Prague to Vienna via Cesky Krumlov

Yesterday had a bit of a sad ending to it, as one member of our tour group was taken off to hospital last night. She and her husband were both in their 80s and the tour has been quite vigorous in spots. There has been a lot of walking and Doris has had two knee replacements. Every time we went through a security walkway, she took out her little picture of her re-constructed knees, because they invariably set all the alarms off. No-one is quite sure what actually happened to her last night, but she has had some sort of an operation already today. I actually had lunch with them yesterday, because we were both interested in seeing the Church of the Infant of Prague. But we all decided it was too far out of the way, and a little too far for them both, so we had lunch together in a coffee shop.

The awful thing though this morning was that we had to leave them both behind in Prague. Her poor husband was left in the hotel and was going down to the hospital. But there were language issues as well as the normal medical complications, so they both have a very rocky time ahead.

So after that unhappy start, the big highlight of today was the snow!

It's snowing!!!

We left Prague and journeyed along to our first stop which was Cesky Krumlov (pronounced Ches-cky Crumb-lov), and it was just as freezing as yesterday, but this time we actually experienced snow. We have 39 members on the tour and at least half are Aussies. And we were all ogling at the snow. The Yanks and Canadians couldn't believe that we were all so excited at a phenomenon that they just take for granted. I took some pictures from the bus because it was starting to leave its mark on the ground. Then when we arrived at Cesky Krumlov, it was actually snowing on us. Nobody was particularly interested in the castle... I think Claus said it is the second biggest in Europe after the Prague Castle. We were all far more interested in the snow and getting back on the bus out of the cold.

Snow beside the road

Claus, our tour guide

It was a delightful bus ride through the Czech countryside, and we eventually reached the Austrian border. (See pics below) This, of course, used to be one of the borders of the so-called Iron Curtain and used to take some time to cross. We just sailed through though, and the toilets in Austria were free!!!! yee haa!

Czech-Austrian Border

Speaking of toilets, I took a picture of the WC block at Cesky Krumlov. Luckily we got in just before this crowd, but they had all come off one of the Danube cruise ships, and there were 4 coaches travelling in tandem. So four lots of people got out and had to queue forever. They also had to pay their 5 Crown. Everyone was rumaging for coins... So glad we got in before them!

Toilet queue

We're back in Austria tonight. I'm going to a concert featuring Strauss and Mozart music... You may have noticed I've become a bit of a culture buff actually... (Not!!) Tomorrow is our last full day on this first tour. I can't believe the time has gone so fast. We've had a terrific crew on this tour. Claus, our tour guide, has been fantastic. His knowledge of the history and culture of Europe is unbelievable. But he also knows the other important things like where the rest rooms are, and the ATMs etc...

The other people on tour have been wonderful. There has been a very happy atmosphere on the bus, and everyone has gotten along really well. We've had 4 doctors and 2 nurses too, which is always comforting (especially after last night!)

So that's nearly it for this tour. One more day with the highlights of Vienna. No free Internet tonight. I could go down to Maccas, but I have to get dressed up tonight and have dinner first, so i'm going to splurge and pay for the Internet access in my room. Its 10 Euro for one hour, but tonight it will be worth it!