Yesterday I slept until around 7:30 am, and went for a jog around town, and went back to my room at the hotel. I then had breakfast at the free buffet. And what a buffet it was! The serving tables had all types of cereal, eggs, an omelet station, various meats, cheeses, you name it. Staying largely in hostels, I haven't seen a breakfast buffet like this in a while-certainly not since I began travelling. I had three (or four) bowls of cereal, a hard-boiled egg, a few pieces of good cheese, and two oranges. It was a good breakfast-with professionally dressed servers, etc. And people from all around the world eating-of course the difference between the hotel and hostel is that-in a hotel people simply talk to only those they know, and nobody else (if they can help it).
After breakfast, I went back to the room. I spent the morning checking out emails and relaxing. Checkout was at 12:00 pm-and I was enjoying the alone time. At 11:30, I went to the front desk and tried to get a later checkout-by 1:00 pm. The lady at the front desk insisted that I could only stay in the room for an additional 40 Euros-so I checked out on time. I didn't wait until noon to vacate the room-My phone said 11:58.
The bus to Pristina, Kosovo was scheduled for 3:00-so I had some time to kill. The beauty of Tirana is I saw most of the attractions I had wanted to see, which is why I enjoyed the stay at the hotel-no pressure to see/do anything else. So I walked back down to a park, and spent some time in an English Language bookstore. I even climbed to the top of a pyramid building-the one that was a monument to former dictator Enver Hoxha.
I then got the bus to Pristina. The bus left from right behind the hotel, and the 4 hour ride was uneventful-although the scenery, past mountains and valleys, was beautiful. Even passport control was quick and easy. The only problem is I still wasn't feeling 100%. The cough was better but I was still somewhat gassy. In the past when I stayed at hotels, I was happy to leave-but now I was wondering if I should have stayed another night at the hotel. But as the bus got closer to Pristina I made peace with my decision to move on.
Pristina is different then Tirana. The roads seem modern, and there seems to be less traffic and more order. When I arrived at around 7:00 (or so)-I followed the directions to the hostel-which we're easy. I checked in, and received a bottom bunk (now that summer is over-hostels, at least the ones I have stayed in, are rarely full and I have more of a choice).
I then went to a restaurant called the Nazi (go figure), had dinner of mashed potatoes, cabbage and water for less then $2.00 euros (I didn't want any meat or pizza), and then came back to the hostel. The plan was to go to bed early-but a bunch of people we're sitting around and decided to put a movie into the dvd player in the common room. The choices we're (1) Children of Men, or (2) Hangover 2. Everyone originally agreed on Children of Men, (I think that is what it was called-where nobody has children, or something like that), but I was sort of glad when the DVD case was empty-as we could watch Hangover 2. I am not a real fan of the Hangover movies-but I was in the mood for something light. I have already seen the film, (again-it is ok but not great)-but watched it again. As in most hostels I have been to, the DVD was a bootlegged copy-or at least appeared to be. I feel alseep a few times during the film, and went to bed around 1:00 or so.
