5P's - Spell 'em out

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• Entry from Stuttgart

  Stuttgart, Germany
Sunday, February 19, 2006

I only stayed in Stuttgart for one night, but what a night it was - woohoo!

I came to Stuttgart so I could fly out to Prague, which is where I am writing this. I didn't book a hostel, which I haven't done ever since I got here. Usually they are mostly empty being winter, but this time I ran into a little bit of trouble.

I got off in the Stuttgart main train station and I tried looking for the information office. I must have walked by it about three times before I actually saw it and used it. When I got there it was a challenge to get the woman behind the counter to give me a train map guide. Only god knows why this was an issue. When she actually gave me the place to go to I was quite pleased, but little to my knowledge at the time, she was either trying to be nasty or just plain stupid. I got off at the station she indicated and I found myself on a deserted street where all the shops were closed and no cars drove past. I walked for a while and stopped into a kebab shop where I ate and asked for directions to the place I had originally asked for. It turns out I was nowhere near the place. So I had to take the tram, then the underground and then I was at Hausmann strasse, which was my original destination. The number of the hostel was 27 Hausmann; I got off the train at number 350 and to my great joy it was a steep uphill walk the entire way. One good thing was I got to see Stuttgart from the highest hill - it was similar looking to the view from Kings Park in Perth.

So I finally arrive after about an hour of walking up hill and when I get there I am told that there is an unusual number of people staying in the hostel because a school is visiting town. By this stage I was dead tired as I went out the night before and only got 3 hours sleep. So this was a bit of a kick in the teeth for me. The man behind the counter said there was a place close by and so I walked there. I was told that it cost about the same and so I wasn't so bothered. When I got there it was a different story. First of all, all of their cheap rooms had been taken by people like me pushed along by the other hostel and so I had to get a single room that cost 19 euro a night. Then they told me that the bed sheets were 3 euro and the towel, which I didn't need, was 2 euro. So after all was said and done it cost me 24 euro. At that stage I didn't really care and in the end it was ok, because I got to wash my clothes and dry them in my room and I could leave all my stuff out without fear of it getting stolen. In fairness, the room was nicely decorated and the bed was more comfortable than usual.

I met some cool American girls in the airport, who I am here in Prague with and we are just doing the touristy stuff.

My next entry will be about Prague.

Until then...