On to the Czech Republic

After leaving Hayley in Turkey, Erica and I flew to Prague. We had a hard time trying to find a way out of Istanbul because Bulgaria and Romania were taken off the agenda for travel so the easiest way out was to fly. Unfortunately, we came into bad weather...raining the entire time we were there.

Because Erica had already been to Prague and the rain in the city, we thought it best to take a day trip out and then tour a little bit when we got back. Off to Karlstejn we went. Karlstejn is a cute, little town with a castle on top of a long hill. During the climb, there are lots of touristy shops to buy random medieval souvenirs and gifts along with people creating jewelry from metal and horse and carriage. There was even a guy all decked out in medieval armor encouraging tourists to give him money to hold his falcon (yes, it was a real bird)...

Once we got to the top of the hill, the castle (built by Emperor Charles IV) was just as your could imagine. Gorgeous view from the top, but once you've seen one castle, you've seen them all. ALTHOUGH it is still exciting to see everyone and if you are in a town, you can hardly pass up going to see, at least I can't.



Here is Erica on the walk up the hill and the castle is up there just as you can see.

And a picture of part of the castle, Statni Hrad I think it was called.



We came back to Praha (Prague) as it's called. We did the touristy thing of walking around to see all the sights. I am sure any picture you find online of Prague will be better than the ones I took so I will just put one up of Erica and I on the Charles Bridge (or one of the bridges, there were millions of them).



The next day, again, we went on a day trip out of Prague to a town in South Bohemia called Cesky Krumlov. Again, the rain wouldn't leave us alone so although this town is known for it's outdoor activities, we did not get to partake in any of the kayaking, canoeing or hiking...sad. BUT we did get to see the grizzly bears!



They were used to protect the Zomek castle, home to Bohemian and Bavarian noble families and they are still there. They are down in a moat though with a bridge over the moat, so I think their protecting days are over. Besides the castle, the town was very quiant.



We headed back to Prague to get ready to head to BUDA BUDA BUDAPEST the next day!