Events of Friday, June 19, 2009 (Cesky Krumlov, Czech Republic)

This morning we did our version of the Amazing Race! We ran down our hill to catch our bus when Dave partially tore his Achilles tendon. When we reached the bus station we had less than five minutes until our bus was scheduled to leave and Dave continued to have trouble walking. Then we were not able to determine easily which terminal we needed. No one else seemed to know either. (Now close your eyes and picture Dave and I jumping off a city bus and briskly hobbling down five blocks. I didn't even know if we were going the right direction. Then as we approach the station I run ahead of Dave and start asking anyone who I think may speak some English if they know where our terminals is. Some look the other way as if I am begging for money, others have a clueless look on their face, or if they do try to help they know less than we do. Our heads were on a swivel looking for our terminal, all the while trying to make any sense out of their numbering system. It truly was as scene out of Amazing Race, but I really hope there are no re-runs.) It seemed like an eternity until we found our bus which was thankfully boarding the last of the passengers. We had made it on the bus!

We soon found out that the bus company not only books the seats, but also the aisle. Although we knew that we had seats 39 & 40, we couldn't see the seat numbers anywhere. Two girls realized why I had a look of confusion on my face and explained in gestures that the seat numbers are on the back of the seats, about nine inches down. We slowly made our way past those standing in the aisle and as we approached the area of our assigned seats the two men who were in them purposefully covered up the numbers. The 6'6" 22 year old was not about to move for me to see the number so Dave came behind me and gently helped the guy sit forward to expose the seat number. We showed him our tickets and the two perturbed men moved out of our seats after scolding us for not arriving 15 minutes before departure. He had a point, but we held the tickets. We were happy so long as were seated and didn't have to stand for 2.5 hours.

In about 30 minutes we were in the countryside which looks similar to the western side of the Oregon coastal range except for more deciduous trees and the addition of birch trees.

It was raining when we arrived in Cesky Krumlov (C.K.). We decided not to let this dampen our spirits as we had lots to investigate in this lovely quaint town. We checked into the hostel where we had rented a small apartment down the hill. It was very rustic and had lots of personality. We decided to eat some traditional Bohemian food with the locals. Our new find was the "smoked pork neck in potato omelet" that I ordered. It was not nearly as scary as it sounds and was so good we went back the next day to have more. Down every cobblestone street was something different to explore and begging for its pictures to be taken.

Our itinerary put us in C.K. during their annual "Festival of the Five Petaled Rose". That meant that we would be able to attend the many activities of the renissance festival, but miss out on some of the quaintness of the town since tourist were swarming all over. We enjoyed the singing of folk poetry. We didn't have a clue what was being sung, but it was very cool and included lots of interesting instruments. The rain resumed around 8pm, so we headed back to the apartment to watch Gilmore Girls on the computer.