Surfs Up

Day 252
I woke up and laid in bed for a bit. At one point I heard someone coming up the steps and assumed that it was the guy from the night before. He then knocked on my door. I decided to pretend to not hear it. After a few knocks he tried to open the door. Creepy. It was locked and he went away.

After breakfast I got my act together and went to the castle. It wasn't opened but I was able to check out the birds that guarded it. With nothing really to do I just headed back to the hostel and worked on my blog for some time.

When it was finally time to go I had a bit of a panic attack. The bus station was rather large and no one seemed to know where the bus to Vienna was. It even took me some time to figure out where I could actually ask. Eventually I found it and after a short bus ride and a train ride I was in Vienna.

After waiting a few minutes I was greeted by couchsurfer Christine. She was kind enough to allow me to crash at her place for the evening. Christine was about to embark on her own big trip and was having a going away dinner that night. After dumping my stuff at her place we headed there.

The dinner was at an Indian place that was all you can eat and pay what you wish. It was really quite good. When the party was over we headed back to her place and chatted for some time before calling it a night.

Time Warp

Day 251
The family was really loud and eating breakfast at 6 am. I didn't realize how early it was though. Somehow I had messed up the time on my ipod so that it was 2 hours ahead. After falling back to sleep I woke up and thought that it was about 10 am. I rushed getting ready and eating. The tourist office wasn't going to be open in the afternoon and I wanted to make sure that I got there on time. It wasn't until I checked the time when I saw the office wasn't open and I thought it should be that I realized what time it actually was. To kill the next hour I wandered around and took pictures of random things.

When the office opened I was a bit shocked to find out that the woman didn't speak any English, but did speak German. Half of the questions that I wanted to ask went flying out of my head. I did manage to find out the bus times though and which museums were opened.

Nothing would be opened for an hour so I headed back to the hostel and ran into Claire and Kasey. We decided to go on the underground tour, however, we had to wait until noon and got some tea to pass the time.

That tunnel tour was one of the more interesting of this type that I have been on. The English part was on a handout, but it was clearly marked when we were meant to read each part. The tunnels have been used for storage and protection for the last several hundred years. A long time ago the towns people knew that the Swedish army was approaching so they hid themselves and all their valuables in the tunnels. The Swedes found an empty town and left compltly creeped out.

We also passed an old wine cellar and a gnome. The gnome was ugly. There was a small labyrinth that even I had to bend down in. At one point the guide turned off the lights. We all had to just stand there and wait, going forwards would ensure getting hurt.

After the tour we headed for lunch and then Claire and Kasey were back to Prague. I headed to the history museum but found it to be rather boring and didn't stay long.

Back at the hostel I spent most of the evening updateing the blog and talking to my mom. I had thought that I had the place to myself but around 10 a random guy showed up. It turns out that his car had broken down and he was stuck. He didn't speak English and sat in the kitchen smoking. This was really annoying me so I went out to a local wine bar and wrote for a bit.

Today’s Letter is Z

Day 250
Day 250 should be a big day. It really is just another day, but one with a nice big round number to it. Perhaps if I had known in advance I would have planned something special, but as it is, I’m not really cognitive of the day of the week or date, let alone the day number. I guess everyday is a weekend for me.

I was up unbelievably early. The French guy, who had spent about an hour complaining about loud people in hostels the night before, was up at about 6 and must have had 100 plastic bags to pack his things in. Because of this I was way early for breakfast. I ended up getting my things packed up to pass the time. I was able to get rid of a couple of bottles and some books, making my load lighter. This made me very happy.

CFM left shortly after breakfast and I finally had some peace. I had a bus to catch, but not for a bit. I had wanted to take advantage of the free internet, but the monitor was missing. I read my book instead. I headed out a few minutes early for my noon bus. It was late and I just stood there freezing for a bit.

After an hour I got to Znojmo. I had no directions to my hostel, just a picture. I thought that it would be easy to see from the station. It really wasn’t. I wandered for some time and lucky ran into Claire and Kasey, teachers from Prague here for the weekend. They knew where the hostel was and led the way.

Once I had dropped off my things I headed out for lunch. I was a bit sick of Czech food and thought I would go to a Chinese place that I had passed earlier. I couldn’t find it, but I did find a place called the Saloon that had American flags on the outside. I felt like this was my type of place. Inside they only had Czech and German on the menu. I would have found it really funny if they didn’t have an English menu at all. Luckily they did and I got fried cheese. I guess I wanted some Czech food after all.

Znojmo was completely dead. It sort of reminded me of Cosenza in Italy. This could be a really pretty town, but its kinda falling apart. Perhaps it is good for me to go to at least one place in the CR that isn’t a UNESCO site. I wandered the empty streets for some time before going back to the hostel.

This is a holiday weekend and there was a family consisting of several generations staying here from Prague. They took over the kitchen completely. I ended up going to my room (I was the only one in there) and taking a nap. I really felt out of place.

When I woke up it was dinner time and I ended up chatting with Claire and Kasey some more. This is one of the Czech wine regions and they had tried to do some tastings today. Nothing was open so they bought a selection of wines from the Znovin vineyard instead. They were very nice and shared their tasting with me. Eventually the family came back and we sort of felt like we were intruding. It took some time, but we found a hotel bar with super cheap beer and we had a couple of drinks there. When it closed we went looking for something else, but there was nothing so we simply went back to the hostel. I was happy to see that I still had the room to myself.

Winged Beasts and Other Tales

Day 249
Last night I had the misfortune of meeting my new roommate. He was a Frenchman who had lived in the Philippines for the last decade after retiring from the military. I find it very unfortunate that he was so annoying. He had a wealth of travel experience and I could have learned a lot from him. The first problem was that even though he spoke English quite well, his accent was terrible and he spoke very quickly, I seemed to miss the middle of every sentence he said. The other problem was that he complained constantly. There weren’t the typical travel complaints either. You know, I hate carrying my bag, this person pushed me, does this country serve any food that isn’t fried first? He was attacking the people themselves, their level and willingness to speak English (yes, I said he was French) and even nitty gritty tourist structure stuff. Apparently everything in Asia is better and Europe sucks. He might have been the reason I went out for dinner the night before.

I was not happy to find out over breakfast that he was planning the same day trip as me. Also, as it was the weekend and off season, there was only one bus there and one bus back. So, fun for me, I could get stuck with him all day. At the bus stop he was very loud in saying that he felt that they make life hard on travelers on purpose in the CR. His current complaint was because the bus time tables are rather hard to read. I have been solving this by asking around and it hasn’t been a problem. I did the same today and met a really wonderful person. I couldn’t pronounce or spell her name though, so we will refer to her as NCG (nice Czech girl, or NCGWRMFTCFM nice Czech girl who rescued me from the crazy Frenchman). She confirmed that we were in the right place and we continued our conversation until we got to Telc. She was headed to Trebon to visit her boyfriend. When I joked that he should come to her I was informed that this was just what her mom had said. That is a very scary comparison.

When the bus got to Telc the bus driver had a bit of a break so NCG walked me part of the way to the city center. CFM (crazy Frenchman) was nowhere to be seen and she asked me if he was American as well, and said that he was very opinionated. I told her where he was from and we dropped the subject, but were sure to exchange emails before parting.

Now this is something that really annoys me. Not NCG, she didn’t annoy me at all. When people speak English well, or even just understand a bit it is often difficult or impossible for them to be able to tell apart different accents. So whenever someone is speaking English and behaving badly they are automatically branded as an American. It doesn’t matter where they are from, or even what level of English they actually have, they are American. The thing is, pretty much all avid travelers have an excellent hold on English, it’s the language of travel. Americans, sadly, are not huge travelers. On occasion on this trip I’ve gone more than a month between American sightings. Therefore, most people speaking English are not American. But when they misbehave, as we all do time to time, they are thought of as Americans. Hence, the ugly American travel slur. I guess my complaint (or random rant) is that I want to be judged on my own behavior, not on anyone else’s that came before me. If people don’t like me, that’s fine, there are a whole lot of people that I don’t like. And really, if you don’t like me, you’re not worth my time. (But if you don’t like me and your reading this blog, I must ask, do you have a life?) Just don’t dislike me for where I was born, dislike me for me, and dislike other people for being who they are as individuals as well. Ok, rant over, back to travel.

Telc (Telch) is known for its odd shaped and rather impressive square. It was easy to find, if I went in any other direction I would have been on country roads. With NCG’s help I had gotten away from CFM, and it looked like I would have a wonderful day. Of course, my first stop was the same as his, the tourist office. Now he was complaining loudly that it was closed. I told him that I was going to get some tea and went off on my own. It wasn’t hard, there were a lot of signs.

Instead of tea I spent some time checking out the buildings in the main square and photographing them. I walked into a couple of nondescript churches, but without names I can’t really report on them. Eventually I checked out the lake and ended up in a rather pretty alley.

The only museum open was called the Teksky Dom, it was a history and legends museum. It sounds really corny, even as I write it, but it wasn’t. Well, it was, but I liked it. The first room had several Czech legends depicted in porcelain. This bit was also translated into English. I read about two lover who went to the cellar to get more wine who accidentally set off a barrel of gun powder, killing everyone. I also read about another set of young lovers. The man had to go to war and didn’t come back for years. When he did he discovered that his girlfriend had married someone else. In a jealous rage he killed her groom. He was beheaded for his actions and she jumped out a window in her sorrow. There were also several about people out smarting the devil. These seem to be common everywhere.

There was a small collection of historical artefact's, but nothing was in English and they were not very interesting. Downstairs had rather large ceramic figures acting out different stories, they were nice, but only in Czech. I did like the small peak into Telc’s underground though. The upstairs rooms had games and I think they may have been for kids, but I managed to kill some time here as well.

After the museum it was lunch time and I found a cheap place for a cheese sandwich and to write a bit. I had a few hours to kill and wandered the parks for a bit. I also managed to find some new pens. When I got bored, well, cold, I got some tea and chocolate cake. I passed the time by writing. I had free internet at the hostel and I wanted to take advantage of it and needed things to type to do that.

It was rather unfortunate, but the main museum and the castle were close. Maybe next time. The ride back was fine, I didn’t even seen the CFM until I got off.

Back at the hostel I figured I would work on the blog and read for the evening. The CFM had other plans though and I ended up going to the bar downstairs to milk a beer over my book before falling asleep. I just couldn’t listen to that man complain any longer.

Doing Stuff

Day 248
I was up early and managed to finish showering just as breakfast was starting. I had a lot of hand washing to do, but it didn’t take me as long as I had expected it would.

Trebic (Trebich) is known for its Jewish ghetto. This isn’t the WWII type ghetto, but rather a renaissance one. This is not only the best preserved Jewish neighborhood in the CR, but quite possibly also in Europe. At the height of the ghetto there were about 1,500 people living here. By WWII there were only 281 Jews left. Only ten of those survived the Holocaust and only one choose to return to Trebic. There were thoughts during the communist era to destroy the area, but there wasn’t any money for it and the buildings remained. After communism ended the mayor, who recognized the importance of the area, campaigned to have it restored and even managed to barrow about US $1 million from the States to help. As a testament to all this work the area was added to the UNESCO World Heritage list in 2003.

I wandered the streets and admired the buildings for a while before finding the lower Synagogue. This is different from the upper synagogue, which is now a protestant church. For just a dollar I got to take pictures and have a guided tour. The structure was built in 1669 in the renaissance style. Eventually a woman’s gallery was added. Several years later the separate entrance and staircase for this was incorporated into a house. The houses owner had to allow women to enter the synagogue through his house. In 1706 some fabulous prayer mosaics were painted on the walls. Paper was expensive so these were just the prayers that were important but not often recited and therefore not often committed to memory. Due to the small size of the Jewish community by WWII the structure was being used to hold leather goods. This may have been why it was not destroyed by the Nazi’s, they probably didn’t know what it was for. After the war, until restoration in the 1990’s it was used to store potatoes.

It was rather quiet and very peaceful, but I found it to be a bit sad that it no longer served its original purpose. Upstairs there were further details on the area and objects that had been left behind when the occupants were taken to Terizen (transport camp outside of Prague) in 1943.

After the museum it was time for me to find the round bastion, but I was thirsty, so I looked for a cafe first. As I was finishing my juice an older man, maybe in his 70’s, was carried out of the cafe. He had been drinking beer and fell sloppily asleep at his table. It was about eleven am.

Once I had rehydrated I headed up a massive hill in the direction I thought I was meant to go. I ended up way out of my way and after about an hour of wandering I had given up. When I got back down the hill I asked the first younger person (person under 30 who probably speaks English) for help. As luck would have it Suzanne did speak English and as she was off of uni for a few days she had nothing but time. The actual path to the bastion was about a foot wide between two houses. I would have never found it without her help. As she had extra time she came up there with me. After about a million steps we found a pile of rocks. I was super glad that I chanced a heart attack for that one.

Just a bit further down the trail and worth the possible coronary, was the Jewish Cemetery. This had also not been destroyed by the Nazis. Perhaps they didn’t want to walk up the hill either. However, prior to restoration time and neglect had not been kind. Today it is a very peaceful treed place, just kinda awkward as it is on the side of a big hill. The oldest grave dated back to the mid 17^th century. Suzanna and I walked around all of it and chatted along the way. She put up with me taking a whole lot of pictures. Once we were finished we parted ways, she was headed to her parents, and I was headed to lunch.

I went to a place that Rick Steves had recommended. While there I ran into the guy who had given me a tour at the synagogue. We chatted for a bit, but he had to go back to work. It was a bit humorous because it took me a minute to recognize him. I couldn’t figure out why a random man was waving at me.

The next stop of the day was the Procopius Basilica. I had missed the last tour, but I would be allowed to go in for free in about an hour, just before a service. I decided to spend the next hour at the nearby West Moravian Museum. This could only be done by tour and I ended up lumped together with a group from the local retirement home. There were small English descriptions in about a third of the rooms. There were also two tour guides. One of them noticed that I was getting a bit pushed around by the geriatric set and she directed me off on my own. It was much better.

Most of the museum was really generic. Bits of medieval shoes, pipes and what have you. There was a section on nativity scenes though. These were made out of paper and were about 8 feet high and up to 12 feet wide. They were fabulous. It took me forever to check out all the different figures. One of them even had moving parts. Oddly, it showed a guy being pulled up a tree by his crotch and a crucifix.

When the museum was done I had a bit more time to kill and popped back into the onsite tourist office. The very nice girl there helped me figure out the bus times for my day trip the next day as well as how to get to my next destination. She even offered to find me a place to stay. I think she was bored. It didn’t matter; she was very kind, as most people in the CR have been to me.

When I finally got to look in the monastery it wasn’t that big of a deal and I was really glad that I hadn’t paid for the all Czech tour. Sometimes bad timing is actually good timing.

A few hours later I was really craving pizza and decided to go out. I picked a nice warm table away from the door and was promptly asked to move to a place closer to the door because it was just me. I wouldn’t have minded that much, I’m used to it, it’s just that no one ever came to sat in that place and I was cold for nothing.

After eating I tried to figure out what people do in this town on a Friday night. I came to the conclusion that they simply go home, and ended up doing that myself.

Apparently It Can

Day 247
I was up early, I had to be for my bus. I had packed the night before and only had to throw a few last minute things into my bag and finish up the last of my cereal. It was raining again, and I left a few minutes early. Good thing too, because I missed the road I needed. To not miss my bus I had to go down a trail cut through some woods. It was rather steep and with my bag and the rain it was a bit tricky. I don't know how I managed to not fall.

Switching buses in CB was easy and soon I was on my way. I fell asleep for a while and when I woke up I was nervous that I had missed my stop. I asked the guy behind me. It turned out the he wasn't Czech, but rather Italian. He had been visiting his girlfriend. Lucky for me he had done this several times before and was able to reassure me that I had not missed my stop. We chatted for the rest of the ride and that made it fly by.

When I got to Trebic, pronounced Trebich, I had no clue where my hostel was. There had been a bad map on the website but no directions. I went in what I thought was the right way and ended up in the main square. The tourist office was just closing and someone who didn't speak much English basically told me to go away. I walked outside and was at a bit of a loss. I was carrying all my crap and it was raining. I had no idea what to do. Just then a woman came out with maps and town information and told me that she was closing but that the guy who told me to go away told her that I spoke English and she wanted to give me info. I was really appreciate. She even told me where my hostel was.

I had no problem finding the place and in no time my bag was in a locker and I was beginning to dry off. I was really hungry though and simply ate at the hostel restaurant. It was a bit expensive, but I don't think my stomach would have had the patience to shop around. The food was really good.

After lunch I tried to wander in the rain but it was making me rather miserable. I ended up back at the hostel and took a nap. When I woke up it was time for dinner. My goal for the evening was to find a place where I might be able to do some writing and meet some locals. I went to most of the bars recommended on my map but they were all empty. I finally found a non stop place called Rodeo that had a couple of people in it and not too loud music.

There was a guy sitting one table over and he tried to get my attention. I could tell straight away that he was very drunk and kinda smelled and I didn't really have the desire to talk to him. He wanted me to come to the juke box and pick out a song. I tried to pretend I didn't understand, but he eventually made it really obvious. I went over there and picked out a song. When I was done he tried to kiss me, but I easily brushed him away. He seemed to get the hint. Drunk guy didn't try to touch me again, but he did try to have a conversation with me by drawing boxes. I didn't understand at all and when I finished my beer I said goodbye and went back to the hostel.

It was still rather early and after spending some time online I read a bit before falling asleep.

It Can't Rain All The Time

Day 246
When I woke up it was raining. Yuck. It was actually pretty gross out. I had planned on taking another day trip, but it was going to be to a place called Tabor. The point would have been to check out the town, no museums or anything. It was just not the day for outside activities.

I ended up just reading and finishing my book. When I was done the rain had let up a bit and it was time for lunch. I grabbed another book and headed to the tea place, I was determined to eat there.

When I got there I was delighted to find that not only was it opened, but it was the same type of place that I had found and loved in Olomoucs. I ordered a couscous fruit thing and a cheese sandwich. Over two pots of tea I got most of the way through the Virgin Suicides.

I read until I could hold no more tea. The town had taken on a different look in its shiny wet state and I decided to brave the drizzle and take some pictures. I also had to find a place where they sold pens. I was on my last one. I got a lot of pictures, but no pens.

I really need to get a move on. Cesky Krumlov is great, but I need a change of scenery. I'm a bit on the bored side here. Good thing I leave in the morning.

When I got back to the hostel I put in some movies. Eventually I made myself some pasta and chicken. I sat up until about midnight watching different movies with another American whose name I can't recall. We watched Goonies, Juno and Psycho.

Something Fishy

Day 245
I had planed on getting up early for a day trip, but as I was about to go to sleep the night before it dawned on me that I might be planning on visiting the same place that I was moving to on Thursday. I had to wait until 9 when the internet cafe opened to check this out. They were different towns and I still had enough time to make it there. Soon I was on my way.

Trebon is known not just for being a spa town, but also for its fish breeding ponds. While I was at the tourist office I asked where the fish were. It seemed like a silly question at the time and the girl answered that the fish were in the lake. Where else would a fish be? She then added that the fish ponds were cleared for the winter and that I had missed it. All of the museums were also close, even the one I wanted to see the most, it was on mythical creatures.

All I could really do was eat lunch and wander around the town. After some noodle soup I started checking out the different streets. Eventually I found the lake and decided to head to the Schwartzenburg tomb. I have no idea who these people are, but it gave me a destination. On the way I walked past an enclosure with some rams in it. How random.

The lake was pretty dried up, but it still had a nice quality to it. I think I could have walked to the island in the middle if I didn't mind getting a bit muddy. Next to the lake were the vacant fish ponds. Well, there were some ducks in them, but I don't think that they count. It was actually quite a nice walk, and the tomb was attractive, but also very closed. I wonder if the bodies are on display or something. That would be creepy.

I took the long way back to the bus station and spent some time wandering by a small canal that made a partial ring around the old town.

I slept through most of the ride back, and almost missed the place I had to change buses at. When I got back to the hostel I made myself dinner. Boring pasta again. That night I grabbed a drink with Russian Alex, but we were not out late. When I got back to the hostel I put in the Crow. I hadn't seen it for years. I managed to fall asleep about half way through though.

Ruined Day

Day 244
It was once again nice out and I was determined to take advantage of it. I managed to get my act together quicker than usual. I also spoke with Cam and Emma and figured out how to actually get to the little bird castle ruins. It turns out that I was really far off the day before.

Instead of going around the castle, I was meant to actually cut through the gardens and come out on the other end. The ground was still slick, but I started up the small hill anyway. I wondered just how smart it was for me, a rather accident prone person, to be on a slippery and seldom visited trail. I decided to just push that thought out of my mind.

The first thing I came to was a building foundation and an arch. I was a bit disappointed, I couldn't believe that this was it. I persevered though and found that it wasn't. The little bird palace wasn't so much a place, but a square building with a dome on top. What was so odd was there somehow people had climbed up to the top and signed their names on it. This was right out of an issue of Weird NJ magazine, or it would have been if this was in NJ.

When I started down the shortcut back I twisted my ankle and fell down. I knew this would happen. I stayed there for a minute complaining to myself, but quickly realized that this would get me nowhere. Instead I got up and walked it off. In just a few minutes I was good as new. I was also very close to being at the castle gardens again.

Due to my early start it was just after noon. My stomach was growling. I really wanted to eat at the tea place, but it didn't open until one. I went to the monastery and took pictures. This only killed about five minutes. To kill the rest of the hour I would have had to walk the rest of the town twice. I gave up and got a sandwich instead. Over lunch I worked on my journal. The tea place was open when I was done so I enjoyed some dessert dune and wrote some more.

After tea I went to the St. Vitus Cathedral. It wasn't anything special. There were all sorts of signs that said no photos, but they were in Czech and German, not English. There was a rather large Japanese tour group there. They were ignoring the signs so I decided to do the same.

After dinner at the hostel I headed out with some guys from the hostel to the Horror Bar. No one was really feeling it though and we ended up back at the hostel watching movies.

To Hike or Not to Hike

Day 243
Gaynor slipped out early in the morning. Luckily I had her email address so that we could keep in touch.

It was really beautiful out, just a bit muddy, but still warm. My plan was to take a short hike to a place called little bird castle. I walked for some time in what I thought was the right direction, but only managed to find houses. After about an hour of walking I gave up. I would just have to do it another day.

I was a bit irritated with myself though. When I was walking back through the castle I was surprised to see that there weren't any tour groups around. This meant that I could get photos without and pesky tourists.

Lunch was once again at the sandwich place. I spent some time writing and finally started to feel like I had a handle on things. Later at the internet cafe, I typed up as much as I could stand and organized some photos. I also figured out my plan for the next few days. Emma and Cam, the couple that work at the hostel, told me that I could stay as long as I wanted, but that I should let them know my plans when I could, just in case they suddenly filled up, they wanted to save a spot for me. After some research I was able to confirm that I would be leaving on Thursday.

It was dusk when I got back to the hostel. Dusk here seems to mean any time after 4pm. After reading for some time I made my dinner. I was really starting to get sick of pasta dinners. I need to come up with something else that is cheap and easy. I went out for a bit with some of the people from the hostel. When we got back we put in The Dark Knight. It was late though, and I fell asleep before the end of the movie.

No Rain!

Day 242
When I woke up it was raining. Yuck. This inspired me to stay inside for the morning and read my book about Henry VIII. When the rain stopped, just before lunch, I headed out. I didn't get to far though. The door of the hostel has a dragon on it and I needed a picture.

After grabbing a sandwich for lunch I headed to the castle. To my frustration both the castle and the baroque theater were closed for the winter. I'm sure that my wallet was happy about it though. I was able to walk through the castle though, and I took as many pictures as possible to make up for not being able to go inside.

The gardens were open and I spent some time strolling around them. There was a small lake, or overgrown pond in the back. It looked rather shallow and was full of algae. When I was done wandering I headed back to the hostel. It was still rather wet out and I didn't want to get muddy.

That night Gaynor and I decided to have dinner at the place with the good onion soup. It was just as yummy as it had been the first time. Afterwards we went back to the hostel just to find out that everyone was going out for a late dinner. We didn't go, but we convinced them to come back after they were finished so that we could all go out together. The two of us watched Sweeney Todd to pass the time.

Tonights activity was bowling, yes bowling. I suck at bowling and doing it on the other side of the Atlantic didn't seem to improve me at all. Still, it was fun and I didn't come in last. After an hour of bowling Gaynor and I headed back to finish the movie while everyone else went to a bar.

Fairy Tale

Day 241
After chatting with some people at the hostel over breakfast I headed out. Chesky Krumlov is one of those places where you plan to stay for two days and then end up staying for a month. I was determined to not get sucked in. It has a medival street plan that is formed around a tightly bent river.

There is actually very little to do here. The few museums in the town are either not worth looking at or closed for the winter. Bummer. Still, I could see right away how leaving could be a challenge. It was just so beautiful.

No playing around for me though, my blog was calling. After a couple of hours working I went to check out the castle. The first thing I came to were the bear pits. About 500 years ago the ruling family wanted to associate themselves with a more powerful Italian family who had bears on their coat of arms. This connection was false. The other thought is that is the bears leave the castle will cease to exists.

Today there are three bears in the wooded moat. It was redone just about ten years ago, before that I imagine that it was exactly like it sounds, a bear pit. I could see one bear playing around. Later on I found out that I was pretty lucky to get to see him. Apparently people will stick around way longer than intended never to see one.

The signs warning people to stay away were pretty humorous, they showed people being impaled on the fence. I found out later that some years ago a guy, dared by his friends, jumped into the put. One of the bears mulled him, because, well, that is what bears do. The bear was shot. I think they should have shot the idiot who jumped in.

I had planned to visit the castle, but my stomach was grumbling and I headed for lunch. I had some fabulous fried cheese and worked on my journal for some time. Afterwards I went back to the hostel and spent some time reading before making dinner.

For some nighttime entertainment I went out with Gaynor and Fannie from the hostel. The first stop was the Horror Bar, complete with skeletons hanging from the ceiling and coffin tables. It was a bit quiet though. While we were en route to the Gypsy bar we ran into the guys from the hostel. The group included an American from Missoula. The Gypsy bar was packed and there was live music. We didn't stay long though and soon moved to the last bar in town. It was a bit empty and we didn't stay long.

Moving On

Day 240
It was a few days past the point of leaving for me. Funny, I could have spent a lot more time in Olomouc and I did like Prague. I just didn’t want to be there any longer. After packing up my things I put them in storage and headed out. I have been traveling with a library for far too long. I took three of the books I have read and went to a used bookstore; I could either sell them for five bucks or get a free book. It seems a bit stupid, but I got one free book for three books. I just can’t carry all of this stuff any more.

After lunch I went back to grab my things and spent a bit of time on the internet. I hastily booked an extra special treat for myself. Not that every day of this trip isn’t a treat, I just wanted something special. I won’t tell you what it is though, you will just have to wait and see. I will say though, that I don’t think that I would have bought this if it were not for the missing money incident.

The train and bus rides were uneventful. I spent most of the time writing or reading once my hand began to ache. I was embarrassingly behind with blog and it was screaming at me.

Once I got to Cesky Krumlov I had a bit of a problem finding my hostel. The directions said to walk toward the big tower. The fog was so thick that I could hardly see my own feet, let alone a tower. Luckily some nice locals helped me out and after a bit more confusion I ended up where I was meant to be.

I was really hungry and left to get food as soon as my pack was off my back. I had been directed to a medieval themed place that had some fabulous onion soup in a yummy bread bowl. I think that all soup should come in a bread bowl. I also had a leg of something that had been cooked over a fire. To top it all off was a glass of Budvar, just about the best beer in the history of the world. This was one fantastic meal!

I tried to explore the city a bit, but it was really foggy and deserted. I couldnt help but thing that everyone out on a night like this was up to no good, including myself. I was also getting cold so I simply headed back.

There wasn’t much going on at the hostel, in fact there wasn’t really anyone there. I ended up watching movies for some time before calling it a night. I was very happy to finally be somewhere new.

Hip Hip Hooray

Day 239
When I woke up I headed straight to the breakfast room. Mike, one of the guys from the night before was there and he had his laptop. Together we watched Obama’s acceptance speech and toasted with our orange juice.

I had really wanted to visit the Communism museum. It was really the only thing left in Prague that I had interest in that I didn’t thing was too expensive. Unfortunately I couldn’t find it. This was really frustrating and exactly what happened when I was here six years ago with Markus. Back then we just gave up and had lunch at Fridays, I decided to do the same.

As there wasn’t anything else I wanted to do I wandered a bit before getting a haircut. I thought that this would make me a bit happier about having my money stolen. It didn’t.

In the early evening I met up with Layne from Olomouc. We spent a few hours chatting. I should have gotten in touch with her the day before so that we could have spent more time together.

Back at the hostel I met up with some of the people from the night before. We went to a biker bar for a couple of drinks before calling it a night. I was definitely about done with Prague.

Alone Again

Day 238
There was some confusion about the time Roses car was meant to come and our goodbyes ended up being quick. It was really sad seeing Rose leave. She had proved to be not only the best travel partner I have had yet, but also the best roommate. Given just about anyone would be an improvement over my last roommate, so maybe that doesn’t count.

The plan was for me to take a train to Plzen and hang out there for a few days. My new no prebooking plan caused me some problems though, the hostel was full. I decided to stay in Prague and began to look for the closest but still cheapest hostel in town.

I must have looked a bit frantic because fellow American and RTW blogger Steven, www.freewaysoul.blogspot.com, offered his help. We ended up walking to the uber close and cheap Travelers Hostel. Once my bags had been dropped off we headed across the bridge for some cheep Czech food. Over beers and food we chatted about our trips and gave each other tips. We seemed to be traveling in the opposite direction from one another.

After lunch we walked over to check out the John Lennon wall before heading back to the town center. I was a bit tired and decided to spend some time reading and taking a nap.

For dinner I made pasta. Afterwards I went to the hostel bar and ended up joining a rather large group. There was an American named Mike and we chatted a bit about the election, and looked for updates online. Eventually the group left for what we thought was a bar but turned out to be a strip club. Really not my thing. The beer also cost about four dollars, really really not my thing. In the end we all headed over to the Red Hat before calling it a night.

Unsolved Mystery

Day 237
Rose slept in a bit later than me and I was just heading out the door when she woke up. I had a hole in my jeans and went to go and buy a new pair. I didn’t have any luck though. On the way back to the apartment I went to check my email and ran into Rose who was also on her way there. She stayed a bit longer than me and I went back to wait for her.

After watching the astronomical clock we headed across Charles Bridge. It was really quite beautiful, unfortunately there was some construction working being done on it. Once we had crossed we wandered the area beneath the castle. Not seeing the castle was a bit of a pity, but I had seen it 6 years ago and Rose wasn’t very interested in it. As we walked we took pictures of ourselves and the bridge.

This was our last night and we knew we had to go out. After some more TV we went to the Irish place for dinner and drinks. We were playing Uno and eventually I asked a few other people to join us. Apparently they were all there for a pub crawl. There were about 10 of us playing drunken Uno, it was a lot of fun. I just wish I had paid more attention to some of the new rules. There were a few good ones that I could use later on.

When I went to pay to my dismay my wallet was empty. I didn’t even know what to say for the first few seconds. I have no idea what happened. We had been out the night before, but I remember that when I was at the internet café I was about to pay with a large bill despite the low charge and was then able to find change. I don’

t understand how my whole wallet wouldn’t have gone missing, but I am very happy that it didn’t. That would have caused all sorts of problems. It’s not like me to loose money and I hadn’t spent anything since the internet café. We had been walking around some super touristy areas though. I didn’t want to let it ruin the day though. It was about 150 dollars; I think that I will just look at it as travel tax.

We followed the pub crawl to the Red Hat for one more drink before calling it a night. Rose had a flight in the morning and I was planning on moving on. We both felt like we needed to wake up for those things.

Torture in Prague

Day 236
Rose and I really have a problem waking up at normal times or actually doing things. Despite and early night we still were not out of the apartment until after noon.

After lunch we headed to the torture museum. I had been here before with Markus, but I think they may have expanded it since then. The whole thing was rather gross and left us both a bit queasy. It just isn’t so much fun to look at iron maidens and thumbscrews. Those medieval torturers were pretty inventive though.

I think that my memory is started to get bad. I was really lax with my journal for too long, I can’t remember what we did after this. I think that we may have just gone back to the apartment and watched Gossip Girl and How I Met Your Mother. I really had missed so much good TV since I left home. I think I will need to spend the first month that I’m back catching up on it!

For dinner we found a really great place. It had a medieval theme and was quite cheap. The food was excellent as well. This might have been one of the best meals that I have had in the CR.

Of course no night is complete without a stop at the Red Hat for a few drinks. I somehow feel that we have become locals, or just barflies. We didn’t stay out too late this time though, I think we both felt that we needed to function on some level the next day.

The Day that Wasn’t

Day 235
Apparently staying out all night isn’t really condusive to getting up in the morning, or in the afternoon. It wasn’t until it was dark again that Rose and I managed to get out of the apartment. We went back to the free wifi place for some more pizza. After a drink at an Irish place we called it a night or day or whatever. I will never stay out all night ever again!

Trick or Treat

Day 234
We were up late due to both jet lag and pure laziness on my part. Eventually we got our act together and went for lunch at a place with free wifi.

Rose had brought a Rick Steves guide book with her and we went to the old town square to read what he had to say. We admired the Gothic, rococo and neoclassical buildings. We even popped into the Tyne Church for a moment. Just as Rick had said, there were a lot of signs telling us what not to do, no pictures and no touching and no walking on things. I would have liked to have a picture of the last one.

We wandered around the Jewish area for some time. The entrance fee to the museums is really high, but I have heard that they are quite interesting. There are a lot of things here. Hitler wanted to create a museum of what he planned would be an extinct race; therefore he had some of the Jews in the ghetto collect objects. All of those who helped amass the collection were later killed, but their work lives on. Even though we didn’t go in we did get a small look at the cemetery.

After some dinner we headed back to the hostel to get ready it was Halloween and there was no way we weren’t going to celebrate it. We both wore dresses and had on wigs, I was blue hair and she was pink hair.

Back in Warsaw I met a guy named Martin. He had sent me an email a few day before about a party at a hostel so ways out of town. After a long walk we finally got there. Martin had put together a costume from the hostels left clothes bin; this included a pair of women’s underwear. I wonder if they had been washed. Rose and I got a little bored of the all traveler crowd and said goodbye.

Our next stop was really just a return to the Red Hat. Not too many people were dressed up here and we were a bit silly looking. We met an American who was studying in Prague, he suggested a club that was a ways away, but that would be all locals.

Next thing I knew we were the only people dressed up. Cross Club was a bit crazy but there were certainty no tourists. For some reason it had never dawned on me just how late it was. We took the metro back around 7 am; the commuters were giving the wigged girls some really funny looks.

I think first thing in the morning is the only time that the old town square is empty. It’s really too bad that we were too tired to take it all in. When we got back to the apartment I basically collapsed into bed, it had been a good night, but it had perhaps gone on a little longer than expected.

Reunion

Day 233
When my alarm went off I was a bit confused about where I was and what time it was. I guess I was up a bit too late last night. Plus, I’m not too used to this whole alarm clock thing. I had never unpacked so I didn’t have to worry about packing up. All I had to do is figure out where I was going and how to get there.

Rose had been kind enough to rent us an apartment right near Prague’s beautiful old town square. I took the tram and managed to stay on way too long. On my way back I got off at the right stop, but still couldn’t figure out where I was on the map. Eventually a nice local showed me where I was and I was oriented again.

Seeing Rose was just wonderful. We had way more to catch up on than 5 day could possibly allow, but I knew that we would try. The first thing we did was to visit the supermarket and pick up food. Rose was pretty tired, it had been a long flight, and decided to take a nap. Sometime during this I discovered that we didn’t have any hot water. I went over to the rental office to tell them about it and they promised to send someone over that evening.

Still, we were forced to go out dirty. For dinner we picked a typical Czech place and started off with the beer cheese. It was rather odd and we ended up getting French fries later on.

We tried to do a bit of a pub crawl but only managed to find one place that had any people and cheap drinks. It was called the Red Hat, but in French. It was getting late though and we were both tired so we headed back around midnight.