Hotel Barbora Cesky Krumlov

... had a chance to sleep a little, since the "scenery" outside was just highway.

Once we got to Cesky we had to find a taxi driver to drive us to the hotel where everyone had already checked in, which was a little more of an effort than we expected. After settling into the room the group headed over to the main square where we met up with Stanislaw, our tour guide. Stan came to Cesky about 25 years ago so he has seen the town transform ...

... from the old town. We walk to a bus stop and take it downtown. The problems continue. Sharon is exhausted and wants the nearest hostel, not one 100m further. We end up at Hostel Tyn with a private room. As luck would have it, our new home lands us in the middle of Old Town right behind the Church of Our Lady Before Tyn and the Old Town Square. A nice Thai dinner, bottle of wine, and some gorgeous views of the city makes the world seem much nicer.

... I had expected (ok, it’s only about 8 euro but that’s not the point!). The horse riding was 600 and I had paid the guy at the shop 240 and this guy still wanted 560 from me! He didn’t speak a word of English so I must admit I kind of lost my cool a little bit. He kept saying yes, I kept saying no and we continued to bang our heads against the wall until he called the shop and put me on to the guy there.

It turned out that there was a 100 kron transfer charge ...

... br>
The castle’s very cool. It’s probably not entirely authentic, but the outside of the castle is painted all over with lots of pretty colours in interesting designs. On the first day me & the Canadian girl in my dorm got a crash course in Czech up at the castle from 2 people from Prague. Which was helpful for hey/hi/hello, which in Czech is apparently Ahoy! Just like a pirate. The big thing to do in Cesky K is something ...

... movies last night, which ended up drawing a huge crowd. I think everyone was really enjoying having the time to chill out and be normal for once. We had another early night to bed as we were all pretty exhausted from our big rafting day. I was so glad this morning as although we are getting picked up by the bus, it wont be here till 11.30am so we got to have a sleep in. usually we have to be ready to go at 7.30am in the main cities like Berlin and ...

... cafes and restaurants to thaw out in, enjoy more hearty Czech food and delight in the company of fantastic friends. Travelling just doesn’t get any better than this. After such a satisfying day there was no finer way to end it than to make like the impressions of King Henry VIII at a medieval banquet, using my hands to chomp away gluttonously around a pork knee bone. I was as happy as a pig in mud – before its knee ended up on my plate, obviously.

... to death a stupid drunk soldier who had ventured down there as a dare (the bear had to be killed to save him, grrr) and showed us the building that the Jesuits had burned down during a heavy drinking session in the 15th century (so Catholics haven't changed much over the centuries...JOKE). Anyway, I could go on, but suffice to say it was great. The other two in our tour group were newlywed Americans Dave and Jess (from Texas, who quickly and defensively said ...

... castle long ago. It was a moment that took me back in time.

And then our afternoon spent at the castle was a moment all in it's own.

... the wind will make the umbrella useless anyway. Possibly a larger theme than the medieval one is drinking. The prices are cheap and the locals go mad drinking and eating sausages in bread, it felt like a barbecue that didn't stop. There was even pigs roasting on the spit and hot mead to drink while listening to old time hootenany music to add to the authentic atmosphere. The pubs near the town square didn't close the ...

... Hora for. It's the ossuary at Sedlec. The cemetery at the church pulled in hordes of deceased after an Abbot sprinkled a jar of earth from the Holy Lands on it in the 13th century. The Black Plague boosted the popularity of the place, forcing the crypt to become a bone yard for 40,000 dead Czechs. In 1870 a local woodcutter was hired to set the bones into creative patterns. What else to do with old bones? But even ...