Tuesday, August 21, 2007

mmm beer

Ceske Krumlov, Czech Republic

I left prague on tuesday morning for the town of ceske krumlov in southern bohemia. I took the train to the town there the original budwiser is made, and then changed to a very small local train. We went through every little village, and I saw some amazing gardens, as well as some deer and a lot of chopped wood. It seems that people in rural czech republic heat with wood. Ceske Krumlov is a really cute town with an amazing castle and a tower that reminded me a bit of a pastel wedding cake. My first night there I ran into a woman who was born in Tashkent when it was part of the USSR, then moved to the US when jews were given refugee status, and is now working in paris. I had no idea that she spoke russian, and then all of a sudden she started speaking russian to a woman in a shop. The shopkeeper had picked up everything, left the ukraine and opened a shop in the czech republic. She recommended a restaurant to us and had some fish and then fried cheese on salad. Somehow, the lettuce and the fried cheese are supposed to cancel each other out I guess.

The next day I decided to do the hike I had heard some other people talking about, so I searched town for someone who could give me a hiking map, got some bagel sandwiches and headed off, It was a beautiful trip. I started by taking the train three stops, then got off and walked 6 kilometers to the highest hill in the area named klet mountain. It's only 1084 meters tall, so not really a mountain. But someone built a tower at the top and there is a fantastic view of the surrounding country side and lots of small towns. The way back down was about 8 kilometers, and there was some walking at the beginning of the hike, so all in all I think I hiked 14 kilometers. When I got back to the hostel I was going to take a shower and relax, and then discovered there was a keg of good local beer at the hostel and it was free. So I drank lots of beer and talked to a bunch of Australians and some french canadians. Had a veggi burrito for supper and it wasn't bad. I guess its been a comfort food day, bagel sandwiches and burrito.

The next day I went rafting down the vlatava river, the same river that flows through prague. It wasn't very serious rafting, more like floating down the river and occasionally tying up the boat and drinking beer. But it was a lot of fun and I bonded with the people in my raft. I also learned how to play euker (spelling), which is a bit like bridge, but using only half the deck. It seems to work better with four people than six though.

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