Busabout - Part 2

on 13 Oct we travelled to Prague in the Czech Republic where we stayed for 3 nights. It's amazing there... You all have to go! we stayed at a great brand new hostel who happened to be putting on a party that night with drink specials and free nibbley food for dinner. We did a bike tour the next day, turned out we were with 7 other busabouters so it was a really good time and after that we went out for dinner together. The food is soo much cheaper in Czech then other European countries. So we could all afford to have a steak! Although in saying that sushi was super expensive! strange...

We went to the Prague castle and decided to get the whole shi-bang (audio guide etc) which was a mistake as we were bored in an hour and it had cost us alot! Even though it was massive and lovely I think we were both just a little 'over' doing the church/museum sightseeing thing.

After Prague we went to Cesky Krumlov for 2 nights which is a tiny wee town also in the Czech Republic. It was soo neat there, we had gorgeous weather...were wearing singlets and board shorts for the first time in ages! A few days after we left Cesky we bumped into people in Austria that had been in Cesky a day after us and they had photos of the town covered in snow! crazy. We basically just did a lot of relaxing, a little bit of exploring and lots of eating out at the restaurant near the hostel...salmon, lamb, steak - amazing meals ... soo cheap! We went to a cocktail bar with the plan to have absinthe but they didn't serve it! The next night some of the girls braved a couple of shots but I decided against it! Apparently the hallucinagate (how do u spell that!) is illegal now so it's just the same stuff u can get at home...no green fairies!

Next stop was Vienna in Austria for 3 nights. On our first night there we went out to a local restaurant who happened to have a traditional band playing which was a bonus and of course I had a weiner schnitzel! (All I seem to write about is food!) In Austria they speak German which is handy as I had learnt some basic phrases in Berlin. danke (thank you), bitte (please), aufwedersein (goodbye) you should know that one from the Sound of Music! It was sooo cold in Vienna, took the enjoyment out of seeing the sights really. We sat on a tram that did the city loop and saw some stuff that way. Went to a butterfly house which was gorgeous...and as a bonus had tropical temperatures! Saw a few churches and a palace, had dodgy chinese and hung around at the hostel pub... and that was it really. Nothing to rave about in my opinion.

Next we went to Salzburg and on the way there it was snowing!!!! So gorgeous and what made it extra special was that there were a bunch of people with us on the bus that had never seen snow before. Unfortunately it stopped soon after we arrived and after that was just yuck sludgey stuff. Still looked pretty on rooftops though. We had planned to go on an ice caves tour but due to snow they had closed earlier this year...gutted! A few keen beans went on the Sound of Music tour and had a lot of laughs apparently the guides really get into it and you all sing along...not really Niki's scene perhaps! it was quite expensive anyway so gave it a miss.

One the second day we met up with Brad & Christy and Mandy & Az (two other couples on busabout that we got to know) and headed up to the fort/museum... after a couple of hours of exploring, a few random snow fights and the creation of a mini snowman the consensus was to head down to the beer hall. We were there from 3.30-8.30pm ... Niki was in his element downing a stein every hour. I tried a radler (half beer, half lemonade) which was ok...but I think I'll stick to vodka. We had some traditional food too giant pretzels, wurst etc.