Czeching out the Czech Republic!

Anyone want to guess where I went a few weeks ago? Here are some hints:

We had to take a train to here:

 And switch to a bus to avoid construction on the track here:

We took this one car train for a while: 

We waited at this train station for a while, it was a bit of a bore:

Than we took another mini train: 

It is between Plzen and Domazlice:

And we had to stay here (Poběžovice) because it was the place we could find to...

Drahotín!!!

No, I (along with Kyle and Elvis) did not spend 9 hours traveling to the middle of the Czech Republic to a places beyond the realms of modern civilization just for kicks.  Drahotín is (to the best of our knowledge) where Wenzel Soukup (my Great-Great-Grandpa) immigrated from in 1870.  We stayed in Poběžovice, 4 km's away, because that was the closest hotel (as well as grocery store and train station).  

I use to wonder why my ancestors decided to settle in a place where it it is so cold the air hurts your face at least 7 months out of the year.  I think I have discover why.   Other than the severe cold, Minnesota is very similar to Drahotín and its surrounding area.  Lots of trees and lots of fields.

Walked through part of the Bohemian Forest.   Sing the Bohemian Rhapsody in Bohemian?  Been there, done that! 

See what I mean?  Basically Minnesota.

Finally we made it to Drahotín!  Drahotín is a very small town with less than 100 people, and no stores, restaurants and maybe 50 houses (at the most). 

They recycle and plant flowers in logs!

We thought this might be their bus stop, Kyle and Elvis were trying to read the sing in Czech.

We found a few locals!

We had to walk to the next small town over before we found any food.  Schnitzel, potatoes, coffee, and a fire.  What could be better?  Czechs really like their czechered table clothes! 

We found a man-made pond with a gnome:

We also found an adorable playful puppy!  We played with it for a while.  Its owner stood there laughing and talking to us.  We just smiled and nodded because we had no idea what he was saying. 

Then we got to the church at the top of a hill.  I was hoping to find some gravestones of Soukups.  While most of the graves were really old, none went back that far.

Leaving Drahotín :(  

 

Slovenia

Of all the places I have traveled to while in Europe, Slovenia is the most beautiful.  Ljubljana is the capital and largest city of Slovenia with a population of 272 thousand.  The center of Ljubljana is small and everything was within a ten minute walk.  Ljubljana is small, old, beautiful, and full of history and culture.  All the Slovenians we meet was extremely nice and spoke English fluently. 

We arrived in Ljubljana on Friday afternoon after a beautiful train ride through the Austrian Alps.  If you ever ride through the Austrian Alps I would highly recommend opening your window and sticking your head out, it makes the entire experience even more amazing (just be carefully when you are sticking your head out in a tunnel, you never know when a train is coming).  After dropping our things off at our hostel we went to explore the city.  Because of its small size we were able to see all of the city in an afternoon.  We reconvened on top of the sky scrapper (there is only one in Ljubljana) to watch the sun set and get drinks before supper.  Slovenia has the BEST hot chocolate EVER (if you haven' noticed I have been try hot chocolate everywhere I go).  When you order a cup of hot chocolate you get a cup full of warm thick pudding that is so rich and chocolaty that it makes the whole world a better place.  For supper we went to a traditional Slovenian restaurant and tried things from goulash and chicken to risotto and shrimp.  

Here it is folks: The best hot chocolate I have ever tasted!


Saturday morning, after a quick stop for coffees and pastries, we hopped on a bus to Bled!  THE attraction in Bled is the Bled lake, which has an island in it, which has a church on it.  The church, built around 1470 and reconstructed in the 17th century, is a pilgrimage church dedicated to the Assumption of Mary.  Instead of taking a gondola out to the island Annie, Shannon, and I decided to walk around the lake.  Two cups of coffee, a Bled Cream Cake, a couple hundred pictures, and three hours later we finished the walk and saw the church from ever angle.

Our last morning in Ljubljana started out cold and foggy but by the time we had climbed to the top of Castle Hill the fog has almost completely lifted.  This provided for some beautiful photos of the city both covered in fog and clear.  

After a quick bite to eat we went to catch our train.  Unfortunately it had been delayed by an hour.  When it finally came we were only on it for 1/ hour (instead of 2 1/2 hours) before it stopped and we were rushed off the train, over the tracks, around the station, and onto a bus.  The bus ride lasted over an hour, including all the times it stopped at bus stops to pick up people, before we arrived at another train station and were rushed off the bus, through the station, and onto another train.  We waited there for a good fifteen minutes before we were off again. Apparently they were doing construction on the track and that was a detour.  When we finally reached Villach, we had missed our connection and waited for an hour and a half for the last train to Salzburg.  Tip for traveling: bringing a deck of cards with you while traveling is extremely effective in getting rid of boredom.