Recuperating in the village of Český Krumlov, Czech Republic

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Today was not a good day in the Czech Republic. I finally became fully sick after days of a hint of it. Masayo and I had plans to leave Prague and travel down to the small town of Český Krumlov, but transportation problems made leaving Prague a nightmare. And of course my diabetes didn’t behave, but that became a rare back-burner issue.

I slept little. My head was full of crazy, unconnected thoughts. I don’t even know what they were, but I couldn’t concentrate on any one of them long enough to try to relax myself and sleep. All in all I got a total of maybe two hours of sleep, in what felt like five-minute chunks.

So I was not in a good mood when morning came (though I was grateful — I’d been wondering for hours where the sunrise was as I stared at the dim city light coming in through a slit in the curtains). My blood sugar was actually passable – 162. Surprising how the stress of the night hadn’t affected it.

I guess if diabetes were consistent it wouldn’t be any fun at all.

Our final buffet breakfast at Prague’s Hotel Jelení Dvůr was very light for me — coffee, a couple small danishes, and a plate of fruit that Masayo and I hoped would help me feel better. Eating was tough but I did it. Then we got our stuff together and checked out of the hotel.

And it was then that the day really took a turn for the worse.

I had the morning all planned thanks to the internet: I bought our highway bus tickets online from a company called, for some reason, Student Agency from Prague to Český Krumlov. To catch that bus we could take a series of two trams from right outside our hotel.

It should have been so smooth.

Our 24-hour tram tickets from yesterday were still in effect, and the route was simple. Tram #22 from the hotel and change to tram #54 at another stop near Old Town. From there we’d walk a short distance to the Student Agency bus station.

This plan went poorly pretty quickly. The map at the Old Town tram stop didn’t mention any tram #54. I stared at it a long time but it was unclear. I’ve found this in several cities: if you don’t already understand the bus or tram system, the posted info isn’t helpful. I suppose it’s hard to find perceptive and talented map designers.

I decided, in my feverish and exhausted state, to walk to a nearby stop from where we could get either tram #12 or #20, either of which would take us to the bus station. I never found out what happened to tram #54; maybe it exists only online.

So we trudged down to the stop through the grey, chilly morning air. While we waited for either #12 or #20 we looked at the posted info. Tram #20 ought to be along in a couple of minutes, it said.

It didn’t come. In fact neither #20 nor #12 came; we waited and waited. Our time was getting short — the highway bus to Český Krumlov was leaving at 11:00 am, with or without us.

Masayo noticed something she interpreted as meaning that regular trams #12 and #20 were suspended, but new alternate #12 and #20 trams were operating in their place. A map showed where these temporary services might go, but again it was confusing and vague.

But we eventually figured out that while alternate tram #12 would be useless for us, #20 still looked ok. (There was also something called X-20 but there was no explanation.)

After several minutes, standing on the cold narrow platform while several other trams came and went, we’d run out of time. No tram for us; we would have to walk the two kilometers to the bus station.

I was really not in the mood for this, frustration and deliriousness already fogging my mind. But we had no choice. We had to make good time too since walking would take longer than the tram would have, but Masayo’s bag was too big and heavy and she had to go slowly. So I carried it for her, on top of my own bags. In this manner we stumbled quickly and angrily through Prague.

It was almost as bad as our experience with Warsaw’s inept transportation system, though at least the Prague trams had been fine yesterday.

I was feeling awful as we pressed on, carrying three heavy bags, cursing the Prague municipal planning commission. Feeling ill and not having slept made for a most unpleasant me.

(We did, by the way, see a bus called X-20 which must have been the temporary solution for some construction on the tram #20 tracks, but the X-20 bus seemed to be going only one way, away from our bus station and towards us. Absolutely senseless.)

Exhausted, we arrived at the bus station at about 10:53 and found a bus with “Student Agency” written on the side. (This company has nothing to do with students, as far as I could tell; it wasn’t a school bus or anything, just a strange name.) It was ours; we got on and sat in our seats.

I was cold, and miserable, and barely conscious. Well it wasn’t that bad, but it felt like it. It took me about 30 minutes to break out of my catatonia. Masayo sat patiently beside me, worried but unable to do much about it.

When I did snap out of my angry daze I was pleased with Student Agency. We passengers each had little TVs of our own and I watched a movie called 42 about Jackie Robinson. (Yesterday was Day 42 of our trip, too!)

Finally, Český Krumlov

The bus pulled into the town of Český Krumlov, (pronounced roughly chess key croom love) where Masayo and I had already planned the rest of the day: I would do nothing but sleep all afternoon and evening, and she would pass the time as best she could.

I hate to waste a day but obviously in these circumstances there isn’t much choice. It’s a shame, too, because Český Krumlov is an astonishing little town, built around a big curve in the Vltava River (which also runs through Prague) and surrounded by large hills. The whole town is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, scattered with old buildings, ancient-looking cobblestoned alleys, and a big castle on a hill.

None of that for us today, though.

We walked right to Hostel Merlin, where I booked a private room through booking.com last night. Even in my depleted state I was aware of what an amazing location it was when we walked up to it: a tiny little Central European building right in the middle of a breathtakingly picturesque square.

But after climbing the super-narrow, winding stairs in the quiet building and checking in, all I wanted to do was lie down. I had a fever though I didn’t know to what degree. (For some reason we don’t really travel with any first aid kit.) At 3:00 pm my blood sugar was 196; I thought, It could certainly be worse.

And it certainly would be, later.

Masayo went to a tiny store across the square and found lemon ginger tea and instant chicken broth soup. There was a hot water pot in the hostel kitchen so she cooked it all up. Nice food for a sick guy like me.

Usually I have a rule – or, to be precise, my diabetes suggests a rule – that I don’t sleep right after eating. No naps for me. (An afternoon nap murdered my blood sugar recently in Kutná Hora.) But today is different: I need sleep to help get over this fever. Lots of sleep is the best medicine for many ailments.

I laid in bed, under the covers with all my clothes on, in the little dark attic room in Hostel Merlin and tried to sleep. It was hard at first because the fever was giving me strange visions again but eventually I drifted off and slept quite a lot, or at least faded in and out while listening to music on my MacBook.

At 6:30 pm I got up, groggy and bleary, and checked my BG: 216. Not as bad as I expected.

For dinner we walked around the dark little town looking for something suitable. Český Krumlov by night is supremely quiet and most places were closed. (Tourists tend to visit on day trips, and it was like we had the whole place to ourselves.) We finally settled on a cheerful little place called U Hroznu, where the decorations were plentiful and curious and the service was friendly. There were no other diners.

I got garlic soup with croutons, steamed vegetables, and a bottle of sparkling water. (Tesco water, very cheap!) Somehow I downed all the soup and a good deal of the vegetables, which was quite a feat as eating was an ordeal. Even sick I thought the food was very good. I hoped it would make me a little stronger.

I wanted to walk around the town some after dinner but we kept it short since I was still fairly weak and it was really cold. Better to experience some blissful warmth and happiness back in the room until I’m truly recovered.

Back at Hostel Merlin, where no other humans seemed to be, I slept more. At 10:00 pm my blood sugar was 281. I took some Humalog, had some more tea that Masayo made, and took a slightly early Lantus shot so I could continue my sleep marathon.

My plan was to continue sleeping all night and let my body fight whatever I picked up. As I keep proudly repeating, this is the first time I’ve been sick in several years. I’m sure I’m equipped to deal with it, if I can just rest and let my defenses do their thing.

And hopefully tomorrow I’ll be good enough to go see this amazing town of Český Krumlov and its deep, historic medieval wonders.

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