Time off the bike: time with mom and mountains

The last time I wrote a post, over two weeks ago, I was getting ready to meet up with my mother in Prague. Why haven't I written since then? Has it been a lack of time? Internet access? Motivation? Things to write about?

I'd have to say that it was a combination of all of the above. When travelling with other people, I personally find it hard to make time to write. I felt bad enough that I was leaving my mom alone for an hour or so each day so that I could get in my daily run. And then there was the problem of go-get-a-coffee-while-you-wait-for-that-page-to-load slow internet access. Besides, without those hours of meditative time in the bike saddle, how was I going to come up with anything interesting to write?

I had heard that Prague was an amazing city, and a beautiful one at that; in this respect it didn't disappoint.

I had been nervous that the language barrier would present some new challenges. Up to that point, I had travelled only in countries where Germanic or Romance languages were spoken. Czech, a member of the Slavic language family, has little in common with English. Some "modern" words, such as "internet", etc, look similar, and it's not uncommon to be able to remove the "y" at the end of a word and figure out what it means. But as it turned out, Prague's old city has turned into such a tourist destination for Americans and Europeans that English on signs and menus is more common than any other city I've seen in Europe.

Announcements in the train station, are in Czech, English, and German, and people working at hotels and restaurants that we met were fluent in English. Not surprisingly, though, the prevalance of English is inversely proportional to one's distance from the tourist center of Prague.

What I didn't expect was how useful my knowledge of German would be during our 2-day excursion to Northern Bohemia.

In retrospect, it makes sense. It's a beautiful area near the German border, and German tourists flock to the area's trails to take in the scenery. The best part was that since German was also a second language for the people I was speaking to (at pensions, restaurants, etc.), I could actually understand them! They didn't speak too fast, their vocabulary was no more extensive than mine, and good times were had by all. Hooray for those years of German classes in high school!

Prague's tourist area is gorgeous, old, perfectly clean, and feels very quaint. The roads are confusing (a map is a must), which adds to the charm as long as you aren't in a hurry to get anywhere.

Not surprisingly, though, the areas further away from this center, feel a bit rougher. Plain-looking apartment buildings, graffiti, and run-down neighborhoods become the standard. Smiles seem to be more rare, parks less-attractive, and the streets emptier than other European cities.

The train ride to northern Bohemia (we spent a night in Decin, and another in Litomerice) was both beautiful and a little sad. The train ran along a river through beautiful green hills, but for every quaint building we saw, it was matched by a run-down Soviet-era factory or building. In no other country that I've been to have I seen so many industrial sites in the middle of otherwise-beautiful countryside. Another interesting anomaly is the prevalance of above-ground water pipes in some areas, looking something like this. It seems that during the Soviet era it was preferred to put the pipes above ground rather than tear up roads.

Perhaps the most disappointing part of the Czech Republic was the theft of my mother's wallet on the second-to-last day of our stay in Prague while she was travelling by Metro (I happened to be making the same trip at that time, but on my bicycle). On the down side, she lost cash totalling about $200 USD. On the plus side, she still had her passport and a daughter willing and able to serve as her personal ATM/credit card for the remainder of her stay.

On Monday July 6 my mother headed back to Boston and I boarded a train back to my home-away-from-home in Freiburg, Germany. Unfortunately, not all German trains allow bikes to be carried (in contrast, they are welcome on all Czech trains). Especially disappointing is that the fastest trains, known as "ICE", or Inter-City Express trains, do not carry bicycles. Instead, cyclists must rely on slower, and in some cases, less frequent regional trains to travel across Germany.

As a result of this, instead of the Prague-to-Freiburg trip taking 9 hours, it required 15 hours and 5 different train rides. Fortunately, trains and train stations in Germany are comfortable and can provide endless eating and reading opportunities (I even picked up a book in English in Karlsruhe). I'm also lucky that I had learned my way around Freiburg from May 5-8 well enough that I could navigate my way to Ralph and Susann's apartment when I arrived at midnight on July 6!

During the next two days I recovered from the Prague trip (that is, did laundry), went with Uta to my first German climbing gym, and prepared for the next few trips: July 9 I would travel to Stuttgart to meet with my friend Jenny who I had studied with in Granada, and July 10-16 were reserved for 2 climbing trips in the Swiss Alps.

The plan was to return to Freiburg the evening of the 16th and take off on the morning of the 17th, which meant that I had to have my bike and other gear packed as much as possible.

As it turned out, the weather for Wednesday the 15th wasn't looking so good, so we rearranged plans so that we would attempt the Nadelhorn (a 2-3 day trip) instead of Finsteraarhorn (a four-day climb) for our second trip. Although we were all disappointed that we wouldn't be able to attempt Finsteraarhorn, the Nadelhorn turned out to be a fun challenge and had the added benefit that Uta would be back in Freiburg to celebrate her boyfriend's birthday with him. And of course, I would have an extra day to pack and prepare for my return to Seattle.

Long story short, the trip to the Alps was great. Ever since my hiking trip to the Alps last summer, I had looked forward to returning with ice axe, crampons, proper boots, and climbing partners that would make a trip to the top of some of these mountains possible. A special thanks to Uta for organizing both trips. I wouldn't have been able to do these mountains without her work!

Yesterday I returned once again to Freiburg, this time to heat and humidity that I hadn't believed possible in Germany, despite the claims of the locals. Today was a pretty relaxed day of running, cleaning, hanging out with Uta for a bit, packing, souvenir- and postcard-shopping and generally wandering around Freiburg. If you're ever in Freiburg, I highly recommend taking the S-Bahn into the town center and then running on the trails in the Schlossberg. After an hour and forty-five minutes of running, there were still plenty of trails that I hadn't explored!

Which brings me to 9:24 p.m. in the internet cafe across the street from the S-Bahn stop. In 8 hours I'll be taking that S-Bahn to the train station, and after 24 hours of various forms of transportation, I'll be back in the United States. Am I excited to return home? Absolutely! Will I miss Europe? Yes. Ten weeks on a different continent is a unique experience. Thank you, Microsoft, for helping make this trip happen... even if that wasn't the intent on January 22.

What's next?

Stay tuned... I'll let you know when I find out!