Mellon Collie and the infinite sadness eventually fades - even though I listen to the last track about three times, just to float on that reverby spacey piano as I look around. The next choice was The Bends by Radiohead:
It's an album that sits in my iPod overlooked mostly, but every time I return to it, I remember how good it is. I didn't like that much of radio head after this. They got a bit experimental and forgot how to rock. I like what I hear of their new stuff, but The Bends just seems to be a more complete album, and the experimental guitars in it are just enough to keep it on edge.
The more of Liepzig I see, the more I realise I wasn't just unlucky when I was surrounded by building works.
After freezing my bollocks off writing postcards in a little park, I head along to the conference. It's got simultaneous translations in German, but only after I do my presentation. I suspect the Scottish accent may have been to much for them.
I head off at about 6pm to catch my train to the next leg of my November tour - Prague. This requires gettinga train from Leipzig to Dresden, and then Dresden to Prague. I leave the conference and kick straight into The Fragile:
It's a great album to be marching along the street to with heavy bags. Life doesn't seem so bad. You just worry that there's this manic look in your eye as you imagine you're Trent Reznor singing the lyrics.
I've left myself plenty of time to kill, so I can finally use the Deutsche bank in the station to buy stamps and post the postcards. After this, it's time to do as they do in Rome. Gluiwein:
Gluiwein stalls seem to be all over the streets here, and I get a cup for €1.50. They also sell something called Kreppelchen which seem to be deep fried balls of sweet pastry served with icing sugar. I stand and eat the local delicacies. The Gluiwein starts out disgusting, but once you get used to it it's a great warming winter drink. It would probably be described as being similar to mulled wine, but a closer comparison would be hot watered down buckfast.
It keeps me warm while I wait for the train. Soon, I'm trundling along to Drsden on one of Germany's best. Once the laptop is supplying me with entertainment and somewhere to distribute my travel thoughts, it's no time before I'm in Dresden. Now I realise why everyone got so excited about Leipzig station, because Dresden station is a dump. It couldn't have looked any worse in 1945. You actually have to climb through the building works to get to anywhere. I'm pretty glad I don't have to kill much time here.
The Dresden-Prague euro express arrives and I take my seat. This is a far different experience. This isn't the plush German trains that I've been on for the past few days. The Germans must save them for themselves. This looks much more like the grimey dirty trains from a country with a dodgy train infrastructure. It's actually making me homesick for the friday night Glasgow to Kilmarnock train I used to take home as a student. There's just less Glaswegian conversation. In fact the carriage is fair near empty.
When we cross the Polish border, we get the very serious looking Customs police. The only borders I've crossed in a train is Netherlands to Belgiium and Germany and Belgium to Paris. There's customs on the train, but they have never asked me for my passport. This time, I have 3 uniformed guys standing over me trying to work out find the 15 yr old kid in my passport under the aging years. They eventually realise it's me. Unfortunately they don't give me a stamp....... awwww. This European Union thing's playing havoc with the colourfulness of my passport.
I'm quite dissappointed(But not surprised) that it's dark outside. I don't mind missing German landscape(it doesn't feel that exotic), but I wouldn't mind getting a glimpse at what the Czech Republic looks like - still there's all weekend. All I do know is that we have travelled next to a river for quite some time, either that or we're travelling down the coast. Maybe I need to install an atlas on my powerbook.
Eventually, the train trundles into Prague Holesivce station. It's late, dark and every commuter seems as devoid of life as I am.
I get off, and realise it really is cold. Colder than Leipzig. Mowgli is there to greet me which picks me up, then it's off to catch the metro. As soon as we're on the metro, I really feel like I'm travelling again. The langauge can only be compared to Polish in it's otherwordly-ness, From a metro it's onto an old trundly tram to get to Mowgli's digs.
He stays on the north of town at the University where he's working. It's after 11pm now, so I dump my bags, and then we head back out for another tram to head into town and enjoy a Pilsner.
The Prague public transport system is pretty goo. I don't fancy our chances of public transport like this after midnight in Glasgow or Amsterdam.
We get off at Museum which is on Wenceslas Square. Immediately I see how beautiful prague is. The National Museum at the end of Wenceslas Square is the first thing I see:
From here we head down to a couple of Mowgli's locals. We start off in a bar in Lucerna Passage, which is one of Prague's Art Noveau arcades:
We barely have our first sip of beer before a very drunk Irishman joins us and starts to drunkenly talk about music. He tells us that he's obsessed with a scottish band who had two hit singles in the early nineties, had black and white arty videos and who he listened to when he was camping in Munich in 1992. We rattle off a few names but none satisfy him. I'll google when I'm bored one afternoon and email him.
His parting gift is 2 pints, two vodka and red bulls and two gin and tonics. We learn a lot about Czech bar staff when he does this. The Czech's don't like to be hollered at, or dictated to, and he seems to have seen drunken english speakers before. Irish or not, to him it's another drunk Brit - it's written all over his face. Mowgli apologises for him in Czech and he seems to think a little more of us.
We enjoy the pints, and have a vodka and red bull each, but return the gin and tonics untouched to the bar.
From here we head down through the centre of Prague. I get photos of the old town square, and generally, we enjoy having a wander around a great city of winding roads:
We head to club Mowgli know, but when we get to the bar, it appears to be closed or closing. Eventually after donnering around for a while more, we find a little cuban bar which looks like it has some atmosphere. We sit in here for a little while and enjoy some more of the wonderfully smooth Czech pilsner. It's now the early hours of the morning, and I've seen enough Prague considering I only arrived at about 10.30pm.
After a Gyros Kebab, We head back to Wenceslas square to get a night tram. It's approaching 4am, yet we can still get a tram to Mowgli's house in the outskirts.
When we get on the tram, I'm surprised how busy it is. What's even more surprising is lthe amount of drunks who are outcold on the seats. They are completely unaware of where the tram is on it's route:
What's great is that we are going to the last stop. So we get to watch what we now call dawn of the dead. This is where, the tram stops out near Mowgli's house in the middle of nowhere and the sleeping drunks get slapped awake by the driver. They then exit the tram and wander about like zombies. They have no idea where they are, where they are going or how to get there. They then wander off in different directions, or get on another tram - no doubt doing the same at the end stop of that tram.
With that hilarity. We head off to bed.......
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