Meandering through the Czech Republic

There is a lot of catching up to do, and I think the best way to do it is with photo tours. As Rachel said, we've had friends and family visiting for the past month, and we've had a great time. We'll definitely post pictures of that soon, but for now let's do a little recap. We were in Croatia about two months ago. From there we went to Vienna and then in mid- to late-May we traveled through the Czech Republic. It was beautiful. We saw many small towns, walked dirt roads in the country, met a local while canoeing who insisted we take a swig of rum with him, toured castles, drank mead, and ate an entire "rabbit feast". We were there for a little over a week.

This was our general path:

Here is a list of our major stops:

- Brno: We only stayed for an afternoon, as the city was a little large, and after Vienna we were looking for something smaller. Still, the people were friendly and it was a nice place.

- Telč: Stayed for three days in this small town. There was a festival going on where we feasted on Czech festival food like brats and piping hot, doughy treats. The dirt roads through the fields of canola outside town were beautiful.

- Slavonice: A village on the border of Austria, Slavonice was one of our favorite places. Again, the trails are picturesque and the Vienna-Prague Greenways (a long bike path) runs through here.

- Český Krumlov: This is where we went canoeing and enjoyed our mead and rabbit feast. Český Krumlov has a castle on a hill overlooking the river... and the area is a great spot to canoe.

- Prague: We spent three days here. It was rainy and overcast, but still a fun city with crowds of people visiting. We also got a chance to meet up with a friend of Rachel's for breakfast.

- Olomouc: Our last stop before heading to Poland. Another small town in the country with some good restaurants and tons of churches to tour.

We took a lot of photos, but here are the highlights. Enjoy!

The main square of Telč

Sunset in Telč

Fields of flowers in the distance

Delicious sugar rolls sold everywhere in the Czech Republic. The best were in Telč.

Czech Bud. It's a small brewery that's been fighting with the much bigger Budweiser for years: 

A walk in the country

Festival in Telč

The Greenways outside Slavonice

New glasses. I broke mine 3 days later. Rachel's hung on for 3 weeks.

Train to Slavonice.

Český Krumlov

Mead in Český Krumlov

Waiting for a medieval feast

Cabbage soup

Rabbit feast

Český Krumlov

Hauling the canoe around the dam while I take a picture

Inside the Cesky Krumlov Castle's ballroom

Walking to Český Krumlov's bus station to head to Prague

Prague

Prague Castle

Vltava River in Prague

Not sure why we're squatting

Olomouc

Olomouc clock in the town hall

Saint Wenceslas Cathedral, Olomouc. (Everything was named Wenceslas. I couldn't get that Christmas carol out of my head for two weeks.) [Rachel's note: Of course, now it's back in his head.]

From the top of the town hall in Olomouc

Next stop after this, Krakow, Poland.

- Tom