Cesky Krumlov - Beer is cheaper than Water

This entry is very difficult to type, as my hands are numb and I have grown massive animal-like fingernails.

Cesky Krumlov is a very very very small medievil town encircled by a very very very cold river south of Prague. It is about a 10 minute walk from one side to the other and jam packed with gift shops. Just how I like it.

We arrived yesterday in miserable rain, but moods improved when we got to the hostel, which is a totally cool hayloft kinda setup run by a bunch of crazy people.

I spent the afternoon exploring town. Actually it was more like 20 minutes than an afternoon, so for the rest of th day I just wandered around aimlessly with a few more people from the tour and had myself a $5 Cordon Bleu at one of the millions of cosy local pubs.

Today I checked out the two biggest tourist attractions. Actually thats not true, the whole town is the attraction, these were just the two places you can go, the Old Castle and the Old Church.

The castle was cool because I managed to dodge the entry fee for the tower climb (I was down to my last 300kc and I'm not changing anymore cos I'll leave tomorrow), so I did that and took all the touristy photos.

Then I went to the old church. Of all the churches I've been to, this was definately one of them. It was also free. Awesome.

Anyway the weather was cold (as we'd come to expect in a European summer) and the rain was intermittant, but the only other activity the town had to offer was rafting down the river. I had just shaken off the remnants of the cold that hit me in Prague, and I was very cosy in my bed, but something told me that I had to do it (that something was a girl named Emma in the bunk across the room). Besides, I could visit churches and climb tall things in Brisbane, I was long overdue for a unique experience.

So I donned my boardies along with the 2 other people stupid enough to sign up and we got a lift up the river and out of town with our inflatable dingy/kayak.

Noone really knew what they were doing, so I remembered everything Dad had taught me about canoeing (ie; the j-stroke) and explained it all like I was an old sea dog. Somehow I had a beer in my hand as well.

The trip was really cool, and we managed to get the only 2 hour window that didnt have rain (and for a second there we actually had sunlight). Instead of rapids we hit the occasional weir, which had special chutes set up on the right where canoes could do sick jumps. Expect video footage of that later, I spilled my beer :(.

Got back here, had a shower and watched a movie. A free keg has just been delivered to the Hostel from a brewery down the road, but I've had my stein for the week so I'll spend the rest of my time in Cesky Krumlov looking for fingernail clippers.

11am tomorrow we head off to Vienna.