Saturday, 29.03.08, 7:51 a.m., Bus en route to Bratislava, Slovakia Part I

I didn't write for an entire day for good reason! I just wasn't around. I walked until my feet gave out and spent the better part of yesterday in Wenceslas Square in Prague's new town. Oddly enough, my surname, Fencl, is an abbreviation for Wenceslas. Fencl Square? Anyway, my goal was to go to the museum of Communism, which was incredible. After that, I went into the Czech National Museum before heading back to recharge my batteries at the hostel, where I randomly met two new friends---Alix and Hanna. But first, a bit of back story:

After writing the previous entry, I get into the shower, which is one of those bizarre showers with no mounted head, but rather the hose-like nozzle that detaches. It was more like hosing down than showering. Not a fan. So I get dressed, walk into my room and Alix is there. She is a student from Minnesota by-way-of North Dakota. She and her friend Hanna are studying abroad in Ireland and are on spring break. She is really into music and we had a lot to discuss. We sat like little kids on our bunk beds talking across the room and trying not to freak out too much about how cool it was that we met and were swapping stories about seeing Explosions in the Sky live. I am so envious that she got to see Phil Elverum! Yes, THE Elverum of Microphones/ Mount Eerie fame. She also does music of her own. (Ed.--Excellent tunes! check them out here)

That night, (this is still the 26th) we decided to go to a pub down the street from our hostel, which is completely shitty, but that is beside the point! We cannot sleep in our own dorm room because of the three middle aged men who snore so loudly that they collectively sound like Darth Vader with walking Pneumonia. Basically, it got so bad at night that sleep was just not worth it.

Alix is such a cool person. She studies Environmental Science at school and also wants to work for NGOs in D.C. (Ed.---I hope to move to D.C. by the end of the summer). We discuss a musical collaboration, which we hope to get underway when she returns to the States. I mean, when two people share the same musical loves and become such fast friends like us, it is a no brainier!

Then out of nowhere, these two guys appeared. Both were kind of creepy, and they started talking to us. Their English was kind of broken, and they made Alix uncomfortable by playing with her hair. The one is relatively normal in appearance, but the other resembles a sort of Che Guevara poseur in that he sported a tan leather beret and a red leather military jacket. He was very pseudo-guerrilla. He kept saying, "I am psychic! I AM psychic!" So far gone...

I tried to distract them by asking where they were from. In their slurry, drunken haze, they said that they were from Zurich but were originally from Tel Aviv. When I expressed an interest saying that I wanted to visit the beaches of Tel Aviv, they made plenty of recommendations and gave me their business card for a vegetarian restaurant that they own in Zurich. All the while, Alix and I kept making eye contact to figure out how we would make our get away. We eventually said that we had to get some air, but would be back. We ended up going back to the hostel and talked more music. I think that I actually slept that night because I was so tired. I couldn't even move my feet.

The next morning, I woke up a bit later and talked to Alix and Hanna. Then I was off to the Communist Museum to see Uncle Karl and Vlad L. Like most places in Prague, it was quite difficult to find. I actually ducked into a McDonalds to see if it would be any better with fresher grass-fed beef, but it wasn't. Same old shit. I hate McDonalds. I hate what it has done to the global economy and I eat it once a year usually. They should put surgeon general warnings on Big Macs or "Royale" burgers (quarter pounder) like they do on cartons of cigarettes.

Apparently, the museum was on the other side of the McDonalds, so I was in luck. I loved this museum. it was a cluster of rarities, commonplace items, and all things bizarre during the nearly 70-year existence of the Czechoslovak SSR (CSSR). Murals of worker hero worship, Lenin, and Marx were plenty. I especially loved the film screening where they showed the Velvet Uprising of 1989. It was intense to think that 30 minutes prior, I was in Wenceslas Square where it all happened and even stranger yet that the revolution occurred within my lifetime. After, I visited the National Museum and it was not as cool as I thought it was going to be.

Thursday, 27.03.08, 7:23 p.m., Prague, CZ, recap of happenings

The past two days have been a blur. I have spent most of my time here with Gennelle and Jean, my two newest and coolest friends. I am so glad that we met, and in such a random way! Always the best. It is moments like this when I live to travel independently because I always meet such great people who are a match of like minds. It is unfortunate that things had to be cut short. Gennelle and Jean left a little while ago to catch a train to Krakow. I wished so badly that I could have gone with them, but I have plans to trek off to Slovakia in a couple of days. I should have canceled my plans to Bratislava. Now I am all by my lonesome again. I suppose this comes with the territory and I have never been good with goodbyes, especially when there is a real connection.

So here has been Prague through my eyes, as of late:

After our train *finally* arrived, around 4 p.m. yesterday, we all changed some money and quickly looked for the metro line to get out of the train station. The language barrier was more apparent here and there were few English speakers to turn to for assistance. Finally, an old guy randomly stopped and directed us to the ticket kiosks so we could get on the red line and transfer to the yellow line (our hostels were only three stops away from each other and on the same route). He must have seen a chance to practice English and seized the opportunity. I don't know why---I find Czech to be infinitely more interesting than English.

My stop was just before Gennelle and Jean's, so we parted ways and I told them that I would find their hostel so we could meet up for dinner and drinks in the evening. My directions to the hostel are decent, but I kept getting turned around. Prague is a difficult city to navigate, despite its compact feel. Maps do not do much justice, as there is no rhyme or reason to any of the streets. Everything is a labyrinth of tightly-packed cobblestone streets, Hapsburg-era architecture, and cherry colored trams. So I kept getting turned around, but didn't mind in the least. The street leading to my hostel is lovely. The epitome of old world charm.

I made it to my hostel without too many navigating issues, but it took FOREVER to check-in because the person at the front desk was a newbie. I paid in Euros because I did not have enough Crowns to complete the transaction and did not want to venture back out to find an ATM. Then, she has NO KEY for me! So she decided to walk with me to the room, which is up five flights of stairs in a very old building, which looks nice from the outside, but is complete shit otherwise. The staircase was dank and drafty. I was in room # 45. Three middle-aged Mexican men had just checked in and the older one gave me his key. We chat for a bit and they tell me that they are from Baja California, just south of San Diego. I quickly unrolled my sleeping bag onto the bed because the sheets were questionable. Plus, I had to figure out how to get to where Gennelle and Jean were staying. The oldest man, whose name I forget sadly, showed me his Indiana Jones-esque fedora, which was decorated with pins from his travels. We had a little exchange about Salzburg. I told him that it is the last stop on the trip for me. After the small talk, I shoved my pack and messenger bag into the tiny security locker, said bye to the guys, and hit the streets.

I was in such a rush that I didn't even time stamp my metro ticket (oops...) because I didn't want to miss Jean and Gennelle. I got turned around a few times and couldn't find the hostel, even after following the signs to it. I saw where I made my error, and had to walk up a flight of stairs that were iron and rusting. From the top, the hostel was in front of me. So I head to the check-in counter and ask for their room. The guy said that they were ACROSS the street in the other part of the hostel and that I had to be buzzed in. Great. Could that have been any more of an ordeal?! I crossed the street, almost got hit by a Renault hatchback, and pressed the buzzer five or six times and still could not get in! Finally, the door opens, and I trek up a few flights of stairs until I see a sign for the reception. I opened the door and there they are! So we left their hostel, Aparcay, and walked for a couple of blocks to find a place for dinner.

I really like this area of Prague. Far from all of the ogling and wide-eyed tourists, this part is the real Prague. Hard factory workers driving home, more dilapidated homes that are side-by-side with renovation projects, and small pubs like the one we went to for dinner. If we were going to eat authentic Czech food and drink cheap beer, this was the place.

Although smoke-filled, it was perfect! A man stood in the corner playing pinball, bartender was tending to a couple of people who seemed to be "Cheers" style everyone-knows-your-name regulars, and a long table was set up for a large family or group of friends. I couldn't tell. Bohemian hockey was on the T.V. I think it was Prague versus Karlovy Vary. And then there was the three of us. The lone English speakers in the joint! It was refreshing.

We each had two rounds of Pilsner. Each half liter was just over a buck! Gennelle and I had beef goulash with massive dumplings for like, $4.50. It was unreal! Yes friends, this is the real Bohemia---Prague for the Praguers. We left completely satisfied and with money in our pockets for today's happenings. We decided to meet up the following day at the Franz Kafka Museum but ended up running into each other earlier in the day, so we went to Prague Castle as well. After leaving the restaurant, I walked back to the metro station and made it to the hostel around 10:30, 11ish. I was dead tired and thought that I could sleep restfully. Little did I know about the snoring from hell...

Wednesday, 26.03.08, 9:18 a.m., on a train en route to Prague, CZ

It is uncanny that the train I am riding on to my motherland is called "ALEX." It has to be a sign from Bedrick, Francicek, Pavel, or Zsusanna!

I am sitting in my compartment with a German student who is probably in her mid 20s and two Canadian students, Jean and Gennelle, who are on spring break from their studies at the University of Leeds. Jean is from Alberta and Gennelle is from Ontario. I immediately hit it off with them and we become fast friends. I just hope that they don't think that I am a creeper. When you are traveling independently, you have to put yourself out there---you have no alternative. I'm glad that I have some cool people to talk to because this ride is nearly seven hours in length...

Random aside, but I *loved* Germany. It was quite the pleasant surprise. I was not expecting it to be so charming and the people (at least in Bavaria) were delightful, fun-loving, and helpful. Germany will always be underrated because of 20th century stigmas, but make no mistake---it is charming! Munich reminded me of Montreal, except Germanic and flat as a pancake. Sitting on the train, movement is completely horizontal. The Bavarian countryside is slightly obnoxious in its lack of character. To put it into perspective, it is like central Ohio, Indiana, and Pennsylvania steam-rolled eight million times and decorated with centuries-old churches.
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2:30 p.m., Plzeň, CZ, en route to Prague, CZ

It has been an intense ride. Me, Gennelle, and Jean have passed the time by talking about pretty much everything, including celebrity family trees and who we would want in ours. "ALEX" crossed the Czech border about an hour ago. A surly woman who checked our tickets came to our cabin door and in a broken smattering of English, German, and Czech told us that we would arrive in Prague one hour later because of the snow in Bavaria, which was nothing compared to the snowstorm of biblical proportions that hit Cleveland right before I left for the tour.

Then another woman, even surlier than the one before, checked our tickets yet again and shouted at us in Czech about a train change. We had no idea how to take it, and her gestures made it seem like we should stay on "ALEX" because we were ticketed to Prague via this train. So we continue talking and don't realize that we are the only ones LEFT ON THE TRAIN! The same Bohemian woman comes over and shouts, "Večer! Večer! Večer!!!!" (Hurry! Hurry!)

So we haul ass off of "ALEX" and frantically search for our connecting train in the Plzeň train station and see the platform for "Praha" departing in TWO MINUTES. We barely make it onto this rinky dink cabin in time. I notice that the seats feel a little more comfortable than on "ALEX," even though it looks like it hasn't had any work done on it since the mid 70s. The SAME WOMAN comes to check tickets and yells at us AGAIN. Apparently, we are in first class, so we grab our gear and shuffle off to the second class cabin, which shitty and half of the size of our "ALEX" compartment. So now me, Gennelle, and Jean sit with a man who has uncontrollable nose hair, two German women, and a fat dude with greasy, slicked back hair and a trash stache. He blasts death metal through his iPod. The icing on the cake is his G-Unit hoodie, which is horribly out-of-place with his metal dude vibe. Threeish hours until Prague and we have this...

The west bohemian countryside is harsh. Intense, intense poverty.It is like Appalachia but worse. Shit strewn about outside of plywood shacks, bad graffiti, foreclosed homes, abandoned factories, bundles of freshly-chopped firewood, horses grazing beside piles of garbage, dead Skoda cars from the Czechoslovak era, and gray skies. This is heavy shit. You can see the economy in transition and how nearly a century of communism affected tens of thousands of people.

The forests are glimmers of freshness on a severely dilapidated terrain. Time to stop writing until Prague...it is hard to keep my pen steady on this rickety train!

Tuesday, 25.03.08, 10ish p.m., Munich, DE. Meditation at Dachau concentration camp

Another long day that dragged on and on because of the sleeplessness. I was in and out all night, waking up to inane drunk people talking loudly and dry heaving. Miraculously, I got up with my alarm at 7 and had breakfast with Liz and Meghan. We spent the morning in Marienplatz window shopping, looking for batteries, and watching the snow fall in the open air market. Even the snow falls gracefully here. The glockenspiel was stunning in the frost. We ended up killing some time in a nearby cafe before our tour was to depart for Dachau.

It is difficult to put such a place into words. Around 200,000 people from all walks of life were brought to Dachau and were expected to work until the bitter end. German intellectuals, Bohemian Jews, homosexuals, the unemployed, Roma (Gypsies), and basically all of those considered useless to the S.S. were stripped of any semblance of human dignity the second they were escorted past the front gate. I felt so fortunate to be standing within the camp gates so that I could make sense of it myself. Walking around, you could feel death in the air. It is like a massive graveyard for all of those without graves---for all who were not permitted to have graves because they were considered subhuman. It was also fitting that the temperature outside was 25F (~ -4C) and snowing. The winds were so brisk that I could feel my face chafing. A few hours in the bitter cold was a small sacrifice compared to all of the suffering that so many faced against their will.

I began to feel sick to my stomach when we walked inside one of the crematoriums, as well as the "showers." To witness where such cruelty against humans took place is very much like an out-of-body experience---the vestiges of an evil far greater than any of us.

It is wonderful that the Germans has preserved this site as a memorial to all of the fallen. It goes to show how they do not forget about their painful past, and nor should we. It is not just an issue of heinous torture that happened in a region-specific place, but rather a collective suffering that affects all of us. History keeps repeating itself, as evinced by Vietnam, Rwanda, Bosnia, Milosovec's Serbia, Armenia, and the current U.S. situation in Iraq. If we only learn one thing from Dachau it is that this cannot keep happening. We are the only humans that we know, and the differences in lifestyles among 6.6 billion people have to be acknowledged and tolerated (embraced if we are lucky). If not, we risk extinction by our own hands.

"Never again."

Never again.

Monday, 24.03.08, 10:29 p.m., Munich, DE, hostel bar

It has been an excellent first day. Wandered around Munich for most of the time, checked into my hostel, which is in a really good location and across from the train station. They had a free walking tour in the morning that I decided to go on. It was the biggest waste of time and I left within a half hour to do more exploring on my own. I can do without the hand holding and being talked down to, thank you. I have done my homework on European history and don't need the condescending attitude of the American tour guide. I do much better on my own and always have.

I got lost and wandered around old town, Marienplatz, for hours. The imposing glockenspiel is just as glorious as the photos would lead you to believe. Gothic and majestic. I walked inside the tunnel leading inside and took dozens of shots from just about every angle that you can imagine. It is so nuanced and is a bit much for the senses.

On another note, I love the public transport in Germany. It is immaculate! The trams are so soft that you can barely hear them glide through the city streets. No one checks tickets either. I met some lurpy, uninspiring guys from Atlanta at the hostel who I quickly left. They bored me to death and I have no time for dullards on this trip. I have enough of that in Cleveland.

Met a couple of nice women at the hostel who happened to be staying in my room. They are childhood friends taking a spring break trip together through Germany and Austria. Meghan goes to Dartmouth and studies art history and Liz attends Drexel and studies marketing/communications. I gave her my business card. networking is very cool, as is meeting like minds!

We chatted for a while and they invited me to go to the Hofbrauhaus with them, which is one of the most revered Bavarian beer halls in Munich. The walk from our hostel was a bit awkward, as we kept getting turned around, but we didn't mind. When we got there, the place was packed and so full of life. Families, couples, travelers, drunk buddies singing with their 2 liter steins of beer, and an old school oom pah band colored the room. We sat near the back and had a great time talking about random things and drinking Hofbrau beer, which is a lot like a lot of the Belgian white ales but not quite as crisp. I had a traditional wurst/sauerkraut/dumpling with beer and espresso. Hey, you have to have the Bavarian experience at some point! The apple strudel that we all ordered for dessert was divine. I took video of some inebriated dudes at the table in front of us, who became progressively louder in their singing. It was entertaining. After, we caught the tail end of the happy hour at our hostel bar and got pints for about 1 euro (~ $1.45ish). Not bad! Liz and Meghan leave for Salzburg tomorrow night and we are going to Dachau in the afternoon for a history lesson. It should be intense. Prague on Wednesday! I cannot contain myself.

Sunday, 23.03.08, 11:38 p.m., Flight en route to Munich, DE from Washington Dulles Int'l

I feel weary. I need sleep but I can't because I am so tired. This is what it feels like to be completely alone...I miss Jamie and her embraces. This trip is just as much hers as it is mine because she helped me work up the nerves to travel alone again. I miss my mom, dad, and Kali. They are the coolest family that anyone could ask for. I mean, they put up with my crazy, crazy wanderlust. I love making wanderlust reality. I live my dreams. Seven more hours and I will land in the old world. I hope that the weather will be clear so I can see the Alps...this is what it feels like to be completely alone.

And free.

I'm back (for now!)

Hi everyone,

I apologize for the lack of updates. I have been busy documenting the past two weeks in my notebook and am still making sense of the entries so I can begin to write essays/meditations/what have you from the tour. It went beautifully and I met many fantastic people along the way. I will be posting entries from my notebook throughout the next couple of weeks beginning right now! I just wanted to leave a little note to everyone (all five ha) who reads this blog that I am alive, more so than ever, and am excited to share my travels with all of you if you are interested in reading or are merely bored at work! Thanks and happy Monday (no musical pun intended).

Be seeing you,
Alex