10th week in Jablonec nad Nisou (Czech Republic). 

We leave our familiar surroundings and go to Prague for half a day. How little time that is, I notice very quickly. A short walk in the park near Strahov Monastery, where we park the car. We walk up to Petrin Tower and enter St Lawrence Church across the street. Then to the Old Town - which is overflowing with people - and back to the car. From there to a restaurant for dinner. After that back to Jablonec. The time flies by. 

It is the only time we go to this beautiful city, although we are only an hour's drive from it. What mitigates the attractiveness of this city are the masses of tourists that stream through the old town in particular, but also the fact that there is hardly anything that doesn't cost money. Everything here is for sale. Everything touristy. A capitalist dream for those who can afford it. 

As we walk through the old town, just diving into it, I think of Sandra. We were in Prague almost exactly a year ago. Back then, we stayed in the city and took a guided tour. Sandra told us that the locals can't afford their old town. Neither do they live there, nor do they go out there. It is a city completely made only for tourists. Expensive and unaffordable for many locals. They call it Disneyland somewhat disparagingly. 

It's a city that actually belongs to them, but they can't be in it because they can't afford it. If you walk through the old town with your eyes open, you can see buildings that are empty. Large, three or four-story buildings with old, sometimes crumbling facades, dark windows and no curtains, where emptiness reigns. Possible living space that is not used. Probably only objects for rich people who park their money in them. But not for the people who need them. This is our world.

I am glad when we are back again. It was exhausting. I don't sleep enough, restless, keep waking up. The nights are just not good. I don't feel refreshed in the morning. And then I work intensely and a lot. So time flies and I lose myself in it. Often it's like I'm staring at the week I have left like a shy deer looking into a headlight. I cringe at the fact that it's supposed to be over. 

But I'm also glad it's moving on. I don't like being in this city because it doesn't offer me much. It's noisy for not being very big. It's not beautiful. There's no place I like to go to just linger there. Except the lake. Actually a reservoir in the middle of the city. It's a beautiful place, especially now in the fall when it's in all its colorful glory. And the accommodation is good, it's one of the best we've booked through Airbnb. But the rest doesn't made any lasting impression on me. 

But now it goes on. The planning for the further trips is on the agenda, not only for the next one, which will again only be a stopover. So, what is the plan for the coming time now? We have booked all our accommodations for the next six months. From here, it's first off to Berlin. And from there to Brittany. When I think of it, I feel happy.