I backpacked through Europe during my junior year of college (as a result of my semester abroad in London) and chose to take the bus from Berlin to Prague to save on costs. For some reason I couldn't sleep, and so I decided to write a short descriptive story about the ride. Here it is, word-for-word, from my 2014 self:
Berlin to Prague
As I set off on the journey from Berlin to Prague, I encountered the most beautiful sunrise I had ever seen. The richness of the colors, the most intense, vibrant red streaked through with purple stratum clouds soon faded to a lovely burnt orange, even further resulting in pink cotton candy clouds strewn across the bluest, sunniest sky. The journey was a pleasant one, and I took a nap. When I woke up I was in a quaint countryside, surrounded by lush green grass, tall trees, rolling hills like straight out of a movie. White farmhouses with red roofs with abandoned plows near the doorway, wind kites (fans? mills?) lazily spun on the light wind, and still that blue, blue sky. It was picturesque and stunning and I couldn't wait to arrive in Praha. The rocking of the bus slowly lulled me back to sleep. The next time I woke up, the scenery had changed. Just as I opened my bleary eyes, we were plunged into the most encompassing, misty fog I had ever seen. We were completely enveloped in this white haze, visibility reduced to Nothing. I strained my eyes to see anything, anything at all! But it was in vain. It was mysterious and frightening and I spent this time sitting up straight in my chair, worriedly looking about in the swirling fog for anything familiar. This was definitely a transformational point in the journey, for soon visibility increased and I started to gain an idea of the terrain we were now traveling through. Frosty, dead grass peeked out of the fringes of the mist, filling me with dread. I began to see more--giant pipes bursting out of the ground like serpents, twisting and turning through the air; forbidding industrial buildings, built squarely with no flourishes and with metal accents; plumes of dirty smoke roiling through the completely white-gray sky, the bright sun and blue sky of the previous hours completely forgotten; craggy cliffs looking over little houses built haphazardly next to a winding, olive green river; old destroyed ruins that lead deep into the hillside through the black holes seen through crumbling doorways; and many bare and skeletal trees stretching their skinny fingers toward me. It was appalling, frightening; it filled me with fear and dread. What have I gotten myself into? Was this the Czech Republic? I had heard Praha was stunningly beautiful, but surrounded by this landscape permeated strongly by ruins and death, with the sky still a gray color and the frozen grass and craggy cliffs in the distance, I seriously am doubting this fact. Only time will tell....
Good news: am starting to see glimpses of blue sky through the seemingly impenetrable helmet of white surrounding the earth
Berlin to Prague
As I set off on the journey from Berlin to Prague, I encountered the most beautiful sunrise I had ever seen. The richness of the colors, the most intense, vibrant red streaked through with purple stratum clouds soon faded to a lovely burnt orange, even further resulting in pink cotton candy clouds strewn across the bluest, sunniest sky. The journey was a pleasant one, and I took a nap. When I woke up I was in a quaint countryside, surrounded by lush green grass, tall trees, rolling hills like straight out of a movie. White farmhouses with red roofs with abandoned plows near the doorway, wind kites (fans? mills?) lazily spun on the light wind, and still that blue, blue sky. It was picturesque and stunning and I couldn't wait to arrive in Praha. The rocking of the bus slowly lulled me back to sleep. The next time I woke up, the scenery had changed. Just as I opened my bleary eyes, we were plunged into the most encompassing, misty fog I had ever seen. We were completely enveloped in this white haze, visibility reduced to Nothing. I strained my eyes to see anything, anything at all! But it was in vain. It was mysterious and frightening and I spent this time sitting up straight in my chair, worriedly looking about in the swirling fog for anything familiar. This was definitely a transformational point in the journey, for soon visibility increased and I started to gain an idea of the terrain we were now traveling through. Frosty, dead grass peeked out of the fringes of the mist, filling me with dread. I began to see more--giant pipes bursting out of the ground like serpents, twisting and turning through the air; forbidding industrial buildings, built squarely with no flourishes and with metal accents; plumes of dirty smoke roiling through the completely white-gray sky, the bright sun and blue sky of the previous hours completely forgotten; craggy cliffs looking over little houses built haphazardly next to a winding, olive green river; old destroyed ruins that lead deep into the hillside through the black holes seen through crumbling doorways; and many bare and skeletal trees stretching their skinny fingers toward me. It was appalling, frightening; it filled me with fear and dread. What have I gotten myself into? Was this the Czech Republic? I had heard Praha was stunningly beautiful, but surrounded by this landscape permeated strongly by ruins and death, with the sky still a gray color and the frozen grass and craggy cliffs in the distance, I seriously am doubting this fact. Only time will tell....
Good news: am starting to see glimpses of blue sky through the seemingly impenetrable helmet of white surrounding the earth
My photos from the moving bus were pretty blurry and don't fully capture the essence of the writing above. I grabbed this photo from Google Images- a beautiful, misty Czech sunrise.
*Note from 2016 self: I am so dramatic! Reading this made me laugh, but it also brought back a slew of pretty vivid memories. There are some trips I have taken where I have written during my travels, and there are others where I completely disregarded journal-ing. There is a notable difference in the quality and detail of my memories when I think about each trip. I will most likely write another blog post about the pros and cons of keeping a journal while traveling. Stay tuned!
~burn bright~
Jess