Day 5. Melk Abbey then detour on the way to Czech Republic

Arjan is still with us today, but only till 11:30 - he is catching the train to Vienna then flying to Amsterdam.

Well Melk is a really charming little village - kind of reminds me of the setting for a TV series like The Prisoner or Dai's village in Little Brittain. No seriously it is a really quaint village, set in a quite valley that feeds into the Danube. Except that towering over it is this huge huge Abbey, built by the Dominican monks. I am writing this from Rome (Sunday 6th) so I have been through Prague Castle and St Peters and Schonbrunn and the Uffizi etc. But Melk is special. The Fresco ceiling on the great hall is just stupendous. Beautiful. Genius. Right up there (excuse the pun) with the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel.

Promise, I will upload some photos soon. The first 2GB SD card is full (as at Rome). Three more to go...

Actually the whole Abbey tour experience was really good. Interesting, well laid out, well spaced so it wasn't too crowded etc. Only problem was tehre was a steady stream of tour groups coming through, so Gary, Arjan Ruth and I had to find gaps between them to admire the art and history of the place.

So part way through the tour, Gary blazed on ahead through the abbey so Arjan could take some of it in. Then G took Arjan of the the station and he caught his train home. This gave me and Ruth time to stroll throught their neat libraries, and chapels, and go back to the start and pick up bits we missed.

By now (lunchtime) Gary was back so we went up to this little tea-room building near the entrance to the Abbey for a cuppa and a bite. The paintings on the wall in here are really bizzare; I wouldn't bring kids in here - they would have nightmares!! So then we had a stroll around the tranquil gardens before walking down the steps to wait in the town square for our Shuttle Bus at 2pm.

Daniel (a native of Ceske Krumlov) turned up a few minutes late, but tried his damdest to make up time! Except he took the wrong turn as soon as he left town! But he roared up the motorway and actually took uys further along the Danube to the bigger industrial and university town of Linz (where we had thought of going to on the boat but changed our mind) where we picked up 3 others in the shuttle.

So off again and out of Austria and across into the landscape of the Czech Republic. Our first terrestrial border crossing seemed like a big nothing. Except 100m on there was a very imposing looking (but ghostly empty) guardhouse - "papers please!", you could almost here. And within seconds we could sense how the 'landscape' changed. There was a palpable poverty here. An austere air compared to Austria. How could this happen so quickly? It's been YEARs since "the walls" came down, but this place has taken a long time to 'recover'. Our next few days just reinforces that view.

So Daniel whizzed the Mercedes van around some backroads past the winding Mauldau River (that later changes its name to the Vltava River (German to Czech) which runs through Prague and later joins the Elbe I think. The river has that coca cola colour about it. I assume it is from the wash from the forests all around, and is not polution. If it was back in NZ I might assume it was dairy run off! Yuk

So eventually Daniel deposits Gary and Ruth and I outside the Mysi Dira hotel (Mish-ee Dee-ra) on the edge of Ceske Krumlov (CK). Bit of a problem with our booking. We booked a room online via Prague Holidays so asked for a larger room where we could have another bed set up (for G). But the Mysi Dira room they allocated only had room for a baby's cot. So a bit of diplomatic discussion with reception and we ended up with the Delux room at the same price. At least I don't think they hit my credit card for it!

We had a bit of an explore around the little town, stopping for a lovely cold beer by the river. Yes these Czechs make very nice beer alright! Which is why we decided to head to the local boutique brewery for dinner. They promised they would be open to 11pm but as we walked upm the front steps at 8>30 the lights went out! Kitchen closed ! WTF??? So we wander back into to town to find some eatery. Has to be local... no pizzas thank you!

Found a place beside the river, and squeezed into a table. One candle per table. Asked for another, but no. We don't have any! So we have to read the menu using Ruth's cellphone light... Gary has the Pheasant Feast and I order the trout. Both are great. BUT don't bother ordering Czech wine - it is RUBBISH. Service is 'sparing' but the food is very good.