Jan
6
Written by:
Jess Williamson
1/6/2011 2:37 AM
After a tip off from one of Dave's mates we headed to a town called Cesky Krumlov, 3 hours south of Prague. When we got there, what looked like an easy short walk to the hostel, turned into a long frustrating adventure (as Dave put it, not sure if 'Adventure' was what I was looking for at that time of night). Dave was adamant he knew where he was going, so who was I to question. The route took us slightly cross country (not what the map said) and resulted in me slipping in the thick 20cm plus snow and down a small hill with my backpack on. Dave thought this was hilarious especially as I couldn't get up. Anyway freezing cold and a while later we found the hostel thanks to a tip off from a local. So to recover and thaw out we enjoyed a few drinks by the fire and a lovely meal at the restaraunt, adjoining our hostel – Hostel 99.
Cesky Krumlov iis what they call the 'pocket sized Prague'. The town is set upon a river and surrounds a spectacular castle. The first day was spent walking around the town, playing tourist and admiring the beauty of the castle and Cesky Krumlov's many churches. The scenery around Cesky Krumlov is just beautiful and the snow made it an even prettier winter wonderland.
Day Two it was snowing quite heavily. Being such novices to snow, which was proven by Dave's question to me in Prague “Does it only snow at Night?”, which was overheard by some Canadian girls and provided great amusement, we spent the day making snow angels and throwing snow balls around. (Still yet to make a snowman though.) By late afternoon it was literally a blizzard outside. About 15cm of snow fell in less than two hours. So we retreated into a lovely little Italian Restaurant and bought a nice bottle of Czech red wine which we enjoyed in memory of Dave's Grandad, who passed during our visit.
After a few days in this Lovely Winter Wonderland enjoying great food, wine and lovely scenery, we had recharged our batteries and were ready for the next part of our adventure. On the way back to the train station we again thought we would try find the short cut to the train station that we failed to find a few days earlier. With a sense of 'deja vu!' we tackled the steep hill where I slipped two days earlier and, yes you guessed it Round Two. I slipped again this time going up the hill. Dave again in fits of laughter, along with all the school children, who were on there way to school.
We boarded the train and headed to Prague in preparation for another long overnight train to Krakow. Hopefully a better experience than the last overnight train we took.