7th September 2018
After the dinner adventure the previous night I couldn’t really sleep (and the fact that I had a road journey coming up in a few hours didn’t help my case either). My brain went into hyperactive mode as the morning neared, and I jumped out of bed an entire hour before my scheduled alarm. As I checked the room to see if there was anything I had forgotten to pack, a million thoughts occupied my mind. Staromestska had been a real delight in the past couple of days, and the thought of leaving so soon made me a little sad. There were so many things I wanted to do and places that I wanted to visit – the tiny medieval town of Cesky Krumlov, the Terezin Concentration Camp or Kutna Hora would have definitely been on my list had I the luxury of even a day more. That being said, I was more than happy I explored Prague to my heart’s content and made some crazy yet amazing memories.
Pushing myself to be as early as I could, I grabbed a satisfying goat cheese panini sandwich (which happened to be one of the only vegetarian options) at the Caffe Milani downstairs. The solo leg of my journey was coming to an end, and my excitement for what lay ahead in store was climbing by the second. Having had a taste two vibrant countries – Hungary and Czech Republic, by myself, I was more than excited to meet up with my cousin Akshay at Regensburg. The plan ahead was to go for a week-long road trip together.
My ride to Regensburg was a Flixbus. Interesting story how I came across the pocket-friendly travel service – while checking out the various activities to try out in Budapest, I had happened to see discount vouchers at the hostel reception. Although a discovery by accident, keeping an eye out for the pamphlets and vouchers in the hostel reception turned out to be a valuable backpacking life-hack. Speaking of my impending journey, I managed to reach the Florenc UAN bus station well before the scheduled departure.
The Flixbus experience turned out to be more impressive than I thought – with comfortable seats, charging ports and a pretty decent toilet. I had more than enough room as the bus was running almost empty (there must have been barely 10 passengers in a bus meant for 40!). The two-hour ride from Prague was soothing to say the least – although I tried my level best to not take my eyes off the breathtaking scenery outside, I ended up dozing a bit. I woke up refreshed as the bus stopped at Regensburg Central Station. Picking my stuff from the luggage hold I called Akshay to come pick me up. He did so in a bit, and we reached his home after a ten minute drive.
I loved Akshay’s apartment. It was a lovely place – bright and airy with lots of open space outside. Well, he and his flatmate Ankith are pretty cool – they had made the house a perfect bachelor pad, complete with a PS4 and mini-fridge in the living room just to chill “beverages”. We shared a nice long laugh about how crazy the planning phase of my trip had been – the 3-hour-long discussions on an almost daily basis, unending confusion about the itinerary, and my desire to visit every single place he suggested in my rather limited 17-day tour. We ended up discussing almost everything under the sun over a bowl of hot Maggi noodles.
As the blazing afternoon faded into a sunkissed evening I decided to go for a nice long walk, realizing that I might not get the opportunity to visit the tiny town again (Akshay and I were about to commence our trip the following morning). Another strong motivating factor for the exploration was that I was averaging 10km walk for the past week and didn’t want to break my streak. I was mesmerised by the glorious evening and struggled to listen as Akshay gave me directions to the riverbank. “Never mind – Google to the rescue” I thought as I pulled out my phone and navigated to the Danube.
The evening turned out to be a lot more than I had imagined – probably the most light and relaxing evening I had had in a while. I ended up walking quite a lot, crossing a large bridge and reaching a small riverine island. Although appearing a little secluded at first, it turned out to be a real delight.
The quiet and nearly still Danube with a backdrop of the setting sun was certainly a sight to behold. The tree leaves donned the autumnal hues of golden, red and brown, complementing the beauty of the evening.
The tiny park was filled with people of all age groups and walks of life – children enjoying a sunset football match, youths on a cycling trip, young parents enjoying a picnic with their toddlers, and the health conscious individuals on their evening jog. The moment was picture perfect – like something straight out of a movie.
The journey back to Akshay and Ankith’s place turned out to be a hilarious experience. It’s rather interesting how “Villsstrasse” became “Villastrasse” (courtesy of the autocorrect feature of the GBoard), and I ended up walking a lot farther than I intended.
I am not complaining though, as I got to enjoy the beautiful town and surpassed my 10km target at the same time. The best part of the evening walk was that I got to enjoy Regensburg. It looked straight out of one of a watercolour painting – idyllic and vibrant, yet peacefully balanced. I felt a tiny bit bad though, as my 3-hour disappearance had Akshay slightly worried.
Perhaps the most eventful part of my evening walk was wandering through the city. The idyllic town of Regensburg reminded me that the beauty lies in the simplest of things, most often in the places we tend to overlook.
The rest of the evening was pretty cool. Ankith, Akshay and I chatted for a bit before heading to an Indian restaurant named Namaste for dinner. The restaurant was an interesting one, although far too “Indianized.” Every aspect about the place literally screamed India, right from the Madhubani paintings adorning the walls to the Taj Mahal like décor and the old Hindi music that played in the background. The food was pretty good and filling – the mango lassi they served tasted almost like the one mom prepares back home. We ended up getting most of the main course packed, as we were stuffed with the entrée. The light yet eventful day ended with several rounds of Gang Beasts on the PS4, aiming to throw each other’s respective characters off the roof, while slurping on the piping hot masala tea that Ankith prepared. The day certainly had its own lovely charm – I thoroughly enjoyed every second of it and wondered what all treasures the following week held
A Roller Coaster called Life 