RAINY DAY

It is hard to credit that when we woke up this morning it was cold and wet. What happened? I guess it is spring and you cannot expect summer weather to last. Thanks to Olly we're armed with indoor activities and at the same time the weather forecast isn't quite as heavy and now drizzle is expected. Better than thunderstorms I suppose.

Did the castle tour, as you do when there's a castle in town. George was an amusing guide, though his English was delivered in a monotone that made the jokes a little hard to discern. No pictures allowed inside, and no bright lighting of any sort apparently. The town from up there looked a little subdued too today.

Thanks to Olly for the heads up about where to get the best coffee in town as we did enjoy it, so much so that we went back for lunch (very good asparagus soup) and another coffee. Klein is a bit of a standout in that it has a very modern look to it in amongst the much much older looking shops. Lot of jewellery shops here as garnets and amber are a local speciality.

There are two puppet museums in town, but we only made it to one of them. Worth it though as marionettes are another local focus.  The museum itself was worth seeing as it is housed in an old church and we had to climb the old bell tower stairs to get there to see the puppets housed in what I think would be the former choir loft.

No photographs either inside the church, St Vitus, which had a magnificent altar.

A stroll up, and I mean up, to the castle gardens in the afternoon which I didn't know I was walking towards. There is a most peculiar structure there - a revolving auditorium.  It was facing what might have been an old bathing pavilion or summer house but I could not work out why it revolves or what the audience would see when it does. If, for example, there is some sort of performance on the pavilion terrace why revolve away from it to face the garden wall? The poster photo gave no clue as it only showed the tiered seats brightly lit up. Lot of discussion over dinner.

Few beers and snacks in the hotel bar before dinner and then several of us headed out to a recommended vegetarian restaurant. It wasn't just because it was next to the one we went to the night before.  The food was very good indeed, best so far on the tour and it was good to drop the meat emphasis for a day. There is not a lot of fruit in evidence,  nor do vegetables appear in bulk in meals locally.

Quick breakfast tomorrow then I hear we are riding a big yellow bus to Prague.  Good night.