The call of the bat

Prague

photo by Max 2011
Strahov Library

latitude 50* 05' North

longitude 14* 25' East

sunrise 5:16 am

sunset 8:42 pm

This morning, in the early morning, still dark, I am awakened by small, persistent noises...a lizard on the screen? but, we don't have lizards. Fluttering, scritchy sounds that come and go. Now I am awake, full alert. Papery sounds, near my head, then on the other side of the room. I sit up and quickly turn on the light the better to catch sight of whatever it is. I blink in the strong light. nothing. then fleeting shadows, or is that a small body? The movement becomes the delicate flight of a bat looping back and forth around the bedroom seeking an exit. I get up and open the screen. The bat, unconvinced, clings to the brick of the chimney. Roger gently catches it in a towel and tosses it out the window into the rain. I try to sleep. An hour later I get up. It's already 10:35 a.m. in Prague; time I was up anyway.

I am almost all packed. I am traveling as a low-tech pilgrim. To save myself possible security headaches, and to maximize my time as a traveler, rather than a tourist, I may not post to this blog until I am home. I am eager to be off, to meet Maria at JFK, then to walk on cobblestones that have carried many people through rich, historic times.

The road goes ever on and on...