sitting on the roof of my hotel, checking out the Parthenon in the distance. I can barely see it. I guess some nights it is lit up, but not tonight. At least the weather is nice and cool. I’ll head up there tomorrow.

Go figure… As I was sitting up on the roof, I kept seeing flashes of light at the Acroplois. Obviously people are up in there taking pictures. Apparently on the day of the full moon in August admission is free, and is open late. Only one day a year, and I find out about it a few hours too late!

You are in a maze of twisty little passages, all alike.

The last thing you see on the mainland, as you approach Venice is a large oil refinery. As you get closer to the island you see an enormous car park, a large cruise ship port, and an enormous bus station. My first thought was, this was going to be terrible. But then you cross the bridge, over the Grand Canal, and enter another world.

I was dropped off at the bus station. I knew where my hotel was in relation to the train station, but had no clue where the train station was in relation to the bus station. I found this bridge that said no bags over 20 kilos. I wasn’t sure what to do, so I lugged my bags across the street to the info office. Turns out the train station is a short walk away, on the other side of that bridge. I told the lady I had two large bags. She said no problem, everyone takes luggage over it. So off I went.

The bridge is one of four bridges over the Grand Canal, and is the easiest to traverse. All of the bridges have steps up and down them, but the ones at this bridge are fairly short, about 4 inches tall. My luge rolled up the stairs easily, but I had to lift my large bag up each step. I took a step, lift the bag, take a step lift the bag. About half way up, some random stranger gave me hand, even though I told him it was HEAVY.

Venice in early August is warm and humid. I was covered in sweat by the time I made it the short distance to the train station. I decided to leave my bags at the station. The hotel wasn’t too much further, but I was done dragging to large heavy bags.

I got to the hotel before Furlong. Fortunately I had no problem getting registered and into the room. I had been hoping the room had AC. It didn’t, but it did have a fan. I turned the fan on, turn the oscillation off, and plopped down in front of the fan. Furlong found me like that about a half hour later. I had to get up and let him plop down in front of the fan as well.

Once we both cooled off we ventured out into another world. On the other side of the Grand Canal, there are no vehicles. Everything is transported by boat, and the by hand trolley.  And with the canals criss crossing the island, it isn’t far to most places by boat. The easiest way to get around is to meander through the many passages. Which of course look very much a like.

There is a main thoroughfare connecting the train station, the Rialto and San Marcos Piazza, the main tourist attractions on the island. Some of it is lined with souvenir stands and restaurants. As you get closer to the Piazza there are a lot of high rent stores, Dolce, D&G, Guess, even a Disney Store. Although it is a main thoroughfare, there are times when it appears to be a narrow alleyway. You can recognize it by the number of people going to and fro. But get off the beaten track and it is easy to get lost.

Well you can’t really get lost. There aren’t many dead ends, and eventually you’ll come to once side of the island or another. But we did manage to take a bit longer to get to where we wanted to go a few times, but I expected we saw a bit more of than island that many people do.

The biggest problem with Venice is the number of tourists. There are way too many, in fact, as far as I can tell Venice is only for the tourists, and maybe some shopping. There isn’t much else there. You can easily see the best of Venice in a day. I spent two days there, and it was one day too many.

Sure a gondola ride might be romantic (I don’t know, I didn’t take one) but that will be about the only romantic thing on your trip, as I never saw any romantic eateries (although I guess sitting at a sidewalk café can be romantic) I think there are a more romantic getaways you can go to. Stop here for a day or two, get your gondola ride, then go somewhere else.