Reader's Comments

Usually, when a reader sends in a comment to a posting, I republish it in the body of the blog. I know I for one do not generally think to click on the "Comments" to see what others have said. I have been known in the past to also republish the hateful, negative comments as well as the positive ones trying to be balanced. A woman sent me a note to my e-mail complementing me on the blog and I had all good intentions of posting it. However, at the time, I was inundated with other things and deleted the e-mail without thinking. My regrets, but if she should read this and would resend it, I would love to have it here. In addition, yesterday I received another comment from Jim: "Great Blog - I've always wanted to visit Budapest but have always missed it while in Europe. I've never seen Mutts before either - hilarious -" Following his link, I see that he too has a blog, which I found quite impressive and worth a look see. For those interested in gardening head over to http://jim-groundcover.blogspot.com As Jim says in his blog, if you don't make a comment, I will never know you were here.

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Cesky Krumlov

Breakfast was served in a little coach house across the courtyard from our room. They had a fire going in the old stove making it cozy. On three of the tables, there were platters of ham, cheeses, and salami. On the counter, three types of cereal, coffee, hot water for tea, juice, and three types of rolls. Definitely not Austrian type rolls, but plain unadorned rolls that could easily have been overlooked.

We walked down to the brewery to find the hours of the tours. The one and only would be in an hour, so we walked to the castle and decided to forgo the tour. As you cross over the moat to the castle, there were people gawking at something. It was the castle bear, though the signs asking not to feed the bears implied there were others not visible. The bear was having a grand time playing in the water, obviously enjoying the show he or she was providing for the tourists. Then s(he) climbed out for a good back scratch on the tree putting an orgasmic look on his or her face.
We toured all around the castle and the grounds, but did not take the tour. If you are interested in the castle's specs, here you are. The gardens were lovely, but void of flowers due to the change of seasons is my guess. The shrubbery is expertly maintained. The various views from the hike up and around are breathtaking.















How does one change this clock for daylight savings time, I wonder?
I must say that as lovely and picture perfect as this village is, I don't understand how people manage or managed to walk on these cobblestone streets. I wore my most comfortable shoes, my Crocs, and my feet were killing me. Some of the young women residents, they had to be residents, were running around in high heels. On these stones, it is like being a stilt walker maintaining your balance. The stones are not flat, but full of surprise bumps, hills, valleys, and stumbling blocks along the way. In winter time or even in the rain, it must be treacherous.

For as many restaurants and hotels as there are, what is painfully absent are bakeries. We found a couple of cafes that had meager offerings and went to one by the river for an apple strudel and coffee, but compared to Austria, this is where they are deficient. This was the only moment, I wished I could transport back to Linz, but hurry back with pastry in hand.

We were favored with the weather, having clear skies and sunny days. We spent the whole day walking around and around, and around again. We covered the same streets, alleys, and coves multiple times in our day and a half. We found a lovely park and sat watching the teens sneaking their cigarettes and booze, like the world over, teens are the same. The street surface was making the village painfully beautiful and I was ready to return to the room to read. After finishing "The Memory Keeper's Daughter" by Kim Edwards, I started the other book I took along "The Last Testament" by Sam Bourne.

The Czech Republic is still using their old currency the Koruna and not the Euro. We were running short on Koruna and did not want to exchange more Euros than needed, so we strategically planned where we would dine, the cost and exchanged that amount. We chose a restaurant associated with a youth hostel based on the menu. When we returned later this evening, a fire was blazing in the fireplace and the one room held three tables similar to our last night's dining experience. The room was a converted stable with horse artifacts, collars, and such decorating the walls. The food was excellent and the place was definitely atmospheric.

For a last hurrah, we went to the somewhat tacky Horror Bar for a drink. As can be expected, the downstairs bar was decorated like a permanent Halloween exhibit with skeletons, cobwebs, mummies, and bats complementing the decor. We were amongst the oldest patrons with a few young Goth enthusiasts rounding out the crowd. There was one older woman also who was either the owner or some weird groupie, not sure which, but she acted like a regular.

Tomorrow, back to Linz and then home again, home again, lickety split or not so.

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A Long Day in Bloom

We were all up and ready for breakfast by 8:30 am. The plan was to leave for Leiden by 9:30. We arrived at the train station at our schedule time, but with trains leaving every 15 minutes, we decided to have a coffee first. A round trip ticket to Leiden was 7 Euros each.

The train to Leiden is the same train that goes to the airport and to Den Hague. Within 35 minutes, we were in line for our combo tickets for the bus ride and entrance to Kuekenhof. Tickets were 18 Euros each. With tickets in hand, we explored this lovely and quaint city, walking the streets and looking in shops. We spotted an Oil and Vinegar store and all of us had to make a stop there. Ron and I had come across our first Oil and Vinegar store in Lisbon, Mark and Chris had their first experience with one in Chicago. It is a cooks paradise and we sampled some of their goodies.

We decided to get snacks to bring to the park and picnic there. Finding a supermarket was easy with the directions we were given from the lady at Oil and Vinegar, so we did our shopping. We found rolls and cheeses we do not normally see in Hungary giving all of us a sense of euphoria.

With our snacks in hand, we went to catch our bus for the gardens. The 54 bus was packed with standing only capacity, but we were first in line to secure seats. We arrived at the grounds by 1:30 and walked slowly enjoying the varieties of the flower beds, the magnificent and unusual colors of some flowers, and the displays of statues. After two hours, we stopped at the outdoor restaurant for beers and snacked on our picnic lunch. We had yet to go to the major exhibition hall, which I knew would completely delight all of my crew. Chris had been here 12 years prior, but the grounds had grown considerably in that time. The first hall we went into was all orchids of hundreds of varieties. They were stunningly beautiful, some magically so in their incredibly different shapes and or colors.

As we approached the main hall, we discussed how much time we would need here. The others thought thirty minutes, but I pushed for an hour and they agreed. When we walked in and they saw the enormity of the displays with the variety of flowers, they realized why I prodded for more time. We all went in different directions with a common meeting point. I was as happy as a pig in mud, snapping pictures of flowers I most likely snapped pictures of last year, but still eager for more. Then twenty-five minutes into my shutter fever, my batteries died. I had two brand new packs of Panasonic Heavy Duty batteries, so I was not distraught. When I changed the batteries in my camera and it did not work at all, I did become anxious. I then tried the second set of batteries and they did not work either. Then I became despondent. Give me a camera and keep me busy for hours. Take away my batteries and I am instantly listless. I had no other back-up batteries, having left my rechargeable ones at home, depending on two brand new packs of batteries.

By the time, we had met up again as a group, we decided that we should head back to the station. It was now 5:45 pm. However, we had only covered half of the park. There was still another section that we had not even touched. We knew if we waited longer, the park closing at 7:30 pm, we would have to scramble for the bus back to the station.

Back in Amsterdam, we agreed to a long rest and to meet at 9:30 pm for a late dinner. We walked to the Hard Rock cafe to show Mark. He had never been to one, but does enjoy music. It was fun to share this experience with him. We then found a restaurant with an all-you-can-eat rib special and went there for dinner. Ron and I had the ribs and they were great. Having a beer in the gay bar on our street was the evening closer, so we went to the Spyker. It was more crowded than I remember it being for a long time, making it hot and stuffy with our coats on.

We headed to our hotel within the same block and agreed to a lazier wake-up and tour day tomorrow.

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