Castle corridors, conversations and crossing roads.

Sunday 4 October
Today, I ventured out of Prague to see a ‘fairy-tale’ C15th castle. (Another thing I guess you do in Europe!). Again, I found the age of the place hard to comprehend. As I wondered through the corridors, I kept thinking of the people that dwelled in this castle centuries ago - real people, living real lives…yet how different their lives and ‘world’ view / life perspective would have been to ours. It almost felt intrusive to be going through their rooms and hearing of their stories. Imagine if they knew that 6 centuries later, there would be people from all over the world coming into their castle fascinated by the way their toilets operated, how big (or small) their beds were and the secret passage for the king to get to his wife.

The country-side along the way to the castle was beautiful. Rolling hills, forests, rivers. The Castle stood on top of a hill, with a fortress around it. Leading up the hill was a quaint little township, dwarfed by the huge castle looming above it. Surrounding the castle and township were gorgeous forested hills. (Which I had to explore just a little!)















Monday 5 October - From Prague to Olomouc (3 hrs by train)

My Czech language skills are extremely limited. I’ve managed to get around ok, there is always a way to communicate, and there has been when necessary the English-speaker rescue.
But I have had a couple of mildly amusing incidences. As I was served at a shop the other day, I intently said to the lady serving “Hello” in Czech instead of thank you, and at the train station, I said “Please” as the lady gave me my ticket - again instead of thank you. Both times, the Czech ladies politely ignored my feeble attempts.

As I was traveling on the train to Olomouc - a 3 hour train trip from Prague, I sat with 2 elderly Czech ladies. They couldn’t speak any English. We tried to make some conversation, and I even had to draw a map of the world to show them where I was from. (Even though I tried saying ‘Australia’ in many different ways, they still had no idea what I was saying. ) A few hours into the trip, they began talking to me intently - in Czech - and looking rather concerned. They pulled out their ticket, and wanted to see mine. I showed them, and they kept saying “Olomouc?”. I started to worry that I was on the wrong train. They began to get more animated, and then one stood up and pointed at my bag at me. I was beginning to feel perplexed! Then one of them left the sitting booth, to go to another and find someone who could translate. She brought back a guy who asked me what the problem was. I said I didn’t really know what the problem was, but that I was heading to Olomouc - and was I on the right train. He said yes, and it was the next stop in about 10 minutes. I suddenly understood what the ladies had been so concerned about!!

I arrived in Olomouc in the early afternoon, and caught the tram to the hostel. Olomouc is a small city, picturesque, and for some a bit of relief from Prague (without all the tourists!). The buildings and lay out of the town centre are not dissimilar to Prague. I explored it quite thouroughly, wondering all the streets, popping in and out of churches, sitting for a while in more peaceful parks.

The hostel is smaller, a bit more homey and friendlier than the one in Prague. There are a couple of Aussies staying, a Polish guy, a few Americans and a guy from Ireland. Conversation has been quite interesting and stimulating.



Tuesday 6 Oct
Last night I went to a concert - a cello duo. ("Tara Fuki") It was fantastic, and very inspiring. The music was composed by the performers, including improvisation, vocalisation, and looping (cool!) with some middle-eastern influences. Right up my alley! I loved it! So I bought their CD. :)


Crossing the road has been another challenging venture. My conditioned response of looking to the right first is causing a few near-death experiences! And when I do on occasion remind myself to look left first, it feels so foreign that I cant trust there isn’t a car coming the other way and have to have a sneak look to the right just to make sure!! Adding things like trams and bicycles to the mix really messes with me.



So to heighten my adrenal glands, I went for a bike ride today! You can imagine, me on a bike on the road! But somehow, I am still alive! I think the Czech's are very polite drivers... I didn't get honked once. However, I did receive a verbal directive from a pedestrian...


I ended up on a path along a river to the next town. Once again, some natural beauty! Brightly coloured yellow, orange, red and iridescent green autumn leaves, tall thin black trunks, rolling hills in the distance.