Cesky Krumlov

Greetings from the Czech Republic.....Cesky Krumlov.

Getting here was quite an experience (a completely different experience than the night train....) Andy booked a "shuttle bus" to drive us the 2 or 3 hour drive from Vienna to Cesky Krumlov. We called the shuttle bus driver this morning and he showed up at our hotel. As we stepped outside I saw a nicely dressed man and a car. Definitely no bus. Whatever, I'm thinking....maybe "shuttle bus" in Europe means "man with nice car". I didn't have too many alarms go off in my head, so I just went with it.

Turns out, the man (a citizen of Czech Republic that also holds residency in Washington DC, who works in international affairs for the UN...) was doing a favor for his sister who runs the shuttle bus company. So basically, we paid for a bus ride, but instead ended up with a driver and inside info about this little town. Anyhow, his English was flawless (he lived in the States for 15 years) and he gave us background and many tips throughout the 3 hour drive. His family owns the largest hostel and 2 restaurants here in Cesky. At the end of the drive we had to figure out how to pay for the ride. We only had Euros and credit card, so Mr. Vasek told us to just drop payment off at either the shuttle bus company office, his family's restaurants/hostel, or to just leave it at our hostel. He said that we "didn't look like the Russians who ripped him off earlier in the week and never paid..." Talk about the "honor system". (Yes, we dropped our payment off...)

Our hostel (the only hostel we are staying in on this trip) is really nice. We actually booked the "apartment" of the hostel. So we have our own room, kitchen, and bathroom, seperate from the hostel, but for really cheap!

Here is a picture of the outside of our charming little hostel....

The Czech Republic has only been free from Communism since 1989....Our driver told us stories of growing up here during that time on the drive......the architecture of the area is unlike anything we've ever seen. The picture below was taken from the top of the hill in the city where a castle sits.

Here is another view of the town, through one of the walls around the castle.

Here is the town square....notice the sunshine. Ahhh yes, the first sun that we've seen on our trip. Apparently European scientists have been doing research about the effect the large volcano explosion has had on the weather. There has been much more rain than usual and widespread flooding.

Okay.....if I had to start a "Top 10 Things We've Learned On Our Europe Trip" list number one would be....... 1) Andy demands perfection from the foreigners that are taking our picture for us. In fact, he has only approved of one of the pictures that other people have taken...(Scottish guy at Eiffel Tower, who apparently, I called British before....I guess I'm biased). He had 3 different people attempt to take this picture...none of them got the angle he wanted....

This picture was taken just a few moments away from our hostel....Gorgeous. The clouds almost look fake...

Andy is mastering the take the picture of us arm hold....I love this picture. :)

We spent the rest of the evening wandering around the town square. It just so happens that we were here during the town festival that happens once a year. The area was packed with people and we got to try all different kinds of food. (I had a few Mojitos as well...the people here are crazy for them!!!)

Final thought: we passed a group of people today on the street and as they walked by one of the ladies said "Minnesota..." I said "Hello" and Andy didn't say anything because they were already past us. Then I heard the man say, "I don't think they're really from Minnesota though, they don't speak English..." We are blending in with the locals. Sweet!! :) We were laughing pretty hard about that....

Tomorrow morning we will board a bus to Prague....we'll be there for two nights.

Love from Cesky Krumhoff :)