Czech Republic

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Our foray into the Czech Republic began with some good luck, we had booked into a cheap hotel for three nights, however when we arrived were told they had overbooked and we had to be moved to another hotel. We were immediately a little wary but were very happy when we found that the new hotel was 4 star and we were paying a 2 star price for it! We soon realised that it was a four star hotel, when I asked how much it was to park in their garage for a night to my amazment it was 40 euro per night so we quickly told them it was to expensive and we would find somewhere else. The adventure which followed started to make me realise that maybe 40 euro was not so bad after all. We had to first head out of town to the second to last metro stop, then find the park and ride (sounds easy enough but try to find park and ride in Czech) Once we had done this we then were met by a lovely old lady who spoke two words of english, hello and yes. This did not bode well. We tried to ask how much for 4 days parking and after a lot of hand signals and numbers being written on paper she showed us to her office. At first I was a little scared that she was going to take us to the cleaners however she was a little beauty. She phoned her daughter who could speak english and she become our translator. The little old lady had worked out that a ten day pass was cheaper than parking for 4 days so she sold us that and saved us a fortune.

Once we had this parking sorted we headed into the old town for a quick look around and to get our bearings before a busy two days of sightseeing around unique Prague. The highlights were the old town square with its astronomical clock and awesome views, the famous Charles Bridge, and the Castle - where we managed to time our visit to perfection by arriving just as the changing of the guards was on. However, that was the end of our luck as straight afterwards the heavens decided to open and we where stuck under an arch way for about 30mins waiting for the storm to pass.

With Prague absolutely heaving with tourists, it was a battle to try and get across the Charles Bridge at times, so we decided to get up at 6.30am and go and have a look on our own. This is well worth it if you visit, you get to appreciate the bridge and statues without 1000's of tourists.

After Prague we headed headed down to Cesky Krumlov which is a village of only around 15,000 people, to try and get a break from the madness of Prague. However, I think everyone had the same thoughts as there were almost as many tourists there as there were in Prague. Cesky Krumlov is a very pretty little town, almost a mini version of Prague, located on the river (which everyone rafts down) with a huge castle and a few bridges. We spent a relaxing evening walking arund the quaint little streets here before hitting the road again and heading off to Vienna.

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