Oct. 2 (Fri) - Cesky Krumlov

Left the apartment at 0630 for the main bus station. Shortly after arriving, out from a limo pop Diane and Gar - friends from Saint John that we hadn't seen in years. They had just landed from an overnite flight from JFK at 0630 and Gar, knowing (from previous emails) that we were heading for CK by bus, got their limo driver to divert to the bus station for a short visit with us. Great going Gar ... you rock!

The bus trip to CK took 3 hours. For the first 1.5 hours, quite a few pax had to stand so buying in advance had been a good move.

Walked thru the town to get to our pension. We had to proceed very slowly due to the rough cobblestone streets. Trust me, the wheels on your bag are your best friend ... you don't want to do anything that might get them damaged when you're touring!

Checked into our Pension Lobo and got bad news - their 9 a.m. shuttle which we had booked to take us to Linz (75 min. from here) to catch our 10:30 train tomorrow morning, has a 'problem' - only the 11:00 shuttle will go.

As they couldn't take us, they suggested we go to the TI to see if some other supplier might be able to take us. After several phone calls to other suppliers who could not provide, the TI agent found one who agreed to take us on a private fare basis. Increased expense but better than missing our train.

Having resolved the issue, we had lunch and did the tour of the town very casually, which took most of the afternoon.

The town is beautiful with all kinds of interesting buildings. With its setting on a bend of the Vltava (same river that flows past Prague), the town and castle deserve their UNESCO designation.


[Panorama stitched from 2 shots]


[Panorama of Main Square, stitched from 4 shots]