CZR!

This past weekend, some UN friends and I rented a car and drove to Český Krumlov, a town in the Czech Republic. Rather than take the train to get there, we opted to do it North American-style and make a road trip out of it. While the drive was supposed to take 2 and a half hours, our journey was probably closer to 6. A lot of this can be blamed on me. As I've said before, I can't be trusted with navigation. However, Google maps should share some of the responsibility.

Český Krumlov, if you've never heard of it, is a UNESCO World Heritage site along the Vltava River. The town provided another opportunity to get my castle fix, as well as do something outdoorsy. This included going on what the receptionist at our hostel called "a gentle walk," which turned out to be a 11.5 km hike straight up a mountain. And I was wearing flip-flops. The painful hike was worth it, however, as we got to "kick bike" all the way down. A kick bike is kind of like a suped-up scooter that goes uncontrollably fast. I really want one of my own.

On Sunday, we went rafting. The river was pretty calm apart from one wicked drop-off.

Note: There were something like two dozen Australians with us on the rafting trip. In fact, Český Krumlov was crawling with Australians. All of them had been backpacking for months and, from the description of their travels, it sounded as though they were taking one giant pub crawl across Europe.