21st of January, 2022.
Andrei has dreadlocks and is driving a black van. When I ask him if he is going to Brno, he tells me he is going only a little bit before the border. I say it is fine by me because I have much better experiences in the countryside than outside the capitals.
While we are putting my backpack in his van, accidentally I notice he is wearing a ankle monitor. I don’t know if there are any other reasons why people wear them, but if there is not, my conclusions are that he is a former prisoner. Great! Well, what can I say, he seems like a cool guy, he tells me about his many bands and his travels around the world. So I don’t know why he was in jail but he treat me very well and with respect. Andrei drops me in another gas station.
I am trying to go either to Brno or Prague. Imelda tells me she can take me to Prague. Her husband is travelling with another car, but he is following us. They are going to visit one of their sons, and taking the car to him, just outside Prague.
We try to make the best plan about where they will drop me. The things is, they are going South-West of Prague, so not even passing by. I should carry on up to North-West, in direction of Dresden. After a lot of talking and searching, she decided to drop me outside of a small town called Chomutov. The problem is, the place she dropped me it is a gas station in the middle of nowhere. And it is almost sundown already.
Parking at the gas station is Christina, she tells me she can drive to a intersection not too far from here. I accept because if there is a intersection, it means that there will be more cars from different directions. But of course that the intersection is also in the middle of nowhere.
I urgently need to pee but there is no way I can do that here. There is deep snow, about 45 cm, everywhere. Besides, I don’t want to miss any cars passing by because they are already only a few.
By a total miracle, Matias and Marta are going to do some shopping in the next bigger town in Germany, Marienberg, so they ask me if it is alright to be dropped there. I say yes, please!
They are so kind and friendly. And they are very surprised about my travels. At a gas station, I finally use the toilet and when I come back, Matias bought us three ice coffee. Yummy!
When we arrive in Marienberg (the photograph featured), Matias insists on buying me some food. Not any food, but some warm food. So we go to a pizza place and he order me a vegetarian pizza. It will be ready in 20 minutes. Right around the corner there is a church. We go there and it is when I say many thanks and good bye to my saviors.
At the church, I first talk with the man responsible for locking everything. He seems very happy to meet me and get to know about my travel plans and life. He asks me to wait while he will go around the corner, to the pastor’s house and talk to him. When he comes back, the pastor Friedmann is with him, and he says I can stay. Yay!
I come with the pastor to the building in the corner, which belongs to the church and where he lives with his family. The apartments are in the up floors but in the ground floor they have a living room, bathrooms and the kitchen. I stay in one of the room for kids activities. It is warm! And there is lots of space. I tell the pastor about my pizza so he come with me to get it. Laugh.
Later on, the pastor’s wife, Julia, come to say hello and to check if I need anything. She is very lovely!
I organize myself and get all settle. I eat my delicious pizza and save some slices for tomorrow. I have some time so I decide to write a little bit. I arrange my sleeping bag right next to one of the radiators and I have a good night of sleep.