Flights home

The time has come to return home.  Looking forward to getting back but really sad to be leaving Prague.  Frank, Belinda and the boys made us feel so welcome, they were the oasis in between the chaos of travelling all over the countryside.  Can’t wait to catch up with family and friends when we get back – we’ll have plenty of stories and I know you can’t wait to hear them.

We rented a Skoda Rapid, brand new when we picked it up at the airport, by the time we returned it after 6 weeks it had done 7500 kilometres.  It didn’t miss a beat and was both big enough for us and our luggage and small enough to squeeze between all the crazy traffic.  The only complaint was it lacked cruise control, not sure why that would have been but it was a bit of a nuisance.  We saw lots of countries and lots of sites in each country. Hard to say what the favourite parts were – from the sea to the Alps it was such a contrast it’s all worth a bit of a look.   I’m sure we could stay for 6 years and still not cover all the territory in this part of the world.  I’m sure we’ll be back over here sometime, somewhere.

The Blog has been very enjoyable and will bring great memories to us when we look back in years to come.  I'm lucky Pam has been my editor in chief and principle fact checker, so you can be sure everything mention herein is true and correct.
Pam kept a tally - 
We drove 7,500 kilometres
Fuel - $740
Tolls - $198
Tunnels - 181 for a distance of 148 kilometres
Biggest walking day - 27,000 steps

Beer and champagne to get us on the plane

On our way, I know everyone has this photo in their album, didn't want to disappoint you!

Home from the beautiful summer days in Europe to winter at the beach again.  We landed at about 1am and got home to Elanora at 3am.  Slept till midday, went grocery shopping, collected the mail, put some washing on then went to say hello to the beach for the first time in 6 weeks.

Prague Castle

Up and about early to beat the crowds at the castle.  Belinda had to work so we had Frank as our tour guide.  Belinda explained in detail what our goals and objectives were and as soon as we got off the tram it was obvious none of us had listened to a word she said.  We went to the information booth advertising tickets – no tickets available here go to the next information booth around the corner.  Got there and were directed to a spread sheet explaining absolutely nothing we could understand.  Went to the booth – no go the next booth, no go to the next booth.  Finally got the tickets we need to see St.Vitus Cathedral, the Basilica and Golden Lane.  Wish Belinda was here!!!
Went up the church bell tower for a beautiful view of the city.   The sign said there were 287 steps, I’m sure those Catholics can’t count!!  Exhausted by the time we got there but worth the effort.  Had a long look inside the Cathedral, it’s amazing how much money must have sucked out of the community to build these places.  There is one tomb in there topped with a 2.5 ton solid silver sculpture.  The stained glass windows are some of the most detailed and elaborate I’ve ever seen and the columns and side chapels make this one of the biggest Cathedrals in the area.  This Cathedral is where King Wenceslas (St Wenceslas) is buried.  His tomb is under stone in a side chapel; the public haven’t got access and can only view it from the doorway.  The chapel is surrounded by precious stones and a gold crown.  The Czech Crown Jewels are also housed in this chapel.

Visted the Basilica, a very simple stone chapel with a crypt under the altar area.  On to Golden Lane, a narrow street of small houses painted in a variety of colours.  Most of the houses are open and are mini museums which depict the lives led a thousand years ago when the castle was in its’ prime.  We were kept busy until about 1.00 when the crowds became so overwhelming we had to get out of there and met Belinda for lunch.  Home where Belinda continued working, the rest of us worked on our recuperation skills in readiness for our last tea in Prague.
Very sad to have had our last tea with the O'Tooles, it has been so wonderful to have been able to stay with them while we have zipped around Europe.  We will miss them, especially Hamish and Toby, they are the most gorgeous boys, think we'll have to take them back to Australia with us for the summer months!!!

Heavily guarded castle, which is still used as the Presidents residence and houses lots of Government organisations

The bell tower of the Cathedral, this is a big climb up to the top.

The back of the Cathedral

This is what 2.5 tons of silver looks like.

Some of the stained glass

Looking up towards the altar

Two angels

Looking back to the river and the old town

Looking down on the rear of the Cathedral and the Basilica (the pink building with twin white towers (named Adam and Eva?)

There are those angels again - a bit closer to heaven this time.

The crowd, not even close to capacity yet.

The Basilica

Inside the Basilica

The crypt

Bones at the exit.

Golden Lane

Armour

Torture chamber

The handymans room

Relaxing

Skeleton near the exit to the castle - just a warning to behave OR ELSE.

Oldest Czech vineyard in the grounds of the castle.

Our view from the restaurant for dinner as the sun goes down on our last day in Prague

Cesky Krumlov

Left early Saturday for the overnight trip to Cesky Krumlov.  This is an old town about 2.5 hours drive south of Prague, Cesky Krumlov is up near the Vltava River which also flows through Prague.   One of the highlights of the weekend was the rafting trip down the river.  Frank and I took on the leadership and engine room roles at the rear of the raft.  I was also the delegated official photographer which created some division in the ranks.  Belinda and Pam had the easy job of steering the raft through the easy bits and the rapids.   We all shared the responsibility of paddling.   We were driven about 10 kilometres upstream from the town and had a 3.5 hour paddle in front of us, lucky the current took us downstream lots of the time.  There were 6 sets of rapids to spark things up a bit.  Frank nearly fell out of the raft once and Pam had an unfortunate fall into the raft, landing on her back in the bottom of the raft.   The first rapids went well, the second set were a little more testing and we ended up ship wrecked on the rocks at the bottom of the rapids.  It was obviously a navigational issue and blame was apportioned appropriately.  Lots of pushing and finally got going again.  Lessons were learned and the rest of the rapids went without incident.  We arrived back in town and handed over the raft, wanting to get hold of a beer.  A successful search located a nearby pub and 2 beers disappeared instantly. 

Wandered around town, quite beautiful in the old section which is circled by the Vltava River, with narrow cobblestone streets, beautifully, well maintained houses and hotels painted in traditional colours.  The town is surrounded by hills rising from the river, topped with the Cesky Krumlov castle and churches.  It is a very small town centre with little cafes all over the place fronting the river.  Every time we had a meal or a coffee we were able to watch the activity on the water.  Our hotel was also in an excellent position overlooking the river.

Sleep in, then indulge in a sweet pancake breakfast, went for a walk through the castle, back to the hotel and home to Prague.  I think all the exercise has worn us out, we’ll be having an early night.

Arrived safely

This is it, no backing out now.

The people in charge

She hasn't been told her duties just yet!

Now they understand.

Good so far

Lost concentration and this happens!!??

Much better

Happy sailors

A well earned drink

Carp fries, they look delicious

Maybe not

One of those death defying rapids.

Doing the city streets

Watching the mojitos being made

The mojitos being destroyed

Time for tea

Town almost deserted on the walk home.

Town a bit busier this morning

This is our hotel, we had the balcony on the top left side.

View from the balcony

Another view from the balcony

On the way to the castle, this constructions links two parts of the castle.

Inspecting those rapids again

View from the castle

The tourists

Time to go home.