We have arrived safely in England and are staying with Mike’s family again, Gren and Beryl, in Chester, between Liverpool and Manchester. Since we updated last, we checked out the capital of Slovakia (photos), Bratislava, then travelled through the Czech Republic (photos), went to Germany for breakfast on Wednesday (to our favourite city, Berlin and to visit Morten), and flew in here. Today we had our first experience with haggis, a traditional Scottish dish of organ meats and grains baked in a sheep stomach, served with whisky and neeps and banged tatties (turnips and mashed potatoes). Oh, we are brave travellers.
We are glad to be back where we can ask strangers for directions and actually understand the answer. We will see how that bit goes when we arrive in Ireland next week though!
The Czech Republic was a super interesting country, loads of culture, art galleries, castles, beautiful countryside. We stayed in three places: Olomouc, Cesky Krumluv, and Prague, of course. Our favourite memories of Olomouc, in Moravia, were finally seeing wild hedgehogs rustling about in the fallen leaves in a park that used to be the moat around the castle, and cycling out to a lake in the country where we saw wild swans flying, and they looked just like angels! We went for a drink in an old airplane that has been grounded and made into a bar, where the communist elite used to frequent in the 1970’s. I was very proud of Mike for ringing the doorbell on a communist airplane in the dark in a foreign country; it felt like a situation that could turn out a number of unpredictable ways.
Cesky Krumluv, in South Bohemia, was a gorgeous tiny medieval town. Our highlights were riding horses (guided by little Czech girls) in the autumn hills overlooking the river that wound around the little eighteenth century red-roofed village and castle, squeezing our way into a little pub that was shaking with the energy of a gypsy band, and partying with all the friendly kids at the hostel.
We had a great time in Prague too; the architecture is amazing. Along with all the regular tourist stuff, we went to see jazz, and an excellent marionette show (it was all in Czech, and we were the only ones there over 5 years old who weren’t escorting their kids but there were 15 different characters, 8 different sets and we were very impressed). To celebrate Halloween, we went out to a church in a little village that is decorated with the 700 year old bones of 40 000 people, many of whom died from the plague. It was pretty gruesome, especially the way the bones are organised into chandeliers and crests and crosses. Strange.
We added a bunch of new photos onto our photo site, including some of the bone church, some more of Poland, and Mike made a good photo map of our travels so far. By the time we log on again, hopefully we will be in Ireland and close to getting jobs and a place. We can’t really imagine how it will all unfold, but we are sure it will be interesting.
Keep in touch!
Carli-Ann and Mike
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