Tuesday, August 19, 2008

If It Doesn’t Have a Picture, It Doesn’t Have a Flavor

Day: 329
Kormarno Rest Day

We decided that we liked Komarno enough to take a rest day. The central part of town is quite nice with narrow cobblestone streets and beautifully renovated buildings. Rather than push all the way through to Budpest we decided to stick around and get caught up.

It’s only afternoon and we’ve already had a crazy day. Chris laid out the task list this morning and was kind enough to allow for a stop to get caffeinated. We examined the café menu and both selected our drinks. I wanted to try something new and the espresso macchiato caught my eye. Somehow my mental map created a much larger cup of java than what was brought out to me. I should remember that espresso is universal for very, very small cup of coffee. Chris’ cappuccino aroma was much more what I had in mind. After spooning out the last bits of foam we headed back to our pension to pay another night and find out about laundry. We once again found ourselves having a conversation in two different languages. The same girl that helped Chris yesterday whipped out her cell phone and called her English translator. We arranged for the room one more night and then got the scoop on laundry. Instead of trying to give us directions, the guy on the other end of the line said he would be over to pick us up in five minutes. Robert arrived soon after and we followed him through the streets of Komarno on our bicycles. Nothing like being motor-paced just to wash clothes. We traversed all over town and ended up at the cleaners – I had a feeling I’d being doing all the washing after all. Sure enough they wanted to charge for each piece and it would be extra to have it back by tomorrow. We politely declined and stepped outside. Robert kindly apologized and we told him not to worry. Chris then asked if it’s possible to wash clothes laundromat style. Robert replied “No, only in America I think”. We said goodbye to our accidental host and pedaled back to our room.
I sorted the stinky duds myself while Chris got himself together for the other errands of the day. As I started pile 1 of 5, he was out the door for a metal file, degreaser, groceries, and a haircut. In the middle of pile 2 I heard a knock on the door and found the pension owner waiting outside. He rattled something off in Slovakian and then somehow managed to tell me that our room had been booked for the night and would it be ok if we moved to another room. I looked behind me at all of our stuff strung across the room, shrugged my shoulders and nodding my head yes. Ten minutes later I had schlepped everything to the new room and was working on pile 3. I kept the door open hoping to catch Chris when he returned. It may have been quite a sight for him to go back to our original room and find the place cleaned out…
Chris made it back with his own stories – no degreaser, no groceries, and a nice metal file. I didn’t ask too many details as he needed to get his bike to go on a larger search for groceries. He was off again in no time and returned sooner than I thought with a backpack full of calories. We quickly dug into the pumpkin seed rolls with Nutella. To wash it all down, Chris found a couple of Activa yogurt drinks. The outside of the bottle looked kind of plain as I opened it, no picture. Chris wondered what flavor it was just as I took my first sip. I replied “If it doesn’t have a picture, it doesn’t have a flavor”. He sighed – another crazy moment in a manic day. I wonder what the rest of the day will bring?
LK

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