Up early to wander the quiet streets. The sunrise is pretty on the multi-colored houses. We have a nice breakfast out back on the riverbank.
I pick up the bus tickets to Prague, for tomorrow, at the TI in the town square. What a great thing, easy, close and someone to help.
We are going to canoe the river today, 15KM from here down to an Abbey. We have the leftover wine from last night, and made two sandwiches from our breakfast rolls, meat and cheese, to sustain us.
First, we pop into town and try out one of these hollow cinnamon rolls they make. Trdelnik. Pretty tasty; warm, cinnamon, you can also get them with nuts. Then we pick up our canoe and set out. The first thing we have to do is run down this chute under one of the bridges in town. Hardly a thrill like "Hell Hole" rapid on the Trinity River, but enough to get us soaked anyway. We slowly float the U around town and then slowly out of town. It is pretty peaceful, quiet, scattered groups of rafters or people on canoes. About every 2KM we come across a "Kemp" which is usually an outhouse, campground, snack stand or take away grill and tables. We stop at the first one to look around, but it is not worth the hassle so we float by all the others. It is a slow, lazy, relaxing trip. We paddle together and zig-zag crazily. Gail paddles alone while I rest, and we turn circles. I paddle while she rests and we make progress, though I can't go straight either. I remember why we like to hike. At the end we ride another chute around a dam, pull up by the Zlatá Koruna Abbey and break out our wine and sandwiches. Soon we are picked up and shuttled back to town. A nice trip, the only disappointment is the amount of trash along the river, primarily discarded plastic drink containers. So over all great fun, but one canoe trip every 2 to 25 years is enough for me.
After cleaning up, it was time for me to get back to work. We went to a little restaurant on the river and I ordered up a Bernard Beer. It was more expensive, and pretty good, but compared to Eggenberg it is more bitter, more of a bite at the end and not as smooth or finished. Now I like hoppy beers, but this just wasn't as crisp and clean. I finished it anyway as we watched the rafters float by.
We decided to go on a hike I read about, up a hill to a chapel with a good view over Cesky Krumlov, and "you can see the river bending around the town..." OK, then. Sounds like my kind of hike. Well, it was pretty easy to find and follow the trail. Two kilometers up a hill that steepened pretty good. The paved road turned to a stone path turned to a track in the grass through the trees. Gail noticed it first: she had little crawly bugs on her. She screamed and started dancing around trying to brush them off. I finally got her to stand still, brushed them off her (looked like ticks) and me. By then the biting horseflies were starting to gather. We made a beeline to the top to find the chapel closed, the view almost non-existent (unless you count the great view of the communist era concrete cube apartment housing back by the train station) and more bugs waiting our arrival. We quickly turned around and beat a hasty, arm swinging retreat back down to town. When we hit the paved road we stopped and picked any remaining bugs off us, then hiked back into the safety of the cobbled streets to the first bar we found with Budvar beer.
Note one: do NOT hike up that hill to the chapel, at least not in late July.
Note two: some of the newer, "cuter" communist style housing looks a lot like tract housing in California, or even similar to some condos I have seen. Interesting.
Well, we stopped into Café Bar U Dvou Andêlú, originally built in the 1300s but totally renovated in 1760 (so it is pretty modern). We stopped because, A: We earned a beer, number two: we were thirsty, and thirdly: I needed to continue my research because everyone is counting on me.
We had two mugs of Budvar Budweiser. This is the original Budweiser, first brewed 700 years ago in the town of Budweis not too far from here. You can probably guess the story; Anhauser Busch makes a light beer, steals the Budweiser name then actually sues the original Budweiser and incredibly, wins. So now Budweiser is called Budvar Budweiser.
It is way better than the snack beer, Bernard, and pretty close to the current favorite, Eggenberg. Actually I think I will need to drink Budvar and Eggen side by side to truly decide.
We are back to walking, checking menus, and we decide on a place for dinner. Sadly, though the meal sounded good in theory, it is mediocre at best. So far Budapest, Hungary is by far the clear winner over both Vienna and the Czech Republic in food and wine (though CZ is winning in the beer and cheap prices categories).
Tomorrow we head to Prague, last stop on our trip. I have a lot of hopes pinned on Prague... it is a good thing if the last place before you go home is great, it just leaves you wanting to return... hopefully they have good food.