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Once again we have taken the leap from what has become known and comfortable into the unknown. This time landing in Cesky Krumlov, in the Czech Republic.
Zermatt was wonderful, and I took quite a liking to living indoors again. I found myself singing dippy little songs around the apartment like "Raindrops on Roses". But, we had to get out because it was so darned expensive to live indoors there - it was already breaking our broken budget.
When we left Zermatt, we really didn't know where we were going. We had gotten a "Swiss Family Card" for the kids, which meant they could travel the Swiss trains for free as long as they were with us. So, we took a train to the border town of Buchs, on the Swiss - Liechtenstein border because the kids could ride in Switzerland for free. This took 6 trains and most of the day, arriving in Buchs at 6 pm.
We had read about a "Eastern European Rail Pass" that included Austria, Czech, Poland, and a bunch of other countries. We tried to buy one in Buchs, but as we were still in Switzerland, they didn't know anything about it. So, we took a bus through Liechtenstein to the first town just inside of Austria, where we found out that you can't buy this type of pass in Europe, only in the US.
You know, the kids really do not have the apprehension that the adults when darkness is pressing in after landing in a new city, new country, not having any local currency, not speaking the language, and having no place to stay. They just think it is all a great adventure. This is a bit irksome, but mostly I am just jealous. I wish I had my own personal concierge taking care of all the little details.
We found a dumpy little hotel room that was by a noisy street smelling of a mixture of mold and tobacco, but at least it was expensive and about the size of our tent. The next morning we set off for Prague, but decided to stop in Cesky Krumlov first, which has received rave reviews from fellow travelers we have meet.
It is a funky little town and is everything I imagined a former Eastern Block country to be. It looks like time has preserved it from the mid 15th century, except that there is a internet cafe on every street corner. And it is incredibly cheap. Walking down the street, however, one would think everyone has recently had root canal by the looks one their faces. But to the contrary the people have been very friendly, once you talk to them.
I have to confess that while we traveled through Switzerland by train, that I was a bit sad to be zipping through so fast. I really do think that Switzerland is the most beautiful place on Earth - at least as far as I have seen. It is a darn shame that we had to race through it. A bicycle would have been the perfect pace. But, I can't let Katrina know that I feel that way, because it would really make her sad.
We left our tandems in Zermatt, so, we will be going back as soon as Katrina can pedal again. If it is too cold in the Alps to cycle, we will just have to come up with a Plan C, which might be to send the tandems back to the US. We will see how it goes.
Until then, we will take trains, and stick to Eastern Europe, where it is much cheaper. The exception being for a commitment we have in Sweden in August, where we have prepaid accommodations.
One of our new problems is that panniers are much more difficult to carry when they are not attached to the tandems. Maneuvering 8 panniers and one 11 year old girl in cast has not been easy, but we are up to the task.
Another problem is most of our clothes are cycling clothes. I, for example, only have one shirt and one pair of pants. And I stupidly left all of my cycling clothes with the bikes in Zermatt, not appreciating the impact it would have on my choices when I got dressed in the morning. So, I get to go shopping, very soon.
But our biggest problem (pun intended) is that while cycling, we could justify a huge calorie intake. This was fantastic, because there was anew kind of chocolate waiting around every corner. Now that justification is gone, but there is still a new kind of chocolate around every corner.
previous travel blog entry
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