18 Hours

After the crazy day touring Prague, we opted for what we thought was going to be a much more relaxing journey... and, for the most part, it was. Having slept for almost 12 (interrupted) hours, we left Hotel Kacerov for Cesky Krumlov. Cesky Krumlov is often described as a mini-Prague. Now experienced Metro travelers (heck, we did it once, right?), we headed for the train station. Nobody at the (ugly) train station spoke English, so through signs and sounds, we finally figured out when and from where our train for Cesky Krumlov departed. As it turned out, we had very cool compartment mates: (1) an older woman, dressed up to go home for a visit with her grandchildren (or so I deduced), (2) a young, hippie lady with an ipod and laptop, jamming away (much like last night), (3) a woman closer to my age with a little Corky-dog (miniature schnauzer) who was as sweet as her dog (who took a great liking to me and to him), and (4) and (5) two young guys (both 25) who were young professionals on a day trip to another small village. The two young guys both spoke very good English, and one worked for the state transportation board. They were very informative about the area, the transportation situation in Czech Republic and in translating for us.

We changed trains to a small train (similar to the one we took to Bacharach in Germany on Thursday). The countryside reminded me so much of Colville. Similar in types of plants and trees, slightly rolling hills and small mountains, and temperate weather. The difference is that the towns all were quite old and linked by train.

Upon arrival in Cesky Krumlov, we walked (we now walk a lot) to the town. This town, along with the newly included Bacharach, is another favorite small town. It too has the cobblestone streets, the castle, and the cathedral (essential components)... It just has a good vibe. Our first stop was at a highly recommended pizza joint where I had one of the best Quattro Formaggio pizzas maybe ever. We had Eggenbrach (or something like that) -- the local beer. After our afternoon break, we headed through town and ended up buying "Bohemian Crystal" - a set of 12 water glasses. We were really excited to find them -- they seem to be good quality (how would we know anyway? We are convinced, however!) and are quite pretty. Of course, buying them that early on meant that we had to carry them throughout the rest of our tour and yes, up another flight of stairs to the top of a tower spire.

Having wandered amongst the gardens, the castle, and the tower, we headed back to town. We did not make it too far before Dustin bought me some garnet earrings -- which are perfect and match a necklace he gave me long ago. We stopped to get some ice cream (heck, we deserve it after the walking).

After the ice cream, we decided to catch an earlier train to the home of Budweiser Beer, Cesky Budejovice. Outside of Cw=esky Kruvlov, however, we realized that we did not know how to get back to the train station... Nobody spoke English (it is too far removed from Prague), and we spoke no Czech. We vaguely remembered where the station was but were a little turned around... Looking through the tour book, we found the Czech word for train - vlak (which, note, looks and sounds nothing like train). We found a girl with her father (?) and motioned that we wanted to know where the "vlak" was. Given no common language, the girl walked us to the train station -- no small feet as it was a 20 minute walk uphill. We tried to communicate with her, but to no avail. She would not take a gift of any kind for her service and just skipped away as soon as she was sure we would not be lost... She sort of reminded me of a softer Maggie Porter, for those of you who know her.

So, we made the train and the subsequent stop at Cesky Budejovice. The beer was good -- in the beer hall of the Budweiser (no, not the same as in the States) brewing plant. Apparently the American Budweiser company used the name Budweiser initially because it was synonomous with good beer -- and we found that to be true. Dustin had a typical Czech meal -- two kinds of dumplings, ham, duck, pork, sauerkraut, and beer. I had a salad :). There was a lively Wayne-Hillard-style band (ala Sacramento Jazz Festival)... The video is here:




We made it back to our favorite Hotel, Hotel Kacerov after taking the last Metro for the day at 12:10 AM. By the time we went to bed, it was 1am, 18 hours of traveling had past, and the club was hopping. Rachel and Brian -- as a sidenote -- we really felt what it was like to live in Chicago above a bar!!