Bohemian like you

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We have arrived in Cesky Krumlov - what has to be the most scenic village in the Country. It is a medieval castle town in Southern Bohemia built around the bending Vltava river. We are staying on the banks of the Blatva in a small pension operated by a very bohemian (small b) woman and her American writer-partner. Karen G, if you're reading this, you would love it. Bec finds the place very scary, as she feels like we're at Karen's place the whole time - it's decorated with wallhangings and flowers from their travels, and they are very serious about their Turkish coffee.

The town is bordered on one side by a medieval castle, and its sloping grounds. There is an open air theatre there, where an "old music festival" (pre-1400) is currently being held. The woman who runs our pension is trying to wangle us free tickets to see a concert there tonight, so we shall see....

The place is still small, but is getting bigger quite quickly as a result of the growing tourist trade. The Euro is due to come to the Czech republic soon, and it's hard to shake the feeling that it will change everything. As it is, it's very cheap to live. We went kayaking down the Vlatva the other day, and even that cost us next to nothng (and included a complementary bottle of rum). Speaking of Rum, I have managed to decode the etymology of the word "Grog". Grog is, it turns out, a Czech drink consisting of hot water, rum, and lots of sugar. So there you go.

Anyway... in terms of our travel plans, we were planning on only spending a few days here, but that has now been extended out somewhat, and we are going to cut back on our time in Budapest accordingly. We're off there tomorrow, and are staying with a local - unfortunately we don't know what he looks like, nor her us, so we've arranged for him to hold up a sign for us at the train station - I'm reminded of an episode of Seinfeld, but hopefully less neo-Nazis will feature in this one. Travel is somewhat difficult to arrange due to our lack of even basic Czech language skills, but it appears that we have to set out early tomorrow morning and travel via Austria. But that is an adventure for tomorrow. Until then....

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Photos

Hostel Skippy
The view from our bedroom

Castle
Cesky Krumlov, as seen from the Castle

Comments

[Raffe]

Good thing you are leaving the Czech Rep before you run out of bohemian song puns in titles! Glad to see you guys having fun.

[Karen G]

Disturbing that a place is scary because it is like my place Bec!