This was not intended to be a sleep day. I wanted to look around the city. It looked rather interesting last night when I arrived.
However, I woke up in a sweat aware that I had been that way for most of the night. I first put it down to the lack of ventilation in the dormitory. It was also very warm. The windows can not really open much as there is a clear plastic wrapped around the whole building as workmen are engaged in repairs.
After showering I went to breakfast and managed a bit of cereal, several cups of tea and orange juice. I sat around the lounge feeling unpleasant. I decided after a while that an espresso could sort me out. Well the espresso was bitter. Because it took so long to fill the cup I think that the grinder was set too finely. I did not feel any better and went out to the dorm. I ended up dry reaching into a plastic bag. I mean to say, what do you do in a hostel in a case like this. The reaching helped but I still lay down and slept. And I slept some more until around 4 pm, when I got up and headed out for a short walk to the shops. That helped and I got more water and some bananas and yoghurt which I consumed back at the hostel.
I still wasn't on top of things. However to take my mind off the "things" I asked Berge, one of the student centre ex students who gives volunteer time to the centre - and an IT graduate , to try and work out why I wasn't connecting and why my mail would not up load. Well he did the sort of thing that IT wizards can do in Linux on his laptop and then changed some settings on my computer and it was up and working – even if it was by passing Slingshot and using my Gmail account. What marvelous help. Actually, Berge had been the desk student who check me in when I had arrived the previous evening. He is a nice friendly guy with good command of English.
Later he took me on a tour of the student building. It is celebrating its 80th year. There are ten official or public bars for students from any tertiary institution to use. They are the brewery's biggest customer and sell more beer then the next three outlets combined. In term time it works out at two tanker loads a week.
He said that there are 350 doors in the building and there is only one he hasn't been through. But he did admit to get lost a few times when he first started as a volunteer. Under the high domed roof is a great hall. This is set out as a circus tent. There are rows of seats tiered up from the floor level. There is a tent roof hung under the ceiling complete with a decorative frieze around it. On one wall they have a screen for showing films. So this is their concert hall, their symphony orchestra space, a place for debated and for major invited speakers. It had great acoustics especially directly under the to of the dome.
So we continued the tour and found more bars, and a large circular lounge area. There is constant renovation and development and last year they excavated out a basement area which is now a bar.
By now it was time to head to bed.
The day had been interesting in its own way. I had not seen much of the city but I had discovered a side of it which most tour parties would never have the opportunity to do. And with any luck I now have a computer which will work for the rest of the trip without a problem.
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