The much looked-forward-to highlight of the trip was Cesky Krumlov. Rick & Jas arranged a day tour through a company that was good enough to pick them up at the front of their accomodation to save the trek across the bridge. During the 2 hour minibus trip the friendly tour guide sat up front and spoke for the entire journey. In two languages. Without inhaling.
The commentary was very interesting at first; she started in around the 10th century when the Czech Republic was Bohemia and a rather imposing economic region. The guide seamlessly switched between English and Spanish, talking of all the invasions and overthrows and assimilations that occurred over the centuries that make the country what it is today. Eventually Jas succumbed to the guide's monotonic commentary and nodded off sometime during the 14th century. She didn't wake up until World War Two. She likes her sleep, but 600 years of snoozing is a bit out of order. And it took the bombing of Dresden to wake her up!
Rick managed to stay awake for the duration, but there were times - when he was gazing at the green undulating countryside that slid past while the guide was speaking Spanish - that he suddenly realised the guide had actually switched back to English and had missed the activities of one or two Bohemian monarchs. The long and the short of the Czech Republic history is that, through the ages, the country has quietly tried to go about it's business of being a happy and pretty little country, but all it's neighbours have at some stage jumped over the fence, stomped on the flowers, peed on the BBQ and then unceremoniously left with the cricket set.
Anyway, Cesky Krumlov: simply marvellous. Their first image of Cesky was from above, from in the castle, and it's stunning. A cluster of red tiled houses cluttered together in the appendix-shaped loop of a river surrounded by lush countryside. It oozes medieval charm that makes you just want to wander the cobbled streets and absorb the atmosphere. Rick & Jas found that this atmosphere could be equally absorbed whilst sitting down with a drink outside a homely cafe.
So after a bit of wandering they did a tour of the impressive castle and the nearby theatre. The theatre was impressive as they got an idea of medieval special effects...how the sounds of thunder and rain and suchlike were produced. It wasn't Dolby surround sound, but you could see medieval folk enjoying a show.
Thankfully the guide didn't talk too much on the way back, though it wouldn't have made much difference because most of the bus was asleep on the way back. Apart from the driver, thankfully. It was a rather knackering day, and dinner was a kebab takeaway in their little room at the top of Prague.
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