Friday, August 9th - Dresden to Berlin
My trip is going in reverse. I’m on the 11:15 train back to Berlin so I can visit the Czech embassy there to get a visitor’s visa. I wasn’t able to reach the embassy by phone this morning so I am taking my changes.
Heiko was up early to make me breakfast and he left me his spare keys before he left for work. I had half a mind to ask him if I could just leaving half my bags and my bike at his place but that would hardly be fair to have so much sitting here underfoot. Besides, I have no idea how this is going to pan out. With the visa restrictions being new, there may be long queues to get one and I may not be able to get one, or they might cost too much. And if I get one, I am uncertain whether I should just take the train right to Prague to give me two more days to explore the city.
I was not able to reach Andres either. He was probably sleeping if he went out after work for a drink or playing in a back room. I just hope he doesn’t have anyone with him when I arrive. He will likely be at work when I arrive, as he usually leaves around 12:30. I am prepared to look for a hotel room again. I might have a chance if I look for a room right after visiting the embassy. That has to come first.
These uncertainties make me anxious. I dig out my needle and thread from my toiletries bag and begin to stitching up a tear in my cycling glove. I take a break to visit the washroom and when I come back my toiletries bag is gone. I left it on the seat knowing there was nothing in it of importance to anyone else. But of course whoever took wasn’t going to take the time to check through it before stealing it. I chastise myself for being so careless, so stupid. Most of the items are easily replaceable, but not my contact lenses. I am wearing my glasses instead today to give my eyes a rest. Now I guess I’ll be wearing them for the next seven months. I slump back into my seat, still anxious but now with anger and despair mixed it. I stare out the window. The scenery gets uglier as the train approaches Berlin.
The info desk at Lichtenberg Station in Berlin gives me exact directions to the Czech embassy, but the building is closed when I arrive there at 3 pm. There’s a sign on the door in Czech, which is probably not too useful in a German region. I can make out that the embassy is open for public applications from 8 to 11 am weekday mornings. Monday is three days away and even then there is no guarantee I will be able to get one in the three hours they are open. There is also some note, I think, about two pictures being needed for the visa. I give up on Czechoslovakia. I’ll take a train instead back to Bavaria and cycle on from there.
Now what? I guess I should start shopping for toiletries and something to put them in. I walk along Potsdamer Strasse and stop in a book store to buy maps of the Danube. I have heard there is a bike path along it all the way to Vienna. But I am not going anywhere today, now that I have missed the last train back to Dresden. I make another visit to the post office and find a letter waiting for me from Mike Silk, my cycling partner from Portugal to Belgium. He is returning to Amsterdam to resume his cycling tour alone. He hopes to connect with me again later. I’ll have to think about that. I tuck his letter into my bag, with a mental note to myself to post a letter to him at Poste Restante in Frankfort on Monday.
I call Andres from the post office. He’s at home and he invites me over. I find him lounging around in his underwear. He doesn’t have another shift at the hospital until noon tomorrow. I strip down to my underwear and cuddle with him on the couch. We make love, have a shower and get dressed again. My arrival inspires him to make something of the day. He suggests a walk
He leads me north-east through a park that follows the place where the Berlin Wall once stood. It is a pleasant day if I ignore all the worries in my head. But they are not as bad as they were earlier, now that some choices have been made. We wander through the winding park up to the Spree River and then along the river for a ways. But Andres gets lost and we end up walking ‘back’ through city streets in the wrong direction. It is almost 8pm when we arrive in his neighbourhood.
I am tired and very hungry, not having had anything to eat since breakfast. We stop at the Manhattan Café for a subway sandwich, a place he had taken me to before on my first visit. Then we go to a mixed straight-gay bar not far from there where we share a couple beers. The alcohol does me in. I am yawning in his face every second sentence. We return to his place and I fall asleep as soon as we curl up in his bed.
PHOTO 1: me in Berlin
PHOTO 2: Andres
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