Czech Repulica

Okay, here we go, another update and there is so much to write about!

The train trip to Cesky Krumlov went very smoothly, although there were a few anxious moments trying to work out where I was supposed to change trains when leaving Austria.

I got into town at about 6pm at night after meeting some lovely Canadian ladies on the final train. This is after having a big meal and beer for about 5 bucks while waiting to change trains at Cesky Budojovice.

It is a beautiful old medieval town, and the countryside surrounding it is exquisite. Just did the usual, walked around, looked at the town, had beers with the canadians I had met earlier.

Here are a few snaps:

Okay, random survey, how old do I look? Just out of curiosity (after someones guess), would you believe the majority of people put me at 22?? Anyway ...

The second day in Cesky Krumlov, I met an aussie girl who was travelling by herself as well. We decided to head out of town and climb a nearby mountain. (As I have always said, if you are out of things to do, time to climb a mountain and find out what is on the other side!).

Well, I thought it was the usual 3-4 kms, but turned out to be 10km one way, and pretty steep. Lets say by the top of the hill, I was ready to look for another way home, and look what we found!



Yep, thats right, a cable car! Going completely the wrong direction, but that is fine. We took the cable car down to another village on the other side, where we walked for a few more kms to the local train station. (Man, it is tough not being able to speak a word of the language!) After signing to a few people about trains, we were beginning to think the guy at the top of the mountain had given us a bum steer. Eventually, we found it, stopped for lunch (the next train was in 90 minutes) then made it back to Cesky Krumlov.

On the way back from the station, I decided to take a quick snap of one of the locals in his army outfit, just to prove to you all that about half the rural Czech people seem to wear army gear. I am not kidding, kids, adults the lot all are wearing camo ... anyone want to take a guess why? Either a lot of left over soviet gear or there are some unhappy campers round Cesky Krumlov!

Anyway, now if I could pick anyone it would have to be gp, followed by sb, followed by me, but unfortunately gp and sb weren't with me so I was the one who DROPPED MY CAMERA! It banged in spectactular style, and would no longer work. So much for the image rich blog ... camera screwed big time.

So, now it was time to plan the big trip next day up to Prague in time to see the Australian game .. should be fine, leave by about 9:30, and I should make it in lots of time. Checked with the hostel reservation, yep trains leave every hour. Sweet. Time for bed.

Next morning, walk the 4 kms up to the train station to find the train timetable ... trains leave at 4:30?!, 5:30, 6:30, 7:30, 8:30, 12:30, ... WHAT! So much for the every hour ... every hour including 4:30 in the morning, but then nothing until 12:30! So to cut a long story short, I ended up getting Evan to send me lots of updates during the game, and then managed to pull in to see the final one minute of the game to see Aloisi put the game away! GO AUSTRALIA! AUSSIE AUSSIE AUSSIE! A few people in the random bar I had run to looked around at the crazy aussie shouting at a tv screen ...

Prague has been fun, but not a spot on Cesky Krumlov. Too many people. Oh yeah, and my feet hurt. You know how they say, make sure you have a comfortable pair of shoes before you go travelling? Yep, good advice. Both my pairs kill me. I am now in thongs.

Oh, but watching Czech play USA on a massive screen in the old town square with 10 000 screaming Czechs was pretty good!

Another aside:

There are 2 rules to follow as an engineer:

1. If it ain't broke, don't try to fix it.
2. If it is broke, hit it.
   

Woohoo, mucked around with my camera today and managed to brute force push the lens back in! And it WORKS! FIXED! And they reckon I am not an engineer ...

So, one final shot from Prague:

Hope people reading are having as much fun as I am!

Tonight I will watch the Brazil Croatia game so I have all the tips on how we are going to go ... How good do those aussie vs. croatia tickets look now?!

Tomorrow is on to Nuremberg where the reinforcements arrive in the form of a super-pumped up Bruce! How good is this!