Novosedly, Czech Republic - Ottensoos, Germany

Crackertastic!

Every day is cracker day when you're loaded up with heaps of them.  So before we set off to our last stop on our trip out came the crackers for more laughs and explosions.  

We've refined our firecracker lighting technique now and rather than strike match after match wasting time we brought out those firestarter cubes which provided a non-stop flame for even more explosive themed fun.

After only a piddling 150 explosions or so we finally ran out and Captain Sensible rounded the troops up so it was time to go.

Snow dramas on the highway

Just before we left though, Joseph, the brother of our host came down to wish us goodbye and gave us the good news that last night there was countrywide snow.  Ripper!  Just what we wanted to hear for the summer-tyred Grand Kangoo but he said we should be right if we stuck to the main roads.

Lucky for us he was right but as we crossed the border and went up in altitude there was heaps more snow about and it was starting to get a bit hairy.  In the end we finally joined onto the main highway and we were right.

Taste test of a local sweet

Our last stop was to be Nuremberg but as luck would have it that very night was the beginning of Christkindlesmarkt which is the largest in Germany.  

As a result accommodation was fairly scarce and in the end a few days before we bagged an apartment about 25kms away in a small village called Ottensoos.  Not a bad result really as, for us, it's nicer staying out in the countryside away from the hub-bub of the big cities.

Market stalls

Had a relaxing arvo and then we drove to the markets which were, as promised, huge.  


Loads of people with hundreds of stalls around selling a multitude of goodies.  The stall were minitature works of art themselves and decorated quite intricately.  

Stall decoration on the roof of the stall

Besides knick-knacks of every description there was a lot of local cuisine so we got into that and had some pickled fish sandwiches, bratwurst sausages on buns, some crepes, some other traditional sweets and downed a few gluhweins to round out dinner.

We walked around the markets for an hour or so but as we were starting to lose feeling in our toes and fingers we decided to head home.

Christkindlesmarkt Nurnberg

Highway scenery

Novosedly - Cesky Krumlov - Klenovice - Novosedly

Krumlov Castle

Seeing as we have been in Cesky Krumlov for 4 days now we thought it best if we went and checked it during the daytime rather than just at nightime.

The town itself is a picture postcard of little houses, buildings, churches and a castle and very picturesque.

We walked around the town browsing a few shops and picking up some knick-knacks before stopping in at the torture museum.  That was interesting but a little more graphic than the boys bargained for with some recordings of people screaming and some re-enactments which boded well for when they went to bed that night.

Krumlov Street

We tried to get inside the castle after that but it was closed so instead we walked around the courtyards and enjoyed the view of the town.  
There was a tower but the wind was blowing and it was freezing so only Harry and I went up for a look.  Took my gloves off to take some photos but after a minute or so I thought my fingers were going to fall off so we went back down the stairs.

Drove home after that as we were going for dinner at my Czech friends house for a visit about half an hour way.  First things first though we let off some more crackers and we blew a plastic bottle to smithereens which the kids (and I) thought was hilarious.

Torture museum

Jumped in the car to drive off to our friends house when we started to see snow falling.  Ever since Montenegro we've been wanting to see more snow until I'd done some internet research.  We'd found out that it's illegal to drive a car without winter tires (which we don't have) from the 1st of November through to April or so.  Not only that if you happen to have an accident then your insurance can be voided.  

Bloody brilliant.  

Anyway it was very light and being well versed in the Australian way we took the 'she'll be right' attitude and set off.

Got to our hosts house after half an hour and we had a nice afternoon with a couple of beers and some food.   After a bit Jan took us out into the forest to show us where he does some rock climbing and a bit of the local scenery.   
   

Castle square

Hardly sight-seeing weather but he didn't seem to mind and who are we to argue.

We got back to his house, said goodbye and thanked them for their hospitality and boarded the firecracker express.  Found another empty paddock on the way home and set some rockets, bungers and our 16 tube, one kilo cracker off.

The latter being an absolute beauty which was something straight out of a display that you'd see at home at some event.

View from the tower

Kablammo!!!

Matěj, Jan and Mickaela

Novosedly - Lipno - Cesky Krumlov - Novosedly

Lipno mountain biking - warm!

Firecracker day!!  

First stop Lipno for me to go on a mountain bike ride and the kids and Nicki to go on the luge run as it's open all year.  Or so we thought.  Parked the car and walked up to the ticket office to see the shutters down and some sign in Czech with the dates 26/11, 27/11, 28/11, 29/11 on the sign.  Obviously it's closed for those 4 days.  The only 4 days we are in the Czech Republic.  

What are the bloody odds?

Wheeeeee! - Not blurred but fog.

The kids were good about it though and Nicki drove me to the top of the hill for a downhill mountain bike run.  It was great fun going on a dedicated course with jumps, berms and obstacles.  Got to the bottom in no time and Nicki shuttled me up two more times.

We had some lunch from the supermarket again and then boarded the firecracker express to a small town near the border to stock up.

The kids (and me to be honest) were like the proverbial in a lolly shop with a $50 bill.  The Asian shop bloke spotted us and walked over and said in broken English 'you want boom boom?'  

'Yes Sir, yes we do'.

After a bit of haggling with the bloke we managed to buy 20 bungers, a dozen bottle rockets, 400 poh-hahs (mini bungers), a dozen tubes that shot balls out of the top and some mad square thing that weighed about a kilo and consisted of 16 carboard rolls set in a square formation.  No idea what that one did but it was big so it met my stringent specifications.  All up €28 worth.

There were heaps of others too and some that looked downright dangerous.  I like a big explosion as much as the next bloke but some of these things would have taken your hand off if it all went wrong so we gave the larger ones a miss.

Crackers!!!!

Jumped back in the car with a dozen boxes of matches and drove straight out of town to find an empty paddock.  Set a few of the smaller ones off and had a great laugh.   (Those with a penis found it far more hilarious than those without.)  Then I took out one of the small bungers we had which was about 40mm high by 15mm diameter.  I wasn't too sure how much of a bang that'd make so I gave it a fair hoick.  

Holy smokes!  

Lucky we didn't buy the bigger ones otherwise the Czech SAS may have descended on the area to see what sort of terrorist training we were undergoing out in the forest.

Went home after stopping another time to let off a couple of rockets and checked with our host to see if there was somewhere we could let off a few others.  More explosions and hilarity before we had to get ready for dinner.

We boarded the firecracker express and drove into Cesky Krumlov where we caught up with my Czech-mate (see what I did there) that I'd met mountain biking in Italy for dinner with his wife and 2 children.  A top bloke and an unassuming adventurous type who not only mountain bikes but rock climbs and camps in minus 30 degree weather by himself in the mountains.  His wife is a doctor which you'll hope he'll not need but is quite handy given some of the activities he gets up to.  

Novosedly - Hluboka - Cesky Budejovice - Novosedly

Hluboka Castle

There's a town called Hluboka about half an hour from here which has a nice looking castle so we thought we go and have a look at that today.

The castle was built in the 13th century but it's current form was after a rebuild in the mid 1800's.  We bought tickets for the tour and had a coffee and cake in the castle restaurant while we waited for that to start.  When it was time to go out for the start of the tour we found ourselves to be the only people there so effectively we got our own private tour. 

Industrial building full of beery goodness

The tour itself was OK but there was no real interesting history behind it as it was more a chateau than a military stronghold. Judging by the 300 or so deer skulls and antlers on every wall as well as the same number of hunting rifles we're thinking that the owners fancied a bit of shooting when the opportunity presented itself.

One interesting thing about the castle was that the owners bolted to America to escape the Nazis at the beginning of WWII and it was seized by the Gestapo.  After the war it became the property of the Czech state.

Wort vats

On the way back home we stopped at a town called Cesky Budejovice which is home to the original and best Budweiser beer.  (Not the knock off watered down American version.)  What better way to spend an hour with your children than to go on a brewery tour so we signed up to that.

On the tour with us there were a couple from Poland and just like my wife she looked thrilled to be there.

When in Czech do as the Czechs do.

The tour was pretty good and the fellow who took us was excellent considering they must say the same thing over and over again every time they take a group of people.

I asked him if the workers were allowed to take beer home and he must have misunderstood me a bit and he said "of course you are not allowed to drink when you are working but everybody does."

Brilliant, what a work ethic. 

The tour took us around the various stages of beer production and we saw the pipes that bring the water up from 300m underground.  The water is so pure that it needs no treatment at all prior to use in the beer.

Packaging - it's exciting

We went through the factory and ended up in the beer cellars where the beer matures before filtering and pasteurizing where it was time for a taste test.  As the country where beer is a national obsession and with the highest consumption of beer in the world it wasn't too surprising to see the kids get offered a small sample.  

How special did they think that was?  

You couldn't wipe the smiles off their faces until they had the first couple of sips.  (The reality of beery bitterness trumping the fantasy for them.)  Fortunately I was there to take one for the team and I managed to finish off their beers for them.

Tour guide Jan

We left the brewery and drove into the centre of town to sober up and walked around the central square of Cesky Budejovice.  After an hour or so we drove back to our accommodation and had dinner at home.

Stray observations:  Beer drinking here is not like in Australia which seems to be a means to an end.  Here it seems to be seen as a drink to enjoy and if you enjoy it then have it for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

The real deal

Novosedly - Lipno - Novosedly

Beginning of walkway

We drove down to Lipno this morning which is near the Sumava (pronounced Shumava) National Park.  Lipno sits near a lake and is a little alpine village which in winter is home to the usual skiing and snowboarding.  

As with a lot of these villages they have diversified to offer a range of summer activities to try and pull in the summer crowds.  There were downhill mountain bike trails, a luge run, giant slide and a pool as well as other activities.

We read about this tree-top walk which looked like a cool thing to do so we bought some chair lift tickets and up we went to the top of the hill for the beginning of the walk.

The timber walkway meandered through the forest rising gradually until we reached the top platform.  There were 11 'adrenaline' stations which consisted of balancing beams and walkway ladders and so on.  I think the 'adrenaline' was a bit of a stretch, perhaps 'mildly amusing' would have been closer to the mark, but it broke up the journey and the kids didn't seem to mind too much.

View of the Southern Bohemia

There was a great view from the top as the weather was kind to us and you could see for miles.

Tree-top walkway with 'adrenaline' station

For the princely sum €1 each you could take the slide which spiralled down the inside back to the bottom rather than walk back down so we all did that.  I think it probably took about 15 minutes to walk up and about 15 seconds to come back down. 

Caught the chair lift back down to the carpark and grabbed the regulation bread rolls and whatever is going from the supermarket for a picnic by the playground.      

That night I cooked dinner for our hosts and we had a great time hearing about what they've been up to and how things work in the Czech Republic.

Stray observations: Fireworks, we're getting them.

Vienna, Austria - Novosedly, Czech Republic

On the final leg of our trip now and depressingly we've started to think about all the things we need to do when we get home.  That is until we crossed the border into the Czech Republic and in the first town we went through there were outdoor markets selling FIREWORKS!!!! 

Just before the Czech border - Look kids blue sky, what's that Dad?

And not just fireworks that make pretty colours in the sky but some, what can only be described as, three quarter sticks of dynamite.  

Unfortunately we couldn't stop and buy any because the Czechs aren't yet using the Euro and we needed to hit up the bankomat for some cash.  

I promised the kids that we'd get them in the town we were staying and if not we'd make a return trip.

Found our apartment in the countryside which is about 7kms from the UNESCO listed town of Czesky Krumlov and introduced ourselves to our hosts.  

Game on

As luck would have it Courtney was from Australia (and married to a Czech lady, Petra) and besides being an industrial blacksmith, rafting guide, tree lopper, builder and a French translator he was also a mountain bike guide for a tour company in town.  

The eyes lit up with this little bit of information and I asked him if he was keen for a ride and he said no worries.  

Grabbed my gear and my bike and we went bashing around the bush out the back of their place chatting away and having a good time.    

View from bridge into Cesky Krumlov

Came home after he flogged my unfit legs half to death for a shower and a beer by the fire.

After that we put our party frocks on and had dinner in town at a nice little restaurant by the river.

Unbelievably for a country famous for its beer and the cheapness of it the blood alcohol limit for driving in the Czech Republic is ZERO.  

Dinner for 5 - €52

Madness!  



I'm no 'let's have a dozen beers and drive home' kind of guy but not even one?  

Forget the Israel / Hamas blowup the UN really needs to sort this travesty of justice out lickety split.

Stray observations:  The sight of fireworks for sale can turn even a grown man back into a 12 year old boy.  

Vienna

Vienna Naschmarkt

Another day in town and this time we headed to the Naschmarkt which is a big outdoor food market in Vienna selling everything from apples to zuchinis and everything in between.  It was chock-a-block when we got there and stayed that way until we left.  

We walked through drooling at all the different kinds of prosciuttos, olives, cheeses, pastries, cakes and, joy of joy, oysters.

Oystery goodness

Massive big oysters too so Nicki and I decided to lash out and spent €8.90 each on 3 of the slippery buggers which included a glass of champagne or a beer.  Perfect.   

Of course we'd never let the kids go without so we packed them off to experience some exotic cuisine themselves and they each had a doner kebab from the Turkish bloke, with cigarette in hand, about 50m away.    

Natural History Museum

After we left there we walked back to the Museums Quarter where we were the other night so I could get some photos of the buildings there during the day.  

Snapped a few pics of said buildings and Nicki and I dragged the kids to the Albertina.  Seeing we are in Vienna we thought it was high time we got some culture into our Philistine lives.  

The Albertina is an art museum/gallery housing one million old master prints as well as 2 collections of impressionist masters such as Monet, Mattise & Picasso amongst others.  

Bloke wrestling a bull

We grabbed some audio guides which was handy as you could listen to the explanation, the style and the history of the painting.  By the painting as well were written explanations for the ones not on the audio guides.  

At first I got into it a bit but by the end it was starting to sound like the pretentious waffle you read on the back of a wine bottle.  You know the type of thing "hints of raspberries, tobacco, leather and wet dog".

To top it off I was then listening to the description of the painting below that looks a bit like a Pro Hart or a Jackson Pollock by a bloke called Appel when the following came through on the headphones...  

The Appel in question - "Mask in a Landscape."
Painted with paintily outbursts.

"It is known that Appel preferred painting in total darkness in order not to inhibit his paintily outbursts through concious vision."

GOLD !

I laughed but the painting is probably worth millions.

As the kids were getting bored or more correctly even more bored we left the gallery and did a short tour of the palace attached to the Albertina.

Art!  It's the funnest thing eva!

Six o'clock came and the kids breathed a sigh of relief as the gallery closed so we walked into the central pedestrian mall for one last look at Vienna before catching the train home. 

Oyster bar - Naschmarkt

Boy in Beige Jacket - Max

Lady in Green Hat - Picasso

Vienna

Schonbrunn Palace from Neptune's statue

The problem with staying in a 5 star apartment, with coffee machine, is that there is no incentive to leave it.  However as doctors recommend no more than 7 espressos a day we decided to crack on to Schonbrunn Palace which was a convenient 5 or 6 train stops from us.

The palace is in the 'Rococo' style (thanks Veinna guidebook) and was built as a palatial hunting residence initially before being heavily rebuilt during the successive centuries to the appearence you see today.  More details here.

As well as being the summer residence of the Hapsburg dynasty Napoloean himself pulled up a pew there in 1805 and 1809.

The Gloriette

The gardens are as much a part of the complex as the palace so we thought we'd walk around those to orient ourselves first.  We read there was one of those labyrinth hedge mazes so we walked to that only to be disappointed that it was closed for the winter.  

Not much we could do about that so we walked up to Neptune's statue & then to a building called the Gloriette.  A building dedicated as 'a Monument to Just War, that which leads to peace'.  

Top of the Gloriette

It was a beautiful building and from it there were great views of Schonbrunn Palace.  Apparently it was used, amongst other functions, as a breakfast room for emperor Franz Joseph I.   It's good to be the King.   

From here there may have been a slight disagreement amongst the family about where to go next.  One faction wanted to visit the palace zoo and the other, more sensible faction, wanted to do a tour of the palace itself.  

Main hall in palace
Kennedy met Kruschev here in 1961.
No photos allowed inside - shhhh!

'Fine!  You two go the zoo, while mum, Ryan and I go to the palace.'  All well and good until the ticket lady at the zoo said 'no unaccompanied children'.  

Brilliant.  Through gritted teeth Nicki took one for the team and chaperoned the boys around the zoo in the freezing outside air while Ryan and I headed for the warmth of the palace.

We grabbed an audio tour and made our way through the 40 rooms out of the 1400 viewable to the public at our own pace.  The rooms were impressive but I think a fairly good grasp of Hapsburg history wouldn't go astray as the multitude of names dropped throughout the tour confused me somewhat.

Ryan enjoyed it though.  Mainly because he had his own audio guide which made him feel a bit grown up I suspect.

Vienna Capitals in yellow.

Rejoined the herd after that and the boys told us that they they had seen giraffes, rhinos, elephants etc etc so they were pleased as punch also.  Not sure what some savannah grazing African giraffe thinks of overcast, foggy, 3 degree wintery days in Vienna but that's an argument for another day.   

We went home after that and made some dinner and then headed out for some you beaut Viennese culture at the Albert Schulz Eishalle for some ice hockey.

Winners Moser Medical Graz 99ers.  No, really.

The local team stuck to the script leading 2 nil for the majority of the game only for them to lose the lead in the final few minutes 3-2.  Fortunately they restored parity at 3 all with only 2 minutes to go so the game went to overtime. 

Where they promptly lost.  Not the result we wanted but you can't win everything.  Just ask the Vienna Capitals.