As it wasn’t that cold I was hoping that I wouldn’t suffer that much when coming back to Prague, as I did on my way to Łódź. It would be a bit complicated to spend eighteen hours inside a train again. I knew I wouldn’t have the same patience to face it. That trip should be calm and quick, because I needed to arrive to Prague before dinner. I also thought it wouldn’t be nice to arrive that late at the Hakkinen’s place. I had keys and everything, but it would be a bit rude to arrive and talk to no one.
While the train was heading to Katowice I prayed for it not to delay. I also noticed how full the wagon was. Maybe because it was morning it was so crowded, I didn’t really know. The only thing I knew was that I felt safer. I’d promised myself no more night trains, and like that I thought it would be.
The trip was wonderful in its first part. I managed to enjoy the environment without frustration. In three hours and a half I was in “Mordor”, sorry, Katowice. That place was scary no matter when I was there. As I knew what to do in the station now, I stopped, looked and the board and saw the schedule. I had to wait one hour and a half for the other train. The cold inside the hall was terrible and the wind was making it worse. The pigeons were flying like they were aiming on people’s heads, it was crazy. At least they didn’t poop on me.
Priceless Girl made some sandwiches for my trip. It was good because I didn’t need to buy food. I went to the coffee shop to spend some time there. I had a coffee and that was it. I still had forty five minutes in that cold hell. As you know, the coffee shop was really small and I couldn’t stay there with just a cup holding the place. So I went out and went to the known bench in front of the information desk. It was around -16ºC.
I ate a chocolate and took the bible to read. I was praying hard not to get stucked in half way again, when I saw a guy with a foreigner’s face next to me. He was walking around like crazy.
- Strange guy. – I thought. – He doesn’t have Polish face, or even it doesn’t seem that he is from this part of the world, better leave him alone, I don’t want problems.
It was time to go to the train. I took my stuff and went to the platform. The train was already waiting to departure. I got inside, look for an empty cabin as usual and settled myself. The train was really warm, I had nothing to complain about. I sat, put my chIpod and waited for departure. After some minutes the crazy dude that was walking here and there appeared at my cabin’s door asking in English if he could sit there as well. As I wasn’t the owner of anything I told him to get inside. He went in, took out almost 30kg of clothes and jackets and sat. He was breathing like a desperate guy and had reason for that. As soon as he got inside the cabin, the train departured.
- Thank God I managed to take the train. – he said in Portuguese.
- Oh, do you speak Portuguese, dude? – I asked happy.
- Yeah, I do man! Where are you from?
- I’m from Salvador. How about you?
- I’m from São Paulo. Do you live here in Poland?
- No, I’m just visiting. I’m going back to Prague.
- Ah! So you already know Prague? Does it worth seeing? I’m heading there too.
So it started the one person conversation. He started telling the story about his trip and where he was in Europe. Berlin, Amsterdam, Stockholm, Oslo... And he was leaving Krakow to go to Prague. The thing was that everything was ok, but the guy didn’t stop talking for a single moment. It was a really boring monologue. The guy was excited because he was feeling cold. What kind of excitement is it? What a masoquist! He just couldn’t stop talking for a second...about the cold in Sweeden, all of the places he’d seen in Berlin, that he Loved Berlin, that he would go back to Berlin, that he didn’t like Netherlands, that he’d seen nothing special in Copenhagen… Ah! I’m tired just remembering that.
So I had the unbeatable chIpod tactics. I started slowly looking for the earphones of chIpod, I chose the noisiest song I had, put on maximum volume, and when he stopped to breathe, Puf! I put it. But guess what. Not even this way the guy stopped talking And worse, the chIpod battery died. I was condemned to listen to that boring conversation during the whole trip… 6 hours.
He talked, talked, talked and suddenly got tired. I wasn’t even listening. I know it was a bit rude, but I was really stressed with all that cheap talk. After some hours of trip we arrived in Ostrava.
- Is it still far away? – he asked.
- Around 5 hours more. When we arrive in Konin it will be close, so check the signs. – I answered.
He probably noticed that I wasn’t in the mood for talking and stopped talking. Then we were going in silence, sorry, with just the train’s noise and I managed to take a nap. The trip was too long. In some small city after Ostrava the train got crowded. Lots of people got inside the wagon. Three girls opened the door of the cabin and sat. They were talking in Czech. The silence that I liked so much disappeared.
One of the girls presented herself to me. I don’t remember her name. She was cute and had a gentle way of speaking. She asked where I was from and if I liked Czech Republic. I remember now that she was studying History at the university and was really interested in Brazilian history. We talked about some other stuff till the other Brazilian break in the conversation. No one understood anything. The three girls looked each other, they said something in Czech and started laughing.
- Are you French? – the one talking to me asked the guy.
- No, I’m Brazilian too. Everyone says that when I speak English I have this French accent.
I must had been an angel with all my patience… the guy broke in the conversation to talk about nothing. What an annoying guy. The girl was trying to talk to me and he was interrupting all the time. I was thinking to kick his balls to see if he would shut up for a while. But it was just some thought. Damn this dush. But there was more. Like it wasn’t enough, he started telling the girls the same story he was telling me, but this time in English. I thought I would ask someone to kill me. The same story again? What the heck! “I loved Berlin, because Berlin is fantastic, Berlin is perfect, because I saw a dog pooping on Berlin’s wall... Damn it!
I couldn’t handle that anymore, not even the girls. They gave their back to the guy, but even though he didn’t stop talking. They were lucky because they left before Konin, but I had to stay there because the other cabins were full.
He asked me how to get to the city center in Prague, because his hostel was located there, and how he could buy tickets. I explained everything, it was enough for us to arrive in Prague and I managed to get rid of the plague. Hehe.
It was the end of the trip, with no breaking, no cold (of course in Mordor it was cold), no “Russian”, but with an annoying dude that didn’t stop talking. It was time to go to the Hakkinen’s. I wouldn’t have trouble with the time as it was still 6pm.
BR Na Europa!
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