In Fairyland

I don't know how on earth I'm going to drag myself away from this amazing place tomorrow! They call it the "Krumlov curse". You come for a week, and stay for a year. I'm almost glad I came here at the end of my trip, because if I'd come at the beginning, I would have spent my whole time here!

Today my plans of floating down the river in the sun have been shot...it's pretty cloudy and on the cold side today. It looks like it might even rain. I may still do the horsebackriding thing today, but I'm feeling pretty mellow and like just hanging around and doing nothing and just appreciating the vibe.

My low-key mood today may have something to do with my night last night. :) Sarah and her friend and I went for supper at the medeval resaurant place, and had the Bohemian feast for 3 people. It came out on this huge platter, and it was so much food! And strange stuff too. Millet cakes with all these seeds in them, chicken, smoked meat, cabbage, potatoes. It was SOOO good. All washed down with some warm spiced meade. I dunno if it was as good as your meade Spike, but it was pretty darn tasty! The best part? The meal was about $5 a person. Absolutely amazing.

We finished dinner at around 9 pm and went to find where the party was. It's the same with any small town...you wander around to a dozen empty bars, trying to find the one bar that happens to be packed with people on that particular night. We went to a few places that were really funky, with a few locals enjoying the scene, which is always fun. But when we asked people where the good bar to go to was, they all told us the one at our hostel! So at around 11 pm we made it the block and a half back to our hostel (everything is pretty close together here).

They were right, the bar at the Travellers Hostel is most definitely the place to be in Cesky Krumlov. There were tons of backpackers, of course, but also tons of local young people. I made some really nice Czech friends, and some of them even spoke a little bit of english! It's a reflection of the town that not only backbackers and tourists are drawn to Cesky Krumlov, but Czech people themselves fall in love with the place. As one of the guys said to me "My heart breaks for Krumlov." Wow.

Of course, they're not as nice as the SLOVAKS (don't worry Peter) but I have to say I really do love the Czech people. They have a sense of humour, despite the language barrier, that I find slightly lacking in the rest of Eastern Europe.

For example: I went over to the table where Sarah was sitting to find out how she was doing, and she told me that the bartender offered her a nut to eat, and now she was dying for some more, but he wasn't offering more. We tried to see behind the bar where he was hiding the nuts, but they were well hidden.

Thinking that since my new Czech friend was buddies with the bartender, he might be of more assistance, I walked over to him and casually said "So..I hear a rumour there are nuts behind the bar."

Without a clue what I was talking about, and without missing a beat, he replied "Really. I'd heard there was nuts in front of the bar." This guy, who barely spoke english, made that joke! Maybe it was the few black russians I'd knocked back, but I thought that was the funniest thing I'd heard in a long time. I still think it's pretty cool.

So tonight I think will be more of the same partying with the awesome people here, although this time sans Sarah. Her and her friend left this morning. I told Sarah that our next scheduled meeting was in 8 years, but hopefully I'll see her before that!

I just got an email back from Vera confirming my reservation for tomorrow night at the Boathouse. I can't believe it's my last night! *sob*

Dani: my flight details are back at the hostel. I'm email them to you later. I know I get in kinda late though..like 10:30 pm or something. Thanks for coming to get me!

Jill: No, I don't think it's the same couple, my Elisa and Paulo were younger. Very weird coincidence though!