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Entry from: Krakow, Poland
Entry Title: "Chapter 9: Lifting the Iron Curtain (Cold Wind)"
Entry:
"I left Austria with my feet in near mutiny from all the hiking around (my dogs are tired!) and with hopes of finding some sunshine. The month of August had very poor weather. I really haven't had consistently good weather since Turkey (and that was 2 months ago!). Originally, I had planned to go to Slovakia and Poland before Czech Republic, but the side-trip to Munich and the high cost of train travel in Austria made me change plans. Czechoslovakia fell under communist rule post-WWII and most any attempts at resistance or freedom were crushed by the Soviets. Demonstrations and protests spread after the fall of the Berlin Wall (early November 1989) and free elections were held in June 1990, with the Communists not getting many votes. The Czech and Slovak Federated Republic didn't last too long and the countries peacefully separated 31 December 1992. Since then the Czech Republic has been moving towards EU membership, so get here quick before the Euro makes prices rise as high as Western Europe. First stop was Ceske Budejovice. Lonely Planet didn't have any good places listed to stay in and I couldn't find anything online, so I decided to just pass through (I actually decided on this on the train trip there...that's how fixed my plans are). Put my bag into storage then went for a wander. Ceske Budejovice has one of the largest open squares in Europe, Nam Premysla Otakara II. The architecture of the buildings in the square is cool. I looked around the town some more at churches, along the river and any buildings that looked neat. LP said the Budvar (Budweiser) brewery in town had tours at 2pm so I started heading out that way about 1:40pm. The LP map showed it as being 200m north of where its map ended. I walked and walked...at least a half a mile and still no brewery. Eventually I saw it off in the distance and knew there was no chance of making it for the tour (especially since it was now past 2pm). Freakin' LP and their stupid maps. Had a little bit of time to kill before the train so visited an i-net cafe with a very lovely worker. Oy. SMS (txt) Josh and ask what he'd rather do for when he visits - spend a night in Prague or Olomouc. He said he'd like to see Olomouc, so I decided to continue on north to Prague after seeing Ceske. Train to Prague. Found a new hostel in town, Miss Sophie's. It's modern and quite nice, but sterile and boring. Leaving the hostel I could see it was going to be a nice sunset, but the old town and bridge were a good walk away and hunger had the upper hand. Had dinner at a place with traditional food...and it was cheap! Ah, so nice to get cheap food again after Austria. When I stepped out of the restaurant, it was raining so I got fairly wet on my walk to Charles Bridge. The rain stopped just about as I got there. Got some nice night pictures and checked out old town (I've been here before in 2004). The pubs were kind of quiet and I wasn't feeling into the cafe scene so just went back to the hostel. Explored Prague for a day - Charles Bridge, Prague Castle, old town, a market, etc... Prague really is a beautiful city BUT (and this is a big but) it's soooo full of tourists. I would say it spoils the city. I'd only recommend visiting in the off-season. Worked in a nap and a visit to the train station to book a sleeper for my trip to Krakow in a few days. My feet were dang tired so I couldn't muster up the energy for going out. In the morning (Sept 1), I met up with Josh at the train station. He had taken an overnight train from Nijmegen in The Netherlands ..."
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Photos from this trip:
1. "(01) nam Pfemysla Otakara II in Ceske Budejovice"
2. "(02) Ceske Budejovice"
3. "(03) Spanky in Prague"
4. "(04) statue on Charles Bridge and Castle"
5. "(05) National Museum"
6. "(06) Vaclavske nam"
7. "(07) Vltava River"
8. "(08) Tom in Prague"
9. "(09) statue on Charles Bridge at dusk"
10. "(10) Prague Castle"
11. "(11) sunset in Prague"
12. "(12) old town at night"
13. "(13) Prague Castle at night"
14. "(14) Cesky Krumlov"
15. "(15) street in Cesky Krumlov"
16. "(16) Tom in Cesky Krumlov"
17. "(17) Round Tower inside Chateau"
18. "(18) Josh in Cesky town square"
19. "(19) Cesky Krumlov"
20. "(20) Cesky Krumlov"
21. "(21) Tom in canoe on Vltava River"
22. "(22) Vltava River"
23. "(23) Chateau Cesky Krumlov"
24. "(24) Olomouc Town Hall"
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