27 June ’04. Sunday. We joined Mikleane, Ric, Louise, and Drew for breakfast at the Penzion Onyx this morning before heading over for the tour of the Cesky Krumlov Castle.

 When Louise and I first arrived in Europe we were looking high and low for a castle to see. Now, they are popping out of the wood work. Cesky Krumlov is one of the best that we have been into. Not only is it large, it is restored very well. At this point I will air one of my personal gripes…..you CAN NOT TAKE PICTURES ???…. Now I know that flash photography isn’t good for all the different fabrics and paintings, but why the HECK can’t we take pictures without flash?????? OK, now let me see, oh yes, this was a wonderful tour and we did see a beautiful castle that had a large number of the rooms filled with furnishings of the period. Nicely done !!!! The rest of the village is very quaint. The roads (very narrow) are restricted to cars for those that officially live in the village. The buildings are refinished to look just as they did in the 15th,16th & 17th century. The Vltova River winds and twists around the village and all the surrounding areas for miles on both sides of Cesky Krumlov…..very picturesque !!!

The food….Very Good and Very Reasonable…. The river is a floater’s dream. The Chouinards all gathered together and rented a raft for the rest of the afternoon and floated the Vltova for about 3 hours. A report from Drew and Louise was ….. “IT WAS GREAT FUN !!!”

Now I must tell you, Drew has become a GIANT fan of the Czech Fotbal team. It isn’t because they have a real good chance to win the Euro Cup either…and they do have a good chance to win it all. He likes them for his own reason !!! Last night we all sat in the middle of the village and watched the game on the big screen….there was a lot of cheering going on and in some corners a lot of beer flowing. The score was 5-0 in favor of the Czech team. Tomorrow…..good-bye to Cesky Krumlov and on to Salzburg……

26 June ’04, Saturday. After packing the van, stopping and getting gas, we headed south for our next destination with the Chouinards. We were traveling a route that took us close to a small town where the Wiener family (Louise's family) roots may have come from….Pisek, Czech Republic. So we just had to stop for a look around. It is a beautiful village that is surrounded by farmland and a beautiful river flowing through the middle of town. It’s on the Otava river and has the oldest bridge in the Czech Republic. The first stop we made was at the electrical power station for Pisek. There is mention of a mill at this spot in 1511 but now it's the spot for the power station.  In 1836 the town water works was supplied with a pump by Josef Bozek.

 In 1887 Frantisek Krizik switched on 5 arc lamps on the big square giving the town its first electric lights. The power plant has been restored and is operating very well. Very interesting to see and I hope to go back and spend some time looking at records at a later time. We had a great I mean "GREAT" lunch at a small restaurant by the river.

We spent a little time walking around and then headed for Cesty Krumlov to meet Mikleane and Rick. Cesty Krumlov has changed little over the years. It will be fun to explore. Well, we have an appointment at 10:40am to tour the Castle with an English guide so until tomorrow…..

24 June ’04, Thursday. Jet lag has done it’s job….after we knocked on the door we were met by someone who looked a little like Ric. We weren’t sure until he finally opened up his one eye and told us “we must of slept through the alarm…”. Well we could understood (even tho we were on time) because we walked their lags off yesterday. Anyway, Louise and I went down and had coffee while they gathered themselves together and soon we were underway. We wanted to get a private tour of Prague’s Old Square,

The Jewish Quarters,

 St. Charles Bridge, and any other sites that we could get in the 3 hours tour. In the time leading up to our “Tour” we went to Prague’s Astronomical Clock

 and then we climbed all the stairs to the top of the clock tower. Another great photo opportunity.

 We then walked into the Wenceslas Square for a bite of lunch before the 2pm tour. Of course the kids saw Mickey D’s so that was that. I had to have my brot, so I found a street vendor real close, found a perch to sit on across the street and had a picnic. Now while eating my lunch I saw something that I had never seen before. At the curb across the street was a 4’ square glass case that housed a couple of dressed up manikins for one of the stores close by. Then a car pulls up and stops right in front of them and all of a sudden a large area starts to lift right out of the ground. It turns out to be a lift that takes cars and moves them from the street to the level below ground for parking.

It was absolutely a great idea…. Time for the tour and we met our guide Myllena. She was good….really good. She has lived in Prague since the early 60’s and loved her job. We learned a lot and had a good time doing it. She not only answered all the questions that the adults asked but she always had an answer for the kids questions as well. I remember (Lil) Louise asked what was the significance of all the marionettes? There are many shops that sell the marionettes in Prague and she thought there might be a reason for it. Well, if you want the answer you will have to ask Louise…

 I found the whole tour very informative but in particular, the Jewish Quarters and the Astronomical Clock Tower and all it’s meanings. About 5 we ended the day with an ice cream cone and headed back to camp. Well almost…I dropped off at the Internet Café for a couple of hours work before going on to meet Louise at the van. Just as I arrived at the van the dark clouds above opened up and gave us one of the heaviest rain, thunder, and lightning storms we have been seen in a long time. Boy did “Bumble Bee” and the tent get wet. Even inside the tent…. Well, we dry…. Tomorrow…more Prague

23 June ’04, Wednesday. 10am and all was well….Everyone was up and ready to see Prague. As we approached the room at the hotel, Louise and Drew were there to meet us, and before you could say hi the rest of the family joined us and we were out the door. Our first stop, the tram going up the hill to the Prague Castle. This ride on the tram was the first for Lil Louise and Drew and I think they found it very interesting to say the least…. It was very crowded and a hot ride for all. Poor Drew was dwarfed by all the people as they crowded on, but he held his ground and clutched tight to the rail for the ride up the hill. About 10 minutes later we arrived at the castle and walked through Matthias Gates and into one of the courtyards.

Matthias Gates were constructed in 1614. Going on we visited the Chapel of the Holy Cross, St Vitas (1344, French Gothic) Cathedral and the tomb of Wenseslas the Czech patron saint and good King. We climbed the 287 steps (very tight quarters going up a circular stairway) to the Great Tower and enjoyed the wonderful views all over Prague.

We even stepped inside the very large and elegant Vladislov Hall that was built between 1486-1502. A ramp on one side allowed horsemen to ride into the hall for jousting events. We walked just about every corner and stairway of this large complex. We tried to find the Crown Jewels but found only that it took 7 keys to open 7 locks and they were all in the hands of the very important people here in Prague. They were unavailable to us for an interview. After a very long 4+ hours we all felt we had a very strong need for lunch. Lucky for us we found just the right place. An Italian restaurant with a wonderful patio out back.

We all needed this break. Our next stop was St Nicholas Church on Lesser Town. A big part of Prague and the Prague skyline. Construction started in the last part of the 17th century. The 1st parish church stood in the same location back in 1283. This church is an excellent example of the Baroque Style from that era. Truly a magnificent church. Well, after a long day sightseeing, what is better than ending the day with ice cream cones? Tomorrow….see you at 10am?

22 June ’04, Tues. Tuesday, we found a shopping center just a short tram ride away so we went looking for some things for the van. What we were looking for was not to be found in a shopping center unfortunately. But what I found was great….an internet café.  They charged for the drinks and nothing for the time on-line. I spent at least 2 hours on the net and it only cost me for a coke that Louise had and a latte for me. I think the total cost was 65 kn or about $2.10. You bet I will be back !!! Louise was looking for some clothes and found a couple of pieces that would work. Later in the evening we headed out to town to see if we could run into Mikleane and family. Around 8:30 we walked into their hotel and found they had just checked in and they were about ready to go out for a walk.

 We joined them until about 11pm and then we grabbed a tram back with plans to meet in the morning to tour the Prague castle.

21 June ’04, Sun/Monday. ( I thought I would follow Louise’s open email with my version)….As we climbed out of bed we knew right then we were going to have a full day just staying right here at the van for the day. We just had too much to get done. It had been well over 2 months since we had put up our “extra room” and today it was to go up. Not only that, we had laundry to do. As soon as I started with the room, Louise had the clock going to see just how long it was going to take me. Now really, this is only the 2nd time I’ve had to put it up and she’s got the clock running…. Anyway, it took me a little more than I had expected…2 + hours. As far a the laundry, after she went to get water she dugout the “plumber’s friend”…the plumber’s friend and a bucket of water and she has her own Maytag with me being the wringer and official hanger upper. Boy it never fails, no longer had the wash been hung out than the sky turned very dark and darned if it didn’t start to rain…..rain, it rained like h___. Lucky enough, I had the room up so we strung a line inside and got it all dry by night. I don’t know when it stopped raining, but when I woke this morning (Monday) it had stopped and the sun was out with total blue sky. All Forgiven. Oh I forgot, yesterday morning we went to the bar/restaurant here at the campgrounds for breakfast. This is a first for us to have a meal at the restaurants at the campgrounds. As it turned out it was really quite good and very inexpensive. Ham, 2 egg, cheese, mushroom omelet with fresh rolls and a cappuccino was $3.00. I can afford that. Ok, back to today. I've had a chance to use the internet here at the campground but it was on their computer and their service is rather slow. It was good to receive email but, I want to up-load pictures and text so today we went into Prague to find a service there.

We did and it is a good one. I got all the text caught up and tomorrow I hope to get a lot of picture gallery caught up as well. Louise did some shopping while in town and found a good value on shoes and 2 umbrella’s for a $1.00 ea. I found a good value on my coffee break…. We did walk a lot today but, we want to save all the real tourist stuff for when Mikleane and family get here. I would imagine we will be getting together on Wednesday. As we were walking back to the tram we came across a neat little place to have a beer right on the river bank. We enjoyed the people in the paddle and row boats below us. There were those that just wanted to float down the river and then there were those that just had to have a water fight with their oars. Looked like fun. We finally had a nice sun break today and it might have gone to someone’s head. Tomorrow….more of today. By the way, HAPPY FATHERS DAY !!! Oh Yes, we've had questions about our kitchen... well here it is complete with the kitchen boss.

Well here we are in the Czech Republic. It is so wonderful, I hope you will check the web site for pictures. Yesterday we stopped at one of the spa towns. A turn of the century retreat, where all the aristocrats came to take the cure. We strolled the promenade and I had my first taste of water fresh from the hot springs. I tried two different springs one was very plain and the other effervescent. Very different. We then traveled on to Prague. We wanted to be all set up when Mikleane, Rick and family arrive. Well I got my East and West mixed up and we had quite a tour of the city before we reached our destination.

I’m the navigator and Joel is the driver. He took it quite well as he had run over our basket of drinks that morning. We keep our extra bottles of Cola, water, beer and wine in a basket under the van when we camp. Bumble Bee (our van) ran smoothly over the basket and we never even knew it. As we were driving off Joel looked back and said is that out stuff? And there it was. We really had a good laugh, so did our neighbors. So we made it to our campground, very nice even has the internet, restaurant and hot showers are free. We are about 5km to the city (3.1 miles). There is a tram that stops near us and will take us to the old city square. Today is a day of rest, we had breakfast at the restaurant this morning. Omelets and fresh bread…very good. Then it was time to clean the kitchen while listening to Czech country music top 100. Most all American songs, a few Czech, it was great. Then I did the laundry and Joel put up our tent. We got it up in the nick of time as it started to rain. Bummer… The weather has been cool but this is the first rain we’ve had for a few days. It has not been the typical local weather. Ever heard that before! Well it’s great for sleeping and sight seeing if its not rainy. The Czech Republic joined the European Union in May but are still using the Koruna as their money. 30 koruna equal 1 euro. This country reminds us of Mexico but with out the warm weather. Prices here are very inexpensive. Gas is only $4.00 a gallon, our camp ground is only $7.20 a night, we’ve been averaging $18. night so far. More money for beer! They have fantastic beer, and no little 12 ounces no sir ree, its got to be a half a liter and 12% alcohol. A real party. We are hoping to try the wines, we’ve heard they are real good too. Well maybe we will have to watch a movie the rain doesn’t show signs of letting up. Oliver the camp manager watches TV in the bar, all old American movies dubbed in Czech. Very funny to watch. The people that camp are very nice and lucky for us most speak English so we get along quite well. We are able to find out about interesting places they have been and share some of our experiences with them as well. In this campground there are French, Italian, Belgium, Netherlands and Czech. Usually it has been 75% Netherlands everywhere we go. Oh Joel has got the heater out, is it June 19th? Well just like Seattle. We would love to hear from all of you, of course we are a bit homesick, stay in touch. We miss you all!

19 June ’04, Saturday. Our campground was quite different from any we have been in before. What made it different, was there was only 3 of us that were “camping” and all the others had rented “bungalows” that are found on the campgrounds. Not only had they rented the bungalows, they also had one heck of a Czech Party complete with camp fire. A good time was had. We pulled out and headed back into Mariánské Lázne for the morning.

 Mariánské Lázne was founded in 1193 by the grandee Hroznata, a later prior of the monastery. Thomas Edison proclaimed that there is no more beautiful spa in the entire world when he visited in 1911. This town is an “electrifying freeform collection of romantic turn of the century Art Noveau hotels, pensions, colonnades, and promenades.

 Many other famous people have visited this spa including Mark Twain, Kipling, Chopin, Strauss, Wagner, Freud to name just a few. Again, this town is known for the special spring waters and their healing powers. As we were walking around the area of the springs, people were drinking water from “their own cups”. There was even a nice storage area that the “regulars” could store their cups in. Each time they wanted a drink, they would check-out their cup and enjoy the “spring waters”. We had to be part of the party so we bought a cup and joined in with the drinking of the “spring waters”. This town has some of the most beautiful buildings that are set in the hills above the town and right in the middle of some very nice forested areas.

The streets and the sidewalks are wide and flow in nice arching way to enhance the beautiful lines of the buildings, gardens, and parks. It was 2pm and we were on our way to Prague and with one potty stop taken we arrived at our campsite just outside of the big city in time for dinner. Now we will take it easy for a couple of days while waiting for Mikleane, Ric, Louise and Drew to arrive.

18 June ’04, Friday. Readied the van for travel and by 09:30 we were headed to Františkovy Lázne. Now I must admit, we had heard the story from Gerda and we were still shocked as we pulled in to this unique little city.

Our question is “Why Hasn’t The Tourist Literature got this listed as a must see?” The first “written” mention of local mineral waters dates back to 1406. The waters have been drank from the local springs for “Curing” By 1714 there was an inn at the springs with 12 rooms and 14 bathing cabins.

Today, there are “many” hotels and spas to accommodate the masses that come for the curing waters of Františkovy Lázne. I tried to take pictures that would do justice to the city but as I was doing my editing it didn’t show the “true” beauty the city deserves. For that reason I took a picture of a painting that would do a lot more to give you a glimpse of what we saw.

Now, saying all that, there is a lot of cosmetic fixing that must be done on the buildings to bring them up to the standard they once had. It will take a lot of money and I hope that the government of the Czech Republic will help. Next we were off to another “Spa” town and then onto Prague tomorrow evening. Our next destination was Mariánské Láznì which we pulled into at 3pm. This gave us a hour and a half of sightseeing before heading off to our campgrounds for the night. This wasn’t near enough time so we will….. Tomorrow….More Mariánské Lázne and then off to Prague for Saturday night at the campgrounds

17 June ’04. Thursday. We had the longest walk to the showers and potty this morning…. That will never happen again if I can help it. Anyway, it was one of the coldest nights that we have had since starting our journey and we were looking for extra blankets (can you believe we couldn’t find them…). It must have been a front that brought all that cold in. Today was quite nice all day long (Thank You Lord). We had breakfast looking out over the lake this morning and it was warm even then. After doing the dishes we went into town for our first visit to a Czech town. One of the first things that had to be accomplished this morning was to get some Koruna’s (Czech money 30 Kc = 1 Euro). Cheb has a population of about 30,000 and all the main town area was very quite all day. We went looking for the Tourist Information Center to get up to date maps and find out what was going on in the area that we might be interested in seeing and doing. This is always a good way to get started in a new area. I love the architecture of the buildings and the soft pastel colors that each is painted.

 We also visited the Dom (St Niklas’) and tried to get into a couple of other churches but they were closed. There is a wonderful castle that was founded by Freidrich Barbarossa. It sits right on the banks of the river. An original Romanesque fortification. It houses the “Black Tower of Cheb”, St Erhards and St Urlulas Chapels.

This town isn’t really on the tourist maps so there were very few people to see this beautiful structures but we were very impressed. After we got back to camp we met with Adrian and Gerda for a beer and exchange our stories of the day.

They have a motorcycle that they use to get around in the more remote areas and today was one of them. Gerda was telling us of a place just 6 km north that they had discovered this afternoon. She got us both excited to see it so…. Tomorrow…Františkovy Láznì