May 9, 2024

 Whew!  Thought the whole blog site was toast as I wasn’t able to access it earlier.  Glad to see all my blogs are still here for future reference.  :-)

May 7th was a super lazy day as it was raining till mid afternoon and we were still tired from the travel and walking we’d done the day before.  So…..after breakfast it was a snoozing and movies kind of day.  But once the rain stopped we ventured out cuz that meat and cheese breakfast only lasts so long.  LOL

Made good use of the metro subway whenever the rain started up again and honestly…we’re liking this free public transit thing.  Picked up the red subway line at IP Pavlova which was just around the corner from our hotel.  From there it was just a single stop to the Muzeum station which is where Wenceslas Square is (and the museum of course) can be found.  It is also where the store PriMark is and that is where Lynda was able to find a new suitcase so she isn’t going to have to drag her stuff around in a garbage bag after all.  LOL

While in the subway we had to ask for directions at one point and the nice young police officer who helped point us in the right direction gave me a Czech police shoulder patch to give to my son as I’d told him he was also a police officer.  Cool!

We located a local style restaurant for dinner and along with the mug of beer that seems to have become our standard we had a massive chunk of cheese that had been breaded and fried as well as a kind of dumpling cupcake shell that was filled with smoked ham and sitting in a bed of grilled white cabbage.  It was all good but way too heavy!  The cabbage was my favourite part of the two dishes.

Even though we’d had a lazy morning by the time we got back to the room that night we were both pretty beat and ready for bed again.

May 8th

Another breakfast of meat and cheese and bread.  :-). Starting to feel ready to move to a new place as this breakfast is getting tired and a little change might be good.

Afterward it was another long day of walking walking walking.  We used the metro and the trams again like old pros and were even getting good at transferring between the different subway lines.  We did have to laugh though as on our final trip “home” we couldn’t figure out which direction to take the tram in so instead we took a tram to a stop that we knew where it was and where there was also a metro line.  That meant we had to cross back over the river in the wrong direction so that we could take the metro back under the river to another transfer station so we could get close to home again.  It was very convoluted but made total sense to us.  LOL!

We also decided to find the main train station so we could buy our tickets to Cesky Krumlov for the next day.  Good thing we did too!  It took us forever to walk there and then once we got close enough to see it we couldn’t figure out how to get across the barriers to the front of it.  In the end, we had to backtrack, go down another 2 flights of stairs into an underpass, wind our way through that and then back up 2 flights of stairs to the right side of the roads to be able to access the station.  That underpass we had to go through was actually the first time we’ve seen any garbage.  We’re guessing that might have been because of the rain….like maybe there was a homeless person(s) getting out of the rain down there.  It was also the only underground tunnel we’d been in that was FILLED with graffiti.  Some of the graffiti looked very good actually but it was just so different as everything has been so clean and well kept for a city this size.  The train station is a magnificent building!  The main floor is stunning with a coffee shop and rounded ceilings and frescos and stained glass.  Wow!  Just Wow!  Downstairs was the hall where people were waiting to find out which platform their train was scheduled to be on (they get posted 15-20 mins prior to departure time).  And another floor beneath that was where we were able to get our tickets.  In the end the tickets cost us just under $10 CAD each for the direct train to Cesky Krumlov (although we’ve been calling it sexy crumbs as we’ve been trying to think of ways to remember so many unfamiliar names.). Our price was a senior rate so again….appreciating the deals available to seniors for transit in the Czech Republic.

I said we walked a LOT and we did….one of the places we walked was all the way across Charles Bridge (built in the 1300’s) and all through the meandering streets of lesser town (below the bridge).  We also took the little boats that leave from under the bridge (same place the king’s boat would depart from) and had a great tour from the Vltava River vantage.  That is the river that runs through the city and it is the same river that runs all the way to the Bohemian part of the Czech Republic where we will go tomorrow on the train.

But before I get to the Bohemian region…..I gotta finish up in Prague!  We finally got our chimney cake and it was amazing!  Rolled strips of dough wrapped around a wooden roller, rolled to force the edges to come together into a single sheet, then rolled in sugar and baked over an element that left the dough golden brown and the sugar all caramelized and crunchy.  I had a classic one (just plain) and Lynda opted for the one that was filled with whipped cream.  They were both delicious and we realized as we were finishing that we really should have shared.  LOL - next time. :-)

May 9th

Taxi had been booked for 8:30 pick up at Hotel Tivoli and he was right on time so off to the train station it was.  The hotel clerk thought we were crazy getting a cab when we could walk and use public transit but when we thought about hauling our cases up and down several flights of stairs as well as over cobblestone streets for at least a 30 minute walk…..we figured the taxi was well worth the investment!  And when it came time to pay him the bill was just 150 krona (about $9 CAD)!  That $9 was money well spent!!!  

Everyone here drives very fast and our taxi driver this morning was no exception.  As he sped along the road with the rest of the traffic there was another car trying to budge into our lane and not yielding at all.  I guess our taxi driver was not happy about that and there was no way he was going to let that car in!  Once we were past the other car (it was bumper to bumper cars for the most part) he came flying up beside us in the fast lane and whipped in front of us and slammed on his brakes!  Our driver was NOT happy!  It was a case of two egos hashing it out on the road with these two old grandmas in the back seat hanging on for dear life.  LOL! :-)

In the end, we got to the station, found our platform, and the correct train as well as our assigned seats well in advance of departure time so were pretty proud of ourselves.  

The journey between Prague and Cesky Krumlov takes about 2 1/2 hours and as we both had window seats the views were really pretty….well….they were pretty when there were no walls or tunnel on either side of the tracks.  The journey passes through fields of farmland and everything is so green right now it’s lovely and fresh.

Once we arrived in C. Krumlov we got a cab to bring us into the city centre (population here is about 13,000) so we could find a place to stay.  But before I get to the accommodation part….I need to share what happened in our cab from the C Krumlov station to city centre.  Our cab driver spoke no English at all.  There was obviously a problem in the road ahead as traffic was completely stopped for some time.  I tried to ask the driver in sign language if there was maybe an accident ahead….he just shrugged and I gave up.  Suddenly, out of the blue Lynda perks up and says in perfect Czech, “Kosay deehay” and the driver (with a big grin) said “budova”  I thought….WTF?!  Lynda speaks Czech????? At which time she turned to me and said in perfect English, “construction ahead”.  I was so confused….is this a parallel universe or what?!  Yesterday she couldn’t figure out which station to stop at and today she is fluent….yep…..WTF!?  Unbeknownst to me….she had found someone’s wifi while we were stopped  and googled Czech translator (we still haven’t got data on either of our phones which is why we ask policemen which way to go-which is not always bad because now i have a patch to give Dean) LOL  End of story….she still can’t speak Czech and we really must get data soon!  

Now back to the search for accommodation……The first place we looked at was fully booked but the clerk there was lovely and helped us find another spot for the night.  She found one that was just about 100 meters closer to the main square and we were off again with our taxi driver.  This place we’re at is called Penzion U Namesti.  We got instructions on how to access room number 2 by using a lock box to get the key and supposedly the manager will show up here some time tonight to collect the rent.  LOL….we’ve been back at the room for almost two hours now and will be heading out again soon so hopefully he shows up or we will have to figure out another way to find him.  We have no contact info for him.  LOL.  Our room is just one flight of stairs up - thank heavens!  And….this building was built in 1532 which explains why there are icicles coming out of the tap.  LOL …..no icicles but it is damn cold in here tonight.  Lynda has two jackets with hood up and a blanket covering her to try to get warm!  We just located the heater so it will warm up in no time.  The weather today was gorgeous but even in the heat of the day the room was cool so now that the sun is gone the room is actually pretty cold.  When we arrived we found lemonade and coffee/tea fixings, and a cake in the common area so we can help ourselves any time we want.  What a nice touch!  Our room here is great but the location is even better than the room.  We are literally across the “street” (so skinny that you can’t open car doors if you’re in it) from a restaurant and about 50 meters from the main square.  Funny story when we arrived…..all the streets are very hilly and made of cobblestone (remember 1500’s)  Also, I mentioned how skinny the street right in front of our house is….well as we were trying to get the key out of the lockbox without losing either of our suitcases (on wheels) down the “street” a van came by.  Lynda moved as far as she could toward the building but the van still hit her backpack with his side mirror!  Yep….that’s a skinny street!

We LOVE this town!  It is nestled in the Bohemian region of the Czech Republic and is picture postcard perfect.  The Vltava River meanders right through the middle of it and so many of the restaurants have views looking over the water.  The castle that looms above it all is MASSIVE!  And…they still keep bears in the moat around the castle just as they always have.  Since we’ve been here we tried another go at the fried cheese dish but this time it was melted in foil on the BBQ and covered in onions and bacon.  It’s still not my favourite but I’m glad we gave it one more shot.  The beer here is delicious…in fact the next town over is where Budweiser war first created.  Not the US type of Bud….but the European one and I guess there is some dispute about the US using the name.  I’m guessing Bud is too big to care.  :-) LOL

Also found a little coffee shop called Drunken Coffee where poppy seed and raspberry cake paired with a shot of a local cherry brandy in a delicious latte made me a happy camper.  When I asked the host the meaning behind the name she replied, “we like good coffee and we like good alcohol so it made sense”.  I love this place!

We are going to head back out shortly as soon it will be dark and then the lights will come on and I’m thinking this beautiful place will become a magical beautiful place! 

Tomorrow we will say good bye to the Czech Republic and hello to Austria as we plan to spend a night in Vienna en route to Bratislava, Slovakia.

Till next time,

L & L