Cesky Krumlov and Salzburg

Hi again.

Last I left off, we were in Prague, and went to hear some live music and try some local beer at a place called Lucerne Music Bar. Turned out to be a very lively latin music performance.. and I can speak more positively of the music than the beer.. but for the one dollar it cost me (the beer), I won't complain too much.

Friday morning we set off for Cesky Krumlov. We had a lot of difficulty finding out exactly how to buy tickets to board the bus or where exactly to find the bus and after several people telling us that it was not possible to buy tickets, we eventually found the bus and quickly learned that we would be standing on the non-air conditioned bus for nearly 4 hours... we met another girl from Toronto while in line and she ended up spending the rest of the day with us. The bus ride was quite unpleasant with the driver yelling for people to make more room in the aisle for more passengers to get on and the passengers yelling back that there was no room (all of this in Czech). We did eventually arrive in Cesky Krumlov and from the moment we found our hostel, things improved immensely.

We stayed at a hostel called Krumlov House and I will strongly recommend it to anyone who plans to travel there. It is a little quaint cottage looking building and I half expected Hansel and Gretel to emerge at any moment. The hostel staff were as lovely as the hostel itself and they welcomed us warmly. We then went off for a tour of the Castle. A lot of the rooms are fully furnished and really quite beautiful. We also saw the castle gardens and a revolving theatre, where the audience turns, rather than the stage.

Then it was off to the town square where the opening festivities for the Medieval festival were about to begin... oh, and I forgot to mention that to avoid the cost of entering town all weekend, we simply had to wear a medieval costume... that the hostel freely provided for all of us!!! So I spent the weekend in a green dress (yes, there are lots of pictures) but since most of the other travellers from our hostel also dressed up, it was quite fun. The opening ceremonies got delayed due to rain but eventually they began, with a lot of people in Renaissance costumes as well as much music and fanfare. The entire town square was full of vendors- pastries, sausages, beer, crafts, more beer... good times all around. . Sometime after dark there was a torch procession through the streets, which was very cool. We hung out with the other travelers from the hostel (all very friendly people) and spent the night watching music and dancing in the square. I did take a nap on the cobblestone of the town square at some point (shocking, I know) but once I started to get stepped on, I got up and joined back in the festivities.

Saturday we slept in. Glorious sleep. We spent the day watching sword fighting, wandering along the riverbank, looking at medieval crafts, watching a puppet show, seeing medieval children's games (think man-powered amusement park). We even watched a children's concert in an old synagogue. I certainly didn't expect to find myself in a synagogue that Shabbat, but you never know what you'll find when you travel! At night, we went to listen to some celtic music in the nearby beer gardens, under an amazingly clear sky. At midnight, there were fireworks set off from behind the castle, in time to music. Then it was back to the beer garden for more music, and I eventually convinced some people to get up and dance... late night, but we knew we could sleep on the train in the morning, so it was okay.

Sunday morning we woke up early to exchange money to pay for our van to Linz. On the way to the exchange place Jordana realized we had more money that we realized (though we still don't know how that happened) and so we were able to spend what we had left on groceries. We then said our goodbyes to everyone at the hostel and boarded a shuttle van to Linz (in Austria) where we took the train to Salzburg. We spent the afternoon looking at sights around the city = catacombs (in a mountain side), churches, an old fortress, and old city square. Salzburg is very picturesque though I am starting to realize that a lot of these european cities look similar with a river running through them and a castle overlooking it... We disovered that many things are closed on sunday and the vegetarian restaurant we had heard about was closed. We ended up just eating at the hostel...it was a pretty happening place, so that was okay.. and plain pasta and tomato sauce hasn't tasted that good in a long time! The hail storm that began just as we were arriving back to the hostel was pretty impressive as well. I;m beginning to get used to the sudden daily storms that seem to occur here. Almost seems like Central America.

Monday (today) we set off for a hike just outside Salzburg. The route down was smooth and through forests.. but the hike up was .. interesting. We somehow ended up off the main path (early on) and found ourselves in a field outside of a farmer's house. Eventually we found another path and went up all the way to the summit. Gorgeous views of the nearby mountains as well as of the town. We saw storm clouds coming in and decided it was time to head down.. as we were nearing the end of the trail, the thunder was getting really loud and as we hit a road, the rain began. Luckily we had our ponchos but we got soaked in the process of finding the bus back into town. Jordana is really good at navigating and found us the right bus stop, which made me very happy. I don't mind the rain but I hate wet shoes.

Tonight we are probably going to a beer garden nearby and then tomorrow we are off to Vienna.
I'm hoping to run into Jasmine and Winnie soon since we will be criss crossing from Vienna to Salzburg. Maybe we can wave at each other from the train window. If not.. i'll see them in a few weeks in Rome.

I am having a blast and can hardly beleive its only been a week.

Hope things are well with everyone.
Rachel