Late Spring Holiday, 2 June

It being Sunday, we wondered about going to the English church in Leipzig but, alas, the church was in the Umweltzone and we do not have, nor should we, a green sticker. We could have undoubtedly gone there on public transport, but that would have taken time and we had a long drive today, so we sadly  abandoned the idea and set off shortly after 10:00 am.

It was all motorway, very dull, but we listened to From our Own Correspondent and The News Quiz and random music, stopping once for coffee and then again for lunch. We arrived in Fritzlar about 3, only to discover that our favourite aire only had emptying facilities, no refilling, and although we could have got water this morning, we didn't. So we went to the other aire, seeing far more of the town than we had done before, and got water. The other aire  was very nice, but we do rather love this one by the city walls, so came back to it and then had a drink before flaking out for a couple of hours.

I decided it made more sense to get supper up and running before we went out for a walk, so I did that and then we went out for our walk round the old town, and then back to the van where we had supper sitting outside - it has been very, very hot - and are now sitting and relaxing which I suppose we shall do until dark. We have finished the wine, which was probably unwise of us, but I hope it means we shall sleep well.

Late Spring Holiday, 1 June

Having exhausted myself in Prague on Thursday, and further depleted my resources in Terezin yesterday, today has, of necessity, been a rest day.

We were delighted to discover there was a parkrun less than a mile from where we spent the night, but, alas, a prolonged search did not turn up the Swan Whisperer's barcode, and he is 99% certain it's in his skate bag, in the middle of our living-room floor. We didn't think he ought to use mine, so no parkrun today.  The SW compensated by going for a walk to visit the Old Town and the Frauenkirche instead, before we headed off. 

First stop was a supermarket where I did a massive shop - we were out of almost everything except milk, eggs and fruit juice, which I had bought in Prague. I could have cobbled together a delicious meal with lentils, but had no fresh fruit or veg. And tomorrow is Sunday and German supermarkets will not be open, although we can probably get bread for lunch.

Anyway, we drove up the B6 - and very much up the Elbe - to Meißen, where we stopped on the banks of the river for lunch,

and then drove on to Leipzig, where I thought we were going to a car park but turns out to be, like Prague, an aire in someone's back yard and very nice, too. The SW has gone to explore and will be back soon. And tomorrow we seriously start home.

Late Spring Holiday, 31 May

I was overtired last night and didn't sleep too well, which was annoying as I knew we would have to do quite a lot of walking today. However, paracetamol settled the worst of my aches and pains, and I did sleep in the motor home!

After using the services, we headed off towards Terezin, where the infamous ghetto was situated. Most of the town seems to be a museum, and you'd have needed a great deal more energy than I had available to see it all, so we walked into the town and decided to visit the ghetto museum, detailing the history of, and life in, the ghetto, and how towards the end of the war it was used as a transit camp to the extermination camps and so on. I wish I could think that nothing so ghastly could ever happen again, but....

When we had finished in the museum it was lunch time and we had a traditional Czech meal of pork and dumplings, mine in a bed of cabbage with caraway seeds which was lush. The dumplings were interesting - they looked and tasted like ordinary slices of white bread, and a quick Google confirmed that this is more or less what they are, only boiled rather than baked. I must try this at home.

After lunch, and an ice cream from a stall in the car park, we headed on and stopped somewhere for the Swan Whisperer to go somewhere and do something that I expect he did tell me but I was asleep. I do know it involved a ferry across the Elbe, and there was a very busy train line where we were parked, but he has taken some pictures which I hope he will post.

When he came back we had a cup of tea and then drove on to Dresden, where we grabbed almost the last space in the aire! The SW is getting supper.

Late Spring Holiday, 30 May

So, Prague. We set off around 10:00 and caught the tram to the Old Town. It was a lovely day, bright blue skies, such a contrast to recent ones.

We walked across the Karlovy Most, or Charles Bridge, full of statues and tourists, and on the other side found where we could catch a tram up to the Castle. It was quite funny as the tram was, of course, packed full of tourists and every time we came to a stop someone  would think we had arrived and people would pile out, only to pile back in again when a local said it wasn't. However, we finally did arrive at the correct stop and the tram promptly emptied.

They have had to introduce security at the various entrances to the Castle grounds, so we duly queued up to have our bags searched and to walk through a metal detector, as at an airport. Then we were free to explore.

First, we explored the Gardens, which were very beautiful,

and led down to the Summer Palace where there was an exhibition of photographs documenting the events  of 1989 in the various countries affected, which was amazing and really interesting.

Then we walked down past the Cathedral and the various other buildings in the complex and down and down and down until we came out at the bottom.

Citymapper doesn't work here, alas, but it wasn't difficult to find a tram to take us back across the river from where we walked up to Old Town Square, which we looked round briefly. Last time we were here, it had been full of stalls selling pashminas - this was before the days when cheap viscose ones were ubiquitous - pretty glass bottles, and bread necklaces. I remembered that the SW had bought me such a pretty blue glass necklace that I wore and wore until it broke.

No stalls there now, though; just a throng of tourists. We made our way to the Mozart Café, where we met our friend J and her husband and had lunch and watched the Astronomical Clock chime, with its procession of apostles. 

After that, we said goodbye to our friends and headed a few streets on to meet another friend for coffee and cake - delicious cake, but I rather wished I'd had an ice cream instead as it gave me indigestion. But worth it! 

And then, exhausted, back to the camp site to collapse. We didn't want more than a token supper!

Late Spring Holiday, 29 May

Today has been a rest day as far as I'm concerned. We took one look at the traffic on the motorway between Brno and Prague and told the Sat-nav not to take us on toll roads today! 

It was, of course, a longer drive but very pretty across the Czech countryside interspersed with Czech villages and accompanied by Czach birds singing very loudly - even here in Prague. For some reason I was very sleepy, and when we arrived at this very nice campsite didn't really want to go out, so the SW went for a walk and I rested.  Tomorrow we will explore!

Late Spring Holiday, 28 May

So today was all about Brno. It rained. It would be a lovely city if it was fine. But it rained.

We decided to catch the 11:20 boat down the river and dam; the pier is my a short walk from the camp site, which seems, at this time of year at any rate, to provide most of the users of the boat, which dawdles leisurely down the river to the suburb of Bystrc, from which one catches a tram to the city centre. This also takes about 30 minutes, so it was lunch time by the time we arrived at the central station.

We wandered into a random restaurant which turned out to be an Italian one. The Swan Whisperer had a mushroom pizza, but as I only quite like pizza and had had one only the other day, I ordered fettuccine with salmon, and very good it was, too, with cream and spinach and Parmesan. Of course, I could have made it at home, but hey... Anyway that, with some beer, filled us up nicely, so we then walked through the city centre. 

Really, we could have spent longer, and perhaps explored further, as really all we saw was your typical Euro-high-street. But it was attractive. There was one place we turned left to see a vegetable market, but we sin turned back to the main drag, and then got a tram back to  Bystrc. Of course, we were an hour too early for the boat, so we killed some time exploring a large Penny Markt next to the tram stop, and then bought an iced lolly (me) and a coffee (the SW, who said it was instant and nasty) and sat in the rain for 30 minutes waiting for the ferry, which came at last.

By the time we got back to the camp site I was cold and wet, so got undressed and have been reading and knitting in my nice warm bed ever since. It has, of course, stopped raining, but it's very grey and "dreich".

Late Spring Holiday, 27 May

It was always going to be a long old drive today, so we didn't dawdle. The Swan Whisperer went for a run before breakfast, and then I went for a walk after it round a bit of the Toscana Nature Park. There was a circular walk round more of the park I would have liked to have done, but it would have taken another 30-45 minutes and I thought I'd better not take the time.

Our first stop was for diesel and groceries, mostly fruit. Then we drove on, telling the Sat-nav that we would rather go across country via Linz, even though it would take longer. It was a pleasant drive, although mostly on single-carriageway roads which were fine until you got stuck behind really slow lorries! 

We stopped for lunch shortly before the Czech border, which we crossed at Slavonice. The border crossing had a sort of duty-free shop, which annoyed me by not being able to sell us vignettes for the Czech motorways. However, we were able to get one in the first petrol station we passed, so that was all right. Again, the journey was mostly on single-carriageway roads, but the last 30 km or so was on the motorway. 

We arrived at the camp site - Camping Hana - at about 17:00, to find they have a rally of British motor homes here! Ah well.... We were also warned not to park where we had first thought, as they expect heavy rain and we might be stuck. And, indeed, the rain appears to be coming in as I write this..

The SW went into the village to get currency, and I am shortly going to get supper. We are here for two nights, so tomorrow we will explore Brno.