A view of the castle and the town.I spent two nights in Cesky Krumlov, which is a tiny town in the Czech Republic. It's actually the place where the movie Hostel was (at least partially) filmed, but I didn't know that until after I'd arrived. I haven't actually watched that movie, but I have seen the clip where the girl's eyeball explodes, and that was more than enough for me. Thank you cultural studies seminar! Anyway, other than being kind of creeped out by that knowledge I actually had a lot of fun in Cesky Krumlov. I stayed in this hostel called Hostel 99. I actually booked it with out knowing anything about it, but it seemed like almost immediately after I'd booked all I heard from everyone I met was how cool the town and the hostel were, and how I had to do the river rafting trip they offer there. I guess I just have great foresight.
Just a side note: the room I stayed in at the hostel was called "The Seven Dwarfs" room. Magical.
After I arrived in CK I was not really up to doing too much. Apparently it takes a lot longer to get from Vienna to Ck than I had initially imagined, so I was actually kind of tuckered out. I had a long Skype convo with Jess, and chatted to my Japanese roommate. She was super nice and she was going to P.E.I. in September so we had much to talk about (mostly I talked, and mostly about the Maritimes and how awesome they are!). She was really cool, but she left super early the next morning so we didn't get much time to hang out.
I got up the next morning and decided to just walk around the town. It's really tiny. You can pretty much walk from one end to the other in fifteen minutes. I took a bit longer than that. I explored the outside of the castle, and the bear pits (don't know if they call them that,but that's what they were essentially). I also payed out to visit the castle cellars, which would not have been as cool as my imagination believed had it not been for this really weird art installation they had going. I have posted a picture below. Wish I could remember the name of the artist, but I know he was a local.
This was titled "Woman Guarding the Bowels"
Bear pit bear. Unlike the Bern bears, visitors are not encouraged to feed these guys. Well, at least they have vegetation down there.
Some pretty flora, a nice view, and some old people enjoying that view.
After I was through exploring the city, I headed back to the hostel. I decided to follow the advice of, well pretty much everybody I'd met, and do the river rafting. I met another girl who was also going on the boat trip and she suggested we go buy some cans of beer. Apparently alcohol was allowed, nay, encouraged on this particular river raft (before you ask, this was not in white water. More of a gentle stream). Anyway, we failed to obtain beer, but not to worry. Not only are you allowed to drink on the raft, but apparently there are also bars along the river at which we could stop. The other surprise was that we were on our own. Well, us and about six Australian dudes (who were not all travelling as a unit I might add). And then the manager of the hostel chose to tell us that only one group had ever got lost (ie: gone past the meeting point) on this trip. Oh yes, it was a group of Australians. Maybe that's why there are always so many Australians wandering around. They aren't travelling, they're just lost. Well, I'm not oone to judge, especially considering my history with directions (thanks again for the GPS mom and dad. It really gets me out of some sticky situations all involving ice cream... South Park reference? Anybody?).
Anyway, we made it to the first bar. I had one beer. I was drunk. Everyone else got a traveller. I just got back into the boat. We made it to the second bar. I had a beer. I got abused because I am Canadian. I was still drunk. I refused to get another beer for the ride, but it was to no avail I'm afraid. I was threatened, coaxed, and finally just handed a beer. I successfully drank about half, and then spilled the rest all over myself. I got yelled at. At this point someone also had the bright idea to let the girls steer the boat, which meant I was steering the boat. Alone. The boys were not even paddling. It was not really my fault that we ended up hitting a tree, and it was further not my fault that three people on the right side of the boat (myself included) were knocked into the river. Luckily it is a shallow river. And maybe it was a little bit my fault. No one was hurt, and actually the swim was pretty refreshing (though the current was a bit strong). We all got back into the boat and went to the third bar. When we got back into the boat, I was no longer allowed to paddle. Unfortunately most of the boys were not so into paddling so we just kind of slowly drifted down the river with one person attempting to steer. At this point you might imagine that a lot of people were pretty drunk. We were also all pretty soaked, and it was getting dark. We were supposed to be at the meeting point by eight and we had about 30 minutes to get there. Unfortunately the boys thought they had found another bar. They hadn't but they did find a guitar, with which they had a sing-a-long, while myself and two others tried to herd them back into the boat. Like herding cats, it was. We finally got them in the raft, and then tried to encourage them to paddle. They didn't. Two people were left paddling the boat, while the others seranaded us (if you can call it that) to the tune of Oasis, The Living End, Foo Fighters, Bon Jovi, and Avril Levigne (that last one was just to mock me). For the record I should say that I was demoted from being allowed to paddle, eventhough I offered. I wonder if that was some kind of commentary on my lousy steering...
After a few more delays (ie. people jumping out/being pushed off of the raft we finally made it to our meeting point. We were all alive, if a little bit cold and pretty freaking wet. The only casualties were my sunglasses, a bottle of vodka-orange juice, and one guy's (Matt, the most sober of the Australians) face, thumb, and toe. Matt chose to dive into the river without first testing the depth. This was before the drinking really started. He kind of looked like he'd been punched, but I digress. After all this we went back to the hostel to shower and then went out in search of food/beer (I was really just in it for the food. It was gnocchi and it was delicious). Somehow we got talking about the most famous people we have met (Jess's dad, ie. Iggy from Under the Umbrella Tree or Matt Farrah, depending on your perspective... after working for the ESL program this year I think he qualifies as an international celebrity) I discovered that one of the Australians had a friend who had met George Stroumboulopoulos. I was pretty impressed on several levels. Anyway, after all these adventures we were all pretty tuckered so we made our way back to the hostel to sleep. The next day I was off to Prague, and I finally finished that book about the North face of the Eiger. Huzzah!
Next time: Prague, or how I bought new sunglasses just to escape an uncomfortable situation.
A view of the upper part of the river we rafted. Note, we started much lower down on the river.
Some pretty flora, a nice view, and some old people enjoying that view.Anyway, we made it to the first bar. I had one beer. I was drunk. Everyone else got a traveller. I just got back into the boat. We made it to the second bar. I had a beer. I got abused because I am Canadian. I was still drunk. I refused to get another beer for the ride, but it was to no avail I'm afraid. I was threatened, coaxed, and finally just handed a beer. I successfully drank about half, and then spilled the rest all over myself. I got yelled at. At this point someone also had the bright idea to let the girls steer the boat, which meant I was steering the boat. Alone. The boys were not even paddling. It was not really my fault that we ended up hitting a tree, and it was further not my fault that three people on the right side of the boat (myself included) were knocked into the river. Luckily it is a shallow river. And maybe it was a little bit my fault. No one was hurt, and actually the swim was pretty refreshing (though the current was a bit strong). We all got back into the boat and went to the third bar. When we got back into the boat, I was no longer allowed to paddle. Unfortunately most of the boys were not so into paddling so we just kind of slowly drifted down the river with one person attempting to steer. At this point you might imagine that a lot of people were pretty drunk. We were also all pretty soaked, and it was getting dark. We were supposed to be at the meeting point by eight and we had about 30 minutes to get there. Unfortunately the boys thought they had found another bar. They hadn't but they did find a guitar, with which they had a sing-a-long, while myself and two others tried to herd them back into the boat. Like herding cats, it was. We finally got them in the raft, and then tried to encourage them to paddle. They didn't. Two people were left paddling the boat, while the others seranaded us (if you can call it that) to the tune of Oasis, The Living End, Foo Fighters, Bon Jovi, and Avril Levigne (that last one was just to mock me). For the record I should say that I was demoted from being allowed to paddle, eventhough I offered. I wonder if that was some kind of commentary on my lousy steering...
After a few more delays (ie. people jumping out/being pushed off of the raft we finally made it to our meeting point. We were all alive, if a little bit cold and pretty freaking wet. The only casualties were my sunglasses, a bottle of vodka-orange juice, and one guy's (Matt, the most sober of the Australians) face, thumb, and toe. Matt chose to dive into the river without first testing the depth. This was before the drinking really started. He kind of looked like he'd been punched, but I digress. After all this we went back to the hostel to shower and then went out in search of food/beer (I was really just in it for the food. It was gnocchi and it was delicious). Somehow we got talking about the most famous people we have met (Jess's dad, ie. Iggy from Under the Umbrella Tree or Matt Farrah, depending on your perspective... after working for the ESL program this year I think he qualifies as an international celebrity) I discovered that one of the Australians had a friend who had met George Stroumboulopoulos. I was pretty impressed on several levels. Anyway, after all these adventures we were all pretty tuckered so we made our way back to the hostel to sleep. The next day I was off to Prague, and I finally finished that book about the North face of the Eiger. Huzzah!
Next time: Prague, or how I bought new sunglasses just to escape an uncomfortable situation.
A view of the upper part of the river we rafted. Note, we started much lower down on the river.
Apparently Canadians really are everywhere. This shop was near my hostel, and apparently they were having a sale.
thank you for the very informative account of your river adventure. it's particularly scary how much of that I don't remember. however, I do recall that my bottle of sunscreen was also a casualty of that little excursion.
ReplyDelete"(thanks again for the GPS mom and dad. It really gets me out of some sticky situations all involving ice cream... South Park reference? Anybody?)."
ReplyDeleteI GET IT! Hahahaha.
I loved this entry. The re-telling of the rafting adventure was particularly enjoyable! I also liked "like herding cats, it was." I don't know why, but I literally laughed out loud when I read it. Miss you!
- Sandra