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It's Monday and we're off to the Czech Republic. We took the U-Bahn for the last time down to the South Train Station in Vienna. After exiting the subway car, it took us quite a while to wind our way thru the maze of subterranean passages under the train station. Then with the help of a confusing array of signs in german and the help of a bus driver, we managed to find our way to the main ticketing hall to get our tickets. We were glad we had left the hotel extra early.

The train ride was a very relaxing time as the four of us sat back and enjoyed the passing rolling countryside and farmlands. The Austrian police came thru and checked and stamped our passports for leaving Austria and a few moments later the Czech police came thru and checked and stamped our passports for entering the Czech Republic (CR). Each time they swiped our passports thru a hand held electronic gizmo that must have checked our passport numbers against a database of known undesirables. After about an hour we arrived in Breclav, our "port of entry" into the CR. There we were met by Tom L., our tour director and Tom S., our tour bus driver. We all piled into Tom S.'s Volkswagen mini-van for the short drive to Valtice and our first hotel, the Apollon.

^ The Hotel Apollon in Valtice, Czech Republic.

There, Tom L. gave us a set of topo maps, a GPS unit, a cell phone and written instructions on where we'd be hiking each day and what sights to be looking for along the way. He also recommended a short hike around the local countryside that we could do to fill up our afternoon in Valtice that day.

The short hike around Valtice took us past the town's chateau built by the Liechtenstein family. At one time it was one of their primary residences, now it is the home of the National Viticultural Centre. From there we went off into the rolling countryside thru field after field of vineyards. Along the way were many informational signs (in Czech, German and English) describing the process of caring for the vines, for growing grapes, and making wines. Halfway along the route we came across a huge arch-like structure built up on a hillside, known as the "Rajstna Colonnade". The Liechtenstein family had built it for the "fun of it". They had lots of money and wanted everyone to know it so they built lots of big, useless, extravagant structures around the countryside just to show off their wealth. They were known as "follies", referring to their excessive uselessness. We saw more examples of their "follies" the next day on our hike.

^ One of the Liechtenstein family chateaus.

^ Here we are hiking thru one of the many vineyards surrounding Valtice.

^ Our first "folly", built by the Liechtensteins just for the fun of it. There's a staircase in one of the main columns that leads to the roof. The staircase is closed on Mondays. Guess what day we were there. That's right, Monday!

That night we had our first Czech restaurant adventure in town. In the small towns, very few local people speak english, so we had to do a lot of hand gestures, pointing, and referring to our Czech phrase book. Fortunately, Tom L. had forearmed us with a menu translator. We also learned that food in the small towns was very inexpensive. We could get a real nice dinner for two with appetizer, main entree, dessert, tax, and tip for less than $US 20.

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