Our Christmas

Sadly we are going to be leaving the little town of Cesky Krumlov today. Very sad. It is one of the best places we have ever been to. Back to Prague tonight and then back home to London tomorrow. Will be glad to not have to wear thermal vests and trousers anymore!

When we arrived we did a little tour of the town. All the streets are cobblestoned. There is snow everywhere, even though it hasn't snowed in over a week and a half, because it is so cold it hasn't melted. We went into the main square where we bought a local drink, called 'grog'. Seriously, that is the czech name for it. Obviously an acquired taste. I think it had rum, lemon juice and some other stuff it in it. Sorry, that's not very descriptive. Tasted like hot cough mixture. Yuck. Then we had a black sausage thing wrapped in a pancake with a tonne of garlic. It was nice, but you could taste it for the rest of the day, no matter what else you ate. So, at least we sampled the local delicacies.

On Christmas Eve we made stockings with the rest of the gang in the hostel. A great bunch from Queensland and Canada. We then hung them and got plastered on mulled wine while playing a drinking game called 'Fuck the Bus' and quoting scenes from 'The Castle'. Top night.

On Christmas Day nb made a great brekkie of bacon and eggs (we have our own self contained cottage as part of the hostel) and we wandered around the castle. Just beautiful. There are two brown bears who live in the moat of the castle, but they were hibernating so we didn't get to see them.

The best part of the day would have to have been the Christmas cricket. It was Australia v Canada on the frozen lake. The bowler ice skated up to the crease! NB had a pretty spectacular tumble while fielding, but he was ok. We slogged quite a few and the locals seemed to like watching our game. Probably thought we were nuts.

We opened our stockings and there were heaps of lollies in them, which was nice. We all then went out for a bohemian feast for dinner. On the way back home, everyone decided to let off a whole heap of their fireworks that they had bought. Nearly every second shop here sells fireworks. It was the best fireworks show we had ever seen. Seriously, they know how to do fireworks. They were spectacular and hard to believe that it is legal to buy them!

We hope you all had a fantastic Christmas in Oz. We were thinking of you all.