Cruise Day Four

Departure for Cesky Krumlov at 8.15. Our butler brought our breakfast Bircher meusli, coffee and croissant along to our 'balcony', which was handy. 

We had a two hour drive to this quaint town in the middle of Bavaria. Lovely rolling hilly countryside with lots of forests. Our guide, of course, had such a knowledge of the history of the area, she told us of life before and during WW2. 

Cesky Krumlov is a medieval town with a huge castle built up on the rocks, and cobbled windy streets, and quaint quirky - very quirky - shops eg a Wax Museum and a Torture Museum. We started up at the top with the castle, actually we just walked through the grounds, some people may have come back up the hill and paid to go in later in our free time. Great views over the town, with the river surrounding the old town. People were kayaking on the river, including down a short bit of rapids, which was better than going over the weir.

We had lunch organised in a big beer cellar type of place. I've never been served SEVEN potatoes before. Suffice to say, Bavarian cuisine isn't my favourite... the obligatory beer too, of course. Followed by Apple strudel - yum!

We had a couple of hours to wander around the cobbled streets and get a bit lost. We then drove to Linz, where the boat had moved on to. Some people would have used E-bikes to follow the canal along, but the weather was inclement. Linz is famous for car manufacturing, and er, Adolf Hitler's father was born and lived here. Young Adolf grew up here. Hitler's name crops up all the time in European recent history of course... which reminds me - our guide was pointing out the huge SS buildings in Nuremberg, which are now the Immigration Department, and he said, 'Hitler would have HATED that!'

We had a 'Gala Dinner' this evening. Not sure what the difference is, except we had an amuse bouche, sorbet, and chocolates between courses. We were sitting with the big noisy fun group of Aussies.

Tomorrow we're going on a tour of Melk Abbey. 

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