CESKY KRUMLOV

Cesky Krumlov was so much fun. I successfully negotiated my way there using my trusty phrasebook: getting a train ticket from Prague to Ceske Budjeovice then finding a local bus to take me on to Cesky Krumlov.

It's a small town located in southern bohemia with an amazing historical old town centre that is on the UNESCO world heritage list. The guidebook tells me it has mediaeval, renaissance and baroque architecture. Whatever it is it's so pretty to look at. The old town is almost completed ringed by a river, which means the town is attractive, easy to walk around, and you can swim, raft or float down the river in a tyre tube to cool off after a hard day's touristing.

I chilled out my first night there, recovering from all the hard work of Prague :-) then went exploring the next day. I have a fair few pictures, which are sitting on Facebook at the moment. So anyone who wants to see them has to join Facebook - hehe. My hostel was pretty cool, and I ended up hanging out with a bunch of Canadian lads most evenings. On my second night there we had a big drinking session that involved a bottle of Absinthe, a special spoon, some sugar, a lighter, and more than one hangover the next day.

My last night there we were joined by some others and went out for a Bohemian Feast complete with pitchers of wine. My new hostel roommate came along too - she was a 19 year old, haemophiliac, reformed vegan from California. She also turned out to be quite a hardcore drinker and she was soon stumbling around needing assistance to stand. Our bohemian feast took place on a table beside the river, and after dinner we were all sitting around chatting and finishing the wine. Somehow my roommate managed to drop a 100kc note (worth less than 3 pounds) into the river, and rather than let it go she dived in after it to chase it. That might have been just a funny drunk thing to do, except that the river at that point was only about 2 feet deep and was full of rocks.

She was lucky to escape with minor injuries. Her knee was all sliced up and pretty grotesque really, especially on a full stomach, but we carried her back home and one of the Canadians bandaged her up. Did I mention the haemophilia? There was blood all over the place, very gross. Unfortunately she was too drunk to take the hint and call it a night, so she went back out bar-hopping in the rain. And when I left this morning she was refusing to cancel her rafting trip or to see a doctor for stitches. Ah, the kids these days.

So now I'm about to board a shuttle for Linz, Austria, and will have to buy a train ticket on to Vienna. And I don't even have German in my Trusty Phrasebook - whatever shall I do??