September 13, 2003 Well another rain-filled day which was really too bad because the towns we have been visiting have been really nice and picturesque. We departed our spa town and headed to Pilzen. We had a walking tour and were given an hour of free time. Unfortunately it was pouring down rain. For lunch we went to a restaurant at the Pilzen brewery. From there we walked to the train station for a 2-hour train ride to our next destination, Cesky Krumlov. Th...

September 12, 2003 We thought we would have good weather today and so once again dressed in shorts. We had only gone about 5 miles out of town before it again started to rain. We headed west to the town of Cheb (pronounced Hep). Here we were given a one-hour polka lesson, which was fun but I never seemed to get the hang of it. Afterwards we were given a little free time that we spent by going to the supermarket where we purchased a new water heater and some &...

September 11, 2003 We explored Karlovy Vary more in depth. Martin purchased Plakas (thin waffle-like crackers). These came in different flavors: chocolate, vanilla, coconut and almond. We were shown the important buildings of the town and then the famous spas. Martin had purchased plastic cups for everyone and we sampled the famous mineral waters from several fountains of varying temperatures. We were taken to see the main geyser that is housed in an unattractiv...

September 10, 2003 We left Prague and met our bus driver, Vladimir. We would be in a small mini-bus and our luggage was pulled in a small trailer behind. Twelve miles outside the city we made our first stop at the Lidice Monument. Lidice is a small village whose name is fixed in the minds of people in the whole world. On June 9, 1942 a Hitlerite commando occupied Lidice and executed all its male inhabitants. The women and children were carried off to concentr...

CZECH REPUBLIC September 8-21, 2003 September 8-9, 2003 After orienting Phebe to our house, she took us to the airport where we boarded our 10-½ hour flight from Phoenix to Frankfurt, Germany. We managed having an open seat between us, which gave us a little extra space. After a short layover in Frankfurt we had a 45-minute fight to Prague. We were met by our guide, Martin and were taken by car to our hotel. After check-in, we immediately set o...