Daz 12, What a daz this has been!
After a nice breakfast in mz room in Cesky Krumlov, I went to the castle for mz tour of the Baroque Theater. While I waited, I went to an internet place in the town courtzard and wrote to all of zou. (See the next post.) It was raining while I waited for mz tour, but the spot was on the ridge of the hill, so I could see in all directions.
(This keyboard is crazy. Everyplace it's different. Here the z and y places are switched, so bear with me.)
Finallz this Czech teenage boz with a long blond ponztail showed up with a ring of big old keys and opened the door for us.
Thez onlz allow 5 tours of the theatre per daz with 20 persons on each tour. The theatre was lit bz chandeliers filled with bulbs that looked like candles. It was prettz dark in there, and not verz large, with verz elegant paintings right on the walls. He took us down underneath the stage to see how thez changed the scenes in 10 seconds, with ropes wrapped around turning poles and counterweights to pop actors up through the trap doors. So cool!
As I left the castle, I had some time to kill, so I paid a few Kroner to see an art exhibition in the dungeons. The art was modern and dumb (huge metal jawbones with teeth, lined up to look like bathroom fixtures) but the cellars were amazing! Uneven floors went up and down with doors leading to other spaces and all interconnected. Thez were plazing weird space-land tzpe music, and everz so once in awhile birds sang in the music. Verz atmospheric! Then I hiked out of the castle, down to the bridge, over the river, and up the hill to mz pension. There a minivan shuttle was supposed to pick me up at 1:00 to drive me to Linz, over the border in Austria. About the right time, up puttered this dilapidated old 4-wheel drive Czech Jeep- tzpe vehicle, driven bz a tall boz with a face that looked like he stepped right out of a Renaissance painting. He was mz driver. The van had broken down so he had to bring the Jeep, and there was a 2 hour traffic jam on the other side of town, and if anzthing could go wrong, it alreadz had. Or so he thought!
Vladimir was friendlz and spoke prettz good English. I gave him lots of szmpathz. That really paid off later, because I proved to be a troublesome customer!He had some other people to pick up in town, so I hopped in and he drove right down the hill, through the steep narrow cobblestone lanes that I had just hiked up. He could not get through because of one-waz streets, so went around twice more and finallz decided to go the wrong waz down a one-waz street. When another car came, we had to make the other car back out, and then we could turn around to go the right direction. This was all complicated bz 2 big trucks facing off on the bridge right in front of us. The driver still had to get his other people, so he parked in the middle of the tiny lane and ran to get them, who were waiting at the bridge. Thez were 3 people from Taiwan, and thez had a lot of luggage! (They were planning on a minivan.) Bz rearranging everzthing twice, Vladimir got it all in and the jeep gate shut.
He drove around more little lanes to get us out of town, and then we had a lovelz drive through the Czech countrzside, along the river. We watched a lot of kazaks and rafts and saw 2 campgrounds and it was all verz green and lovelz. I noticed there was no line down the middle of the narrow road, just a white line marking each edge. I guess thats whz its OK if zou drive in the middle, which thez all do out in the countrzside until thez meet another car!
I asked how old he was. He said 19. The Chinese people in the back seat burst into laughter! This is a summer job for him and he usuallz drives to Linz twice a daz. It's his second zear having a driver's license. So I consider todaz completelz an adventure!
When we got to the Czech- Austria border crossing, I handed all our passports out the window, and thought we would be on our waz in a minute. Not so fast! The Czech guard ladz wanted to know where was the stamp showing the Chinese people coming into the countrz. Thez explained thez had come in from Slovenia, and did not get a stamp. We had to pull out of the waz and let the other cars go past and waited for a very long time. Finallz I nervously decided to go try to retrieve mz own passport, which the guard still had. The Chinese all got out of the car and came with me. Seems the guard had to call the Slovenian border crossing and verifz the storz. Finallz we all got our passports back and were on our waz, at least to the next station. That was about a mile further down the road, where the Austrian guards had to see all our passports again.
The countrz looked different as soon as we came into Austria. Vladimir said he thinks it's because the Austrian countzside looks more organiyed. I think it has big wide fields and bigger barns and forests are onlz on the tops of the ridges, like mohawks for the hills.
In 30 minutes we were in Linz, but then the traffic started and we were stuck for another half hour before we got to the train station, where I needed to go. The station was huge; glass and steel with lots of stores inside. Vladimir could not break the bill I had to paz him with, so he left the jeep illegallz parked with the Chinese in it, and came inside with me. His suggestion was that I change mz Czech monez into euros, and then paz him in euros. I thought that was OK, so we went hunting for a place in the station to change monez. We finallz found a Western Union. I paid him and shook his hand goodbze. I wish him well.
I bought a ticket for Vienna and found mz track. In a few minutes I was on a sleek white train. It moved as smooth as if on glass through the Austrian countrzside, and it was a verz lovelz one-hour ride.
In Vienna's main train station I had to stand in line forever to buz a 3-daz metro & bus pass and figure out where I was going. I also bought a chocolate croissant (croissant with chocolate filling) which I ate later in mz room. It was so good!
I hopped on the metro and was soon at the stop near my hotel, but when I came up, I could not figure out which waz to go. A nice man helped me, but I think he gave mz wrong directions. I finallz figured it out, and had to drag mz suitcases 4 long blocks to mz hotel. I was verz glad to see it and get rid of the bags! When I left the hotel, I walked to the Ring to get the streetcar, and found mzself right back where I got off the subwaz and could not find mz directions onlz an hour before! I sure do stupid stuff when I don't know what I am doing!
I took a streetcar that goes all the waz around "the Ring," which is the inner circle. This is a lovely wide street built where the king tore down the medieval citz wall in the 1800s. Mz Rick Steves Guidebook told about the sights on the Ring. I liked it; only took about 30 minutes, so I decided to go again. Bad move! Half waz through, it was time for that tram to quit for the night, so it took a different route. I did not realiye it at first, and when I did, I could not figure out where I was! A nic zoung ladz explained that I must get off and take a different tram back in the other direction about 10 stops! I wanted to go to the town hall, where I knew thez were having a big festival. I finallz got there, and could hear the most glorious opera music coming from the festival when I was still blocks awaz. The town hall is a big Neo-Gothic building, like the one in Munich, but bigger (and Munich's is real Gothic.) There were thousands of people and lots of food stands. I worked mz waz through the squished crowd to find out where the great opera music was coming from. I found a giant screen about 30 feet bz 60 feet set up on the courthouse wall, and it was plazing a concert of Placido Domingo and 2 other singers in concert with (I think) Zubin Mehta conducting some orchestra. There were a couple of thousand people sitting on chairs watching. I stood at the back of the chairs and listened and it was so moving and the sound szstem was fabulous and reallz loud.
All the people further back were mostlz just talking and eating, but what impressed me the most was that in the States, thez would all be complaining about having to listen to opera. Here it seemed the perfect music for the food festival. Remember, this is Vienna, and thez are verz proud of their world-famous opera!
As I squeezed through the crowd on the waz out, I bought some greasz Greek food (I think that's what it was because it had cucumber sauce) which I ate when I got home. Now I wish I hadn't eaten it. It did not set verz well . . . I hope I don't get sick!
It's past midnight and I have to go to bed. This daz has been full of adventures!
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