Czech-ing out Česky Krumlov

Saturday we left Austria to visit the Czech Republic. We headed to one of "Bohemia's prettiest towns," Čzesky Krumlov - about 2.5 hours away.  It was the first time in 10 weeks that we were outside of a German-speaking country.  We're still not sure what language they speak; most of the people in the touristy town spoke English.

The kids are always incredibly easy to travel with in the morning - no crying from Francis, and Ellie is easily entertained by books and watching DinoLingo on the tablet. It's a beautiful drive through the countryside getting there. Our only minor difficulty was when we misread street closure signs on the interstate and drove at least 3 miles on a closed road - going slowly, on a totally abandoned road, with signs saying STOP but with no clear turn around...until we came to an exit with a huge cement barricade. I thought I was going to have a heart-attack as I imagined us trapped there forever...luckily Brian calmly put the car in reverse and backed down the ramp and then turned the car around and drove us back down the road (headed in the direction of oncoming traffic - but there wasn't any).  I put on our hazards lights - because we were the hazard apparently - and took pictures of the sign we should have followed. Brian got us to safety and we were back on our way. No one seemed to have ever noticed us - we will see if we get a ticket in the mail though. 

We were stopped at the border for a quick passport check - our first one since moving to Europe - and then drove about 30 minutes to Česky Krumlov. The small town is filled with Remaissance-era buildings and hasn't changed much since medieval times.  We parked right outside the moat surrounding the Château, the second largest castle in Bohemia. 

The weather was perfect - low 70s - so we spent the entire day outside. We ate outdoors at a small cafe - and paid in Kč (koruna - the Czech currency).

Then Brian carried the stroller up the cobblestone stairs to the castle. 

We saw one of the two brown bears outside the moat. 

We walked back down through the little town to the town square. 

Ellie took a nap in the stroller while Brian went to the torture museum (which he said brought back so many childhood memories ;) and I sat outside nursing Francis (which got a little exciting when a tour group from China came to take pictures near where I was sitting - thank goodness for nursing covers!)

We ended our day trip with ice cream and chocolate crepes and a wooden toy for Ellie. 

I'm writing this as Brian drives back (on non-closed roads).  The drives home are never quite as smooth with the kids. Currently Francis is crying and Brian is disciplining Ellie for beating the tablet with her new wooden toy. But we're holding onto hope, only an hour to go and we just found a McDonalds!