Into the Czech Republic

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Geo: 50.0878, 14.4205

Oh, this is the way to travel! AUD$450 and after a nice breakfast at the hotel, our shuttle bus driver arrived at the hotel. Marek helped load our bags into his 9 person van, and drove us out of the beautiful, sunny Salzburg. We found more and more snow on the ground as we approached the Austrian-Czech border, nearly 2 hours north. Another 30 mins north, and Marek left us to explore Cesky Krumlov for 3 hours.

Oh, what a beautiful town, on this amazing blue day. The snow on the roofs was amazing to see, as this medieval town situated in a river-bend glowed with its red roofs and brightly coloured houses. We wandered past the terrace with its views over the town, into the cathedral of St Vitus, and into the main square, where the Christmas markets were continuing. We sampled some sausages and some fried potato chips, then wandered over the bridge to the 13th century castle.

There were no bears visible in the moat (as we had seen 20 years earlier) but the snow on the towers and rooftops of the town, in a perfect blue sky, were amazing. Unfortunately the inside of the castle is closed in winter, but we wouldn't have had time to visit it anyway! We bought some souvenirs (noticing the price difference to Austria! Although we did have to get used to another currency - Czechs use crown, or koruna) and had a quick lunch before some more wandering back to Marek, our driver.

The road from Cesky Krumlov to Prague was not a highway, and I'm glad that this was the road that Steven didn't have to drive. At first, we drove past fields of snow, glistening in the light, and trees so ladened with snow on their bare branches. But soon the fog descended, and it was difficult to see...but we could see lots of wild deer grazing in the fields!

We arrived in Prague in dark, and found our apartment at Liliova St to be almost perfect - the 4 flights of stairs up was good for cardiac fitness, and the rooms were enormous, with 3m ceilings. Unfortunately, a weird floor plan and only one bathroom (a separate toilet but no sink!!). Our host Mira later told us that the building dated from the 1850s, but when the communists took over, it was nationalized and confiscated, with owners being send out into the countryside. Then, in 1989, property was "returned" to the owners after 50 years, although the heirs were hard to find and the property hadn't had any maintenance for 50 years.

Steven and I found a Tesco supermarket (for washing powder!) and we then went out to dinner at a small cafe next to our apartment - great food!!

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