Hotel Bohemia Trebon

... but Kit went for the real reason to go to the Czech Republic – Absinth. I can now say I’ve tried the real stuff, took a tiny sip of his, but couldn’t get past the taste or smell of licorice, not that I would really want to anyway. Thanks anyway, I’ll stick with my glass Bohemian red wine!

Most of us slept in on Sunday, since we didn’t have anywhere to be or really anything to do. But I did get up and get ...

... he had forgotten a paddle. ‘Wait’ he said then sped off to get the paddle.

We were left to wait while watching a couple return from a trip they had obviously just finished, and she was not happy! They pulled up to the bank and the girl stormed up the side yelling that she had enough and was flying home! I’m not sure where they were from, either England or Australia, but it was pretty funny! She was furious, and she was wet, so I assume they must have tipped ...

... day was overcast but warm. It was perfect.
Then we pacificists set out for our Army Training. We drove up a Forbidden Road (with actual Soviet-era Keep Out signs) to a decommisioned Communist military base for our basic training.
After being yelled at by a Soviet officer while standing stiffly at attention, the fun began.
We all went off into a field to stop an incursion from Austria. This involved a man being ...

... and get a letter for a passport, Lena went off to cancel her credit cards in the camp site office and I stayed to guard the van - we moved it first to right up by the office as it felt so unsafe to stay in the spot it happened, knowing that they could get in so easily any time they chose. They'd come in through the big side window (just above scruff's bed) Popped it open somehow without even breaking the locks!?? The next day (after a pretty sleepless night for us all) we got up and in a ...

... 2 "mature" ladies slid the door open expecting to find their reserved seats - what a blow, we needed some luck to go our way or else we were going to have a very cramped day. The ladies seemed about as happy as us to share. The prospects for them were worse than us; fancy spending the day with a noisy Australian family!! They went off to find another empty compartment. Everybody happy in the end. The day was sunny and clear, so we got a glimpse ...

... on taking the bus, there is something infinitely safer and easier about taking a train. Perhaps its less human interaction, who knows. I take my map and laptop and head off. I follow a road which I think leads to the train station and after about 20 minutes see there is a sign for the horse riding in 2.5kms, so I decide to take this road. Both decisions are wrong, I am on a different part of the road ...

(Originally published at http://www.troysgonewalkabout.com)
< br>Český Krumlov was no less beautiful in the daylight and, though it was still cold, the intermittent spells of sunshine and light snow only added to the feeling of stumbling into a European fairytale. The number of other visitors we were sharing the exploration of the town centre with was not particularly high, the shops and restaurants lining the cobbled streets had been commercialised ...

... security guards, I must say. They kindly asked me to leave the premises (I'm guessing that as they spoke only Czech!) and escorted all the way to the street. - After the issue at the brewery I finally got onto the train to Cesky Krumlov around 6:00 pm but that ended up being a horrible experience too. They were fixing the railway in some points so we had to change from train to bus to another bus to train to bus to train before getting to Cesky ...

... We lugged the tubes back up to the hostel, got ourselves ready to head back out, returning to the Bohemian joint for a 'rabbit feast' (served on chopping block), and sharing some good conversation with Sarah, an Aussie from brisvegas, and Lucie, the Czech hostel chick. A few shots of becherovka, a few more beers, and the night fell upon the castle tipped skyline. Always a sucker for punishment, i agreed to accompany the others to the Horror Bar around the corner, where ...

... were bears that they keep there. They were so cute! We had chocolate covered ice cream, and looked around at antique shops. We had dinner at Papa's Living Restaurant. I had onion soup and cheese pizza. We went to a cafe and I had vanilla ice cream with whipped cream and chocolate sauce. We went back to the hotel and went to sleep. Caroline and I slept in the loft with two beds and two windows.