Chapter 7: Češky Krumlov – the fairy tale town

Fairy tale sure is the way of describing it. I don't know if the photos will do it justice – but do they ever?

We checked into our hotel, which is this really old, rustic kind of place. But in the good way, its not a craphole. Not that I believe in any of that stuff - but I do kinda wish Tadas had told me beforehand that my room was haunted (the room itself is called “Agnes”). He says not to worry though, because she is a helpful ghost. Well, thats something.

Started the day with a bike ride through the Czech countryside. It was mainly downhill, and not that taxing. Beautiful scenery though. We then did a walk thru of the town, and we picked up a lone Aussie traveler named Sean. He's travelling from July until March – another victim of World Economic Crisis.

Stopped off at a bar because Aviva wanted to try absinth. Apparently this is one of the few places where they still sell it with wormwood, and apparently has crazy hallucenigenic properties. I had two shots, which works out at about 4 shots by Aussie standards. Tadas tells me if I start seeing a white lady, thats a side effect. I asked him how will I know the difference between that and if I see Agnes' ghost? Hmmm.

Had a pheasant feast for dinner, and then a bit more drinking with the guys.

Next day was a “float trip”, which basically means you get in a white water raft and cruise the river around town, and down through the countryside. Took a few hours, and was quite relaxing.

When we got back to town, Vanessa and I went thru the castle tour. No photos allowed, so you'll have to come and look for yourself if you want to see. And believe me, you want to see. Was also interesting to hear a bit about the history, and more stories of hauntings and what not.

Went off to the the puppet theatre by myself (they freak Vanessa out) as the Czechs are quite proud of their history with marionettes. I got a little freaked myself... seeing devil puppets, monster puppets, puppets stabbing other puppets... One thing that was cool about it was the building itself. It was quite old, and to get to the second floor of the museum you had to squeeze in through this little door and get up into the attic.

Stopped off at a choccie shop on the way back to hotel, and it had every kind known to man. Favourite was this one which hard hard white chocolate shell, but on the inside it was like gooey melted normal chocolate.

We went to a vegetarian place for din dins, and I had a spicy bean burrito thingo with some yoghurt. Probably one time in my life where I'm not going to complain about missing the meat. It was also back down by the river, in another really old building, so that was pretty sweet.

Tomorrow, its off to Prague. Looking forward to trying the duck, fried cheese and more cheap beer! :)