Volume 2, Day 26
I still had a full day in Bremen, but it was going to be my last day in Germany. As it was a Monday, I had a very limited choice of tourist activities to choose from. Ideally, I would have signed up for a tour of Beck’s Brewery, but the tours only happen if there are at least 20 people signed up. A quick check of the availability of said tour online quickly dispelled any hopes for that. So, I had an intention of taking a walk around old town to soak in more of the charming atmosphere.
However, I spent most of the morning doing my regular routine and working on something. I sent in my resume to a company on my first day in Hamburg. There had been a quick reply, but I had been delaying on looking at it because … reasons. It would be a good job, but it may mean I’d have to cut my travels short and settle somewhere less than ideal. Well, I had finally gotten around to looking at the response and it was a test, so I took some time in the morning to look it over carefully.
I took a brisk walk through the park to clear my head and on my way back, swung by the supermarket to look at the local beer. If I couldn’t take a tour of the brewery, I could still have some Beck’s beer in the town where it is brewed. I ended up grabbing a six-pack and a bag of cookies (planning ahead for afternoon tea), then headed back to the hostel to prepare my lunch–grilled cheese and tomato soup.
After lunch, I took a short nap and as I was gearing up to get some work done, the internet stopped working. That was rather unfortunate. Rather than take it as a sign to go out into town for a long walk, I decided to put on a movie. It’s been so long since I just spent an afternoon watching a movie (not counting a new release in a theater), that it felt somewhat subversive to be so idle. How did I get so caught up in the cult of productivity when I am on a permanent vacation? The real killer is that I consumed the entire package of cookies when I wanted to save at least half for the bus ride tomorrow.
Anyways, I basically wasted the whole day, but let’s call it a valuable R&R. In the late afternoon (and without completing all the items on my to-do list), I packed up my picnic bag and invited my Malaysian roommate to go hang out in the park. We drank the beers and I finished the last of the remaining salad. It was pleasant in the sun though a bit windy. The temperature was quickly dropping again after the passing of the heat wave, so when the sun started to dip behind the trees, it was a good time to go.
I insisted we swing by the train station so I could satisfy that compulsion to eat one last German sausage before leaving the country and we popped into the supermarket to get a couple more beers to drink back at the hostel. Like always, the hostel had the hush of a library over it with barely any signs of life. After sitting in the lounge for a bit, I threw on a plotless movie so we could have something to focus on and talk about. Another guest who was cooking up in the kitchen sat down to eat at 9:55. One minute later, we were all kicked out again.
Some people had checked into the hostel between 8:30 and 10:00 pm and were already passed out on the beds in the dorm snoring louder than the roar of a Harley Davidson. This is so ridiculous. I have go sit in the dark and listen to people snore because sitting quietly on a couch is “disturbing the peace.”
| Beer and cookies | 5.96 |
| Krakauer | 2.6 |
| Total: | 8.56 EUR (66.8 RMB) (USD 9.72) |
Running Total: 9756.4 RMB (USD 1420)
Daily Average: 375.2 RMB (USD 54.62)