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This is a day that began very nicely, had a very dark middle and ended on an extremely high note. I packed that morning, excited to get out of Prague. The train station was a bit daunting, lugging around my bicycle and all, but it got done. I even took a few escalators with it, no problem. I had the whole bike storage thing figured out by then, so I got loaded up and was ready to head to the town of Jaromer, in the northwest corner of Bohemia.
This is a town I knew nothing about except that it was geographically close to the where I wanted to cross over into Poland. It turns out it's one of the most charming and beautiful places I've seen on this trip.
I found out later that the whole region around Jaromer (and especially the bigger town of Hradec Kralove, nearby) was ground zero in the Austro-Prussian war in the 1860's. This was a war between the two major empires of the region, Prussia and Austria (the Habsburgs, again), for control of the German confederacy. At that time Germany was this loose grouping of independent states that were attempting to coalesce into a single country. But some liked the Prussians and some liked the Habsburgs. So they fought. Prussia won and the major decisive battle was fought right near where I am, in Hradec Kralove, called the Battle of Koniggratz. There's plaques and informational signs dotting the route with information about various skirmishes and side battles that happened in the various smaller towns. The town where I'm staying tonight, Kleny, was demolished during the war due to Prussian artillery, apparently.
Anyway, I rode around Jaromer, looking for a place to stay. First I went to the heart of the town, and that hotel was full. Then I was sent to a neighborhood called Josefov, which turned out to be this insanely cool old fortress town. It was built by Habsburg Emperor Joseph in the 1790's and never used. If this place were anywhere near a population center, it would be swarmed with tourists, since it's such a cool piece of history. Regardless, the hotel there was full too.
I began panicking, imagining myself sleeping in Czech ditch that night, clutching my nutella and jam. As I was going through the various scenarios, a bolt on one of my rear panniers came off, from the constant cobblestone jarring.
This was the final straw of an extremely stressful 3 hours of going back and forth through Jaromer looking for accomodation. There I was, a hobo in the parking lot, rooting around on the ground looking for a bolt between the cracks of the cobblestones. I fixed the bag, re-mounted it, and looked directly ahead of me and what did I see? A freaking tourist office directly in front of me...
The counter-lady spoke English and helped me immediately find a place to stay about 10 miles out of the city. I nearly hugged her. A short ride later and I'm in the Pension Wolf, staying in a nicely appointed room on the banks of the lake for the equivalent of $15. Things turned out quite well, I must say...
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