Czech Republic

Ken gets ready to ride Czech

Along the trail on our 16 km hike in Hrensko.

A 1 km ride up a river with sides 150 m high.

The hike included views of cute little mountian towns.

Europes largest natural bridge.

A stunning view of Prague from the castle.

A night view of Prague castle.

Bikes galore at a Moto Museum, it features mostly Jawa motorcycles.

Miles of Czech farmland and forest, a nuclear powerplant in the background.

A funny thing happened onour way to Czech from Germany. We were following a nice meandering road, which was maybe a little busier than we would have liked, that wound thru a forested area. We were not surprised to see a lot of motorhomes parked along the roadside in every space available and we were kicking ourselves for leaving our camping gear at Franz and Sabine's place in Germany. The thing we started to find a bit funny was that in every motorhome, sitting in the passanger seat, was a woman very scantily dressed........uh huh...yes....working girls! Have wheels will travel.

Crossing the Czech border was easy, all we needed was a quick stamp in our somewhat full passports. What a breeze compared to Central and South America. We really didn't do much homework of Czech so while Ken was getting a Krones, I dug out the Lonely Planet for a quick low down on the area we were going into. It turned out Hrensko is the gateway to the Bohemian Switzerland National Park, with lots of trails for hiking. After finding ourselves a quite little room we headed out on a 16 km hike which took us along a river (we actually had to take a pole boat for close to 1 km) up stairs along a rock bluff, out through farmland and back into the forest along sandstone pillars and arches. All this and more packed into just 5 hours or so!

After a great dinner and a good night sleep we decided to head off to Prague. I know...not our style heading for the big city but everyone we met said we had to see it. We got a room at a pension on the outskirts of the city and rode the metro downtwn for less than a dollar (what a breeze and no headaches finding parking). The only way to go! Anyway...I think I've found my new favorite city. I can't even start to to put it into words...the architecture, Charles bridge, the narrow streets, Prague Castle (the biggest in Europe) and the overall feeling of a this ancient city. As usual the pictures just don't do it justice.

The countryside in Czech is mostly rolling hills, farmland, and the odd bit of forest thrown in. Great riding and we have seen quite a few dirt bikes and tracks along to way. We also stumbled on a motorcycle museum that was very cool and had a lot North America. Ken says the beer is good here, you know this is where pilsner beer got its start. The people are nice once you get them to warm up to you (I guess they have had some tough times) Ken gets them going with motorcycle talk and before you know it we are old friends.