Days 19 & 20th, 2 -3 Sep. Prague to Cesky Krumlov to Vienna

Day 19

Not a long driving day today,  only about 4 hours  :-). We were out of the hotel and 1 1/2hour drive to the Budweiser brewery in the Czech Republic – this is not related to the American Budweiser beer and when they sell it in the USA, they call it by a slightly different name by agreement with the American company. It was a fantastic tour and we really enjoyed being taken from the very beginning to the very end of the process!  You go from rooms that are 2°C in very cold to rooms that are really warm and smell like Weet-Bix with the hops in the massive copper vats. We got to sample a couple at the end which was very nice too – despite it being 10 am!

Back on the bus and drove another 45 minutes to the enchanted town of Cesky Krumlov  – we have been here before in 2015 on our river cruise and it is just as beautiful this time round, as last. It is interesting as last time we were here it snowed! Where as this time we are in T-shirts and shorts.

Had a lovely wander around the town and some lunch with Anita and Daryl from NZ, then back for a relax and into the old inn hotel – it is just been reopened after renovations and I think we are the first lot through. Beautifully renovated & our room looks out over a quaint little lane. It is pretty much all pedestrian in this town.

We had a guided walking tour of the incredibly opulent castle in the afternoon with a very knowledgeable 17-year-old student! He certainly loves his history and the way they lived was incredible. The castle has views right over the town and is very picturesque.  They even have brown bears in what used to be the moats – there are four there at the moment, seems to be a palace tradition.

We had a choice of three restaurants for dinner and a group of us went along and enjoyed a nice evening. Graeme had duck and I decided to try the unusual curd dumplings with plum and cinnamon – definitely was a sweet main dish! Everyone is pretty tired as it is the end of the tour soon so we all went for a wander around the lovely town then into bed!

 
                                           

Day 20

Today was a drive to Vienna and out for 2 1/2 hour stint, we arrived in Melk - it has the beautiful Abby, which we saw on our last trip in 2015. Rather than stopping at a roadside service station, the tour director decided to take us to the Abbey which has an outside restaurant as well. We sat out in the perfect weather – it is really cool down now and is about 24°C, had lunch and then walked around the courtyards of the Abbey. It is so beautifully manicured.

Then back on the bus and another couple of hours into Vienna – a quick turnaround as we are leaving the tour one day early tomorrow so we only have a couple of hours this afternoon to have a look around again. We are at the Hilton this time so fairly close to town, only a casual 15 minute walk to the square with St Stevens church.

There are a lot of people here and was good to wonder around amongst it. Back to the hotel and straight out to dinner to the famous Marchfelderhof restaurant. The ceilings are covered with various curiousities- musical instruments, bird cages and all other manner of things! We were told to take our phones to the toilet as it was full of half naked man pics haha! Plus there were feather boa’s, perfume, hairbrushes etc in the ladies! Apparently many celebrities have been there and the walls are adorned everywhere with their photos. 

It is a huge restaurant and they run like a well oiled machine. It was a lovely meal- I had grilled catfish for the first time and it was light and fluffy- Graeme had pork knuckle and sauerkraut. These nights are always very noisy with so many people and many of the group are feeling tired but it was a lovely last night for us as we leave the day early to meet our NCL cruise to copenhagen. 

Back on the bus and Alex the tour director played songs from a list he had asked us to compile, so lots of singing on the way home- of course led by Graeme. Nice to see him so relaxed!😌 

Back to the hotel- our room is really hot as it gets all day sun apparently, so a little stuffy, but we also had a fan so that surficed as we needed to get some shut eye before a 4 am wake up call. We ended up booking a Sixt private transfer to the airport and it’s 52 euros as it’s a bit more expensive in the wee hours!