Penzion Restaurant Centrum Ceske Budejovice

... it was definitely cheaper (only about 8 euro vs. 25 euro) and shaved 2 hours off the trip, but it was a rather interesting trip. We bought our tickets at the bus station and thankfully had assigned seats, because the other option was to buy them directly from the driver. Apparently this is cheaper, but you don't get a seat. When we pulled out of the bus station in one of those big tour buses the seats were full and there were people ...

... was only one of him and the place was packed!

The food was fantastic and the mulled wine just as good. As per usual we had ordered much more food than we needed, but we got through it anyway as it was so yummy! We ran into our neighbours there too and had a bit of a chat, they were happy to hear that we had gotten in to our room.

We had a short wander around town after dinner before going back to our room for a quiet night relaxing.

Day 2 – Tuesday October ...

beer straight from the brewery, hurrah. ceske budejovice is such a pretty town = nice to spend more than an afternoon here this time.

slightly more exciting is the appearance of a washing machine and finally we have clean clothes.

going for an indian tonight as neither of us can eat any more dumplings or fried cheese.

... from the two previous days. We are pretty hungry and see if we can get some lunch at the camp. The two Pensions appear to be open but not serving anything, and they don't speak English at all and our attempts at interpretive meal dance does not seem to amuse. We decide to go over the bridge and walk into town, there are signs here for restaurants, but as it is close to 3pm there does not appear to be open. Heading back at the camp there is a little store so I order a ...

... whoo hoo. I have my camera and am excited. A girl ushers me in to pay but doesn't speak English I try to explain to her about my boots, she goes and gets someone else. They ask about trotting, cantering and galloping, I say trot and canter. They don't speak much English either. Perhaps its my hand signals saying gift for little children, who knows. I put my bag into a locker, get my hat and then follow her out to the stables. Its then I see her tacking ...

... onto flat and otherwise plain surfaces. This ‘mutton dressed as lamb’ approach to exterior design lives on today in those skilled artisans who can craft an exterior wood finish without the need for treating timber or worrying about the ravages of termites. It’s simply ingenious what some people can make things look like with concrete. This creative approach was also currently being used to good effect in other purely functional Czech ...

... very cold so we returned to Prague through the snowy hills. On the way back David found out that he passed all his accountancy exams so he was very happy and we celebrated with pizza! The next day was our last day in Prague so we went to St Thomas church to see the gruesome bodies of some saints (dressed up skeletons) and I bought some little houses as a souvenir. Then we had to catch our flight to Birmingham.

Nathan here: So the Czech Republic was our next stop after Vienna. Initially, we had planned to focus our stay around Prague. However, some friends we met in Nepal encouraged us to look into visiting Ceský Krumlov, which guide books have described as "a practically perfect medeival town." It is. Although the distance is not great, the route to the town is not direct from Vienna so it took a few trains and a bus. Regardless, it was worth it. Tara here: Surrounded by ...

... except for the history of the name and the battle over who gets to call the beer Budweiser. And watching the bottling was fairly entertaining. It even had some light beer tasting straight from the source. So after the tour, I had to catch up with the time. So while waiting for the train I had about 2 pints but I was still behind. It was 1700 and I was about an hour behind, plus being on the ...

... re sharp enough to keep you there longer than you need to be. Cesky Krumlov at night really is a sight and an experience to behold. Though it might have been totally fine all day, warm, sunny, glorious, by night the chivalric mistiness and hazy comes out as if on cue, like 'old man weather' knows that the joint is an old medieval town and takes his cue to usher in an appropriate ambience to appease the drunken, awestruck tourist. Last night ...