epic episode I - SR

(written saturday march 10...on a couch in a coffee shop....sipping a capuccino...bojnice, slovak republic... 530pm)

let's start with today.............
my grand total of 2 hours of sleep didn't quite cut it in the department of rest....whe i awoke, to pack, to haul my butt (and huge pack) to the bus station..........of course, my state was totally self-induced.....

but i managed -- even brushed my teeth........waltzed into the bus depot just shy of 9am (when my bus was scheduled to depart) and parked myself in line.......the bus wasn't there yet, to my relief......3 more minutes, no bus......3 more minutes, no bus......3 more minutes and the line starts to disperse to other buses.......finally my infinite patience waned and i made my way, burdened by my belongings, to ask what was happenning --- in that way that i scantly speak the language and the info lady spoke minimal english........she let me know the next bus was in 2 hours.....2 hours that could have been spent in sweet deep sleep -- the kind with no dreams because you're just unconscious

there was no kirstin in those 2 hours that lapsed.....only a zombie surrounded by bags......sitting on a bench with hands up the sleeves of her jacket......frozen and thoughtless

the next scheduled bus actually arrived......i plugged into my iPOD and dozed in and out of consciousness ...in teh safety of transport....the sun shining on my face thru the window....

from there i folllowed the directions given to me by the tourist info lady in bratislava...now let me tell you something about her -- as i soon learned, she was evidently persuing the wrong vocation......virtually every piece of info she gave me almost turned horribly wrong.....originally, i was going to go to another town and daytrip to where i am now.......but no.....she informed me that i could just stay in town.....she looked it up online and told me that there were a lot of places to stay that were in my price range and recommended that i just walk into the tourist office here, in bojnice, when i arrived, to arrange accomodation....ok, sounds good.

so here i am...........on a later bus...into a town where i have no accomodations organized...but no worries.....it still gets in at 230pm.........so i roll into town and transfer to a local bus where 2 ladies(one older, one middle-aged) adopt me....lovely lovely ladies......did i mention that they don't speak any english? they ordered young people on the bus (who knew a few words of english) to try and find out if i needed help....i said i was coming to bojnice....they asked me for an address.....well, i don't have one yet.........when i got off the bus, the ladies also disembarked....they stopped meand one proceeded to phoen her niece....i know this because she handed me the phone so that her niece could find out what i needed......the neice told me that her aunt would walk me to the tourist office (good thing because it was nowhere near the bus stop -- thanks info lady) but that it was probably already closed (double thanks).......we walked, the 3 of us, at a snail's pace, to the main stretch of shops -- me, a veriotable mountain of bags........by the time we reached the tourist office i was feeling alittle anxious.....i really didn't know where i was going to sleep and it is nowhere near warm enough to resort to a park bench nor did it seem liek there was anything resembling nightlife in this sleepy town to put a make-shift roof over my head for the night

the last few steps ached....not in my feet or shoulders per usual, but in my heart.......it almost stopped when the door opened......the door opened AND the girl spoke english.....i was able to drop my gear and repeatedly thank the women who walked with me before sitting down to the task at hand: find a home.......she made many calls.....apparently, affordale accomodation was not as plentiful as previously reported.....shocking!

she scrolled down the options on teh monitor...."is this price ok?"...."yeah".... the words "it's available" were more than welcome, they were emotional paramedics.....i remind you, i'd barely slept, barely eaten and was facing frozen homelessness........

so, i bought a map, strapped on my bags, and hiked up the hill just outside the castle walls......thsi is where i found my palace: a bachelor's suite in a woman's house, bottom floor (seem familiar?) for 400SK (about 20$ CAN)....unbelievable! this is 10$ cheaper per night than my dorm bunk in bratislava.......

but the comedy didn't end tehre........i was now racing the sunset to see the town and castle (the purpose of this stop) before i left early tomorrow....the problem? a sweet, well-meaning landlady talking to me in slovakian and ecting responses........she showed me around, tried to tell me about the town and then enlisted the neighbour's 20-something daughter to translate...........this led to more funny but the intended messages finally got across--i think.........

so, a little after 4pm, i got out of the house......one minute it was all i could do to be in a house, the next i wanted out.........typical kirstin

but the story has a happy ending (as they tend to when there is a castle involved).........i was able to walk around town with daylight and found a loungy bar/cafe with 60's pop art on the walls, good music ( a rare find when traveling) and eye candy......and here i sit