Oct 06

We headed off from prague on Sunday & we planned to stay overnight in a campsite near the Polish border to break up the drive. Our 2005 campsite book said it was open all year but when we got there we found that they were closed which was a pain! We had been driving all day & could not see any other campsites in the local area so we had to find somewhere else to stay. We found a quiet lane surrounded by trees and stayed there for the night. It's not something that we like to do too often as we feel safer on a campsite but we didn't have much choice! In the morning when we woke we saw another camper in a car park across the way from where we stayed and we assumed they had the same problem!

The border crossing was very easy - I drove us across, they checked our passports very quickly and sent us on our way. They didn't even us to see our Intenational Driving Licences that we brought specially for in Poland!

Our first stop was Auschwitz and there was a small camping area which is part of a reflection centre on the road parrallel to the camp which we arrived at around 10am. We parked up the van and headed off to Auschwitz 1. It was quite eerie walking around as all the buildings are still exactly the same as they were 60 odd years ago. There were several exhibitions in some of the buildings showing conditions in the camp etc & sections about different countries. Over the course of 2 days we made 2 trips to this camp and 2 to the other camp Auschwitz 2 Birkenau as there was too much to take in. On both trips we were offended by the lack of respect that people showed for where they were, particulary the tour groups organised by the camp. All people seemed to want to do was stop & take photos of everything & not even look at what was around them & think about what happened. I was particulary upset by people taking photos in the crematorium, which some people did despite the fact that there were signs asking them not to do so. I raised this with the information desk & spoke to one of the guides about it & we came to the conclusion that there isn't much they can do about it & people just don't care which I find very sad. It is very upsetting that people see it as a tourist day out & as Matt said if they sold T Shirts saying 'I survived Auschwitz' people would buy them.

Birkenau was a lot worse than the first camp. This was a larger camp that was built about 3km from the first & conditions were a lot worse. The barracks were old horse sheds made of wood rather than the brick ones in Auschwitz 1. The worst thing was the size of the place - nothing that I have ever learnt at school or seen about it showed the scale of it like seeing it for yourself. Most of the buildings have now been destroyed, but the fences are still there as well as the chimneys from most of the buildings. There was a watchtower that you could stand at and look over the whole camp, but even then you couldn't see it all. It is hard to imagine that a place so big could have been filled up so much that they had started to build another camp on the outskirts. We made a trip away from the crowds to see the first 2 sites of temporary gas chambers that were made in people's houses as the whole town was chucked out to house the camp & also to see the sites where bodies were burnt in the open air and their ashes left on the ground. The gas chambers had all been destroyed by the SS when they knew that they were going to be caught but there are detailed plans of what they looked like & some ruins. It was a very upsetting day but necessary - I think everyone should try and go there if they can as it is necessary to realise just how bad it was.

After Auschwitz we moved onto Krakow which was a short drive away, staying at a campsite on the outskirts of the city. That was yesterday and in the afternoon we got the bus in & just wandered around the city. Today we have been to a museum of paintings & ancient artifacts like Egyptian & Roman pieces. Things are cheaper than in Prague. It cost us about 1 pound each to get in! This afternoon we are going to go to a mount that you can walk up & maybe go to a swimming pool tomorrow.

By Chloe

Well, we went to the Theatre Fantastika for a black light show which was pretty cool, we saw a show called the 'Aspects of Alice" which was based on the theme of Alice in Wonderland. The show was good, if a little bit budget at times. It was all mime and music with no spoken word. Clever use of lighting and projection made inanimate objects appear to move unaided and some of it looked really convincing. The best part of the show was completely out of the blue when from nowhere Alice and her friend come on stage naked and started dancing provocativly! It was completely irrelevant to the story but it made me laugh!

The following night we went back into Prague in the evening and went to a Jazz gig at a really nice cafe just off the main square. The band were amazing, with every member being exceptionally talented. It was contemporary jazz, with lots of extravagent piano, bass and sax solos.

Yesterday we took a train to Kutna Hora which was about an hours journey. Kutna Hora is a small mining town with a rich history and cathedral that rivals Prague's St Vitus. We went to the Cathedral of st Barbara which was another example of Christian extravagence when it comes to decor. We went to the Ossury with is a small church completely decorated on the inside with human bones! it was a very macabre sight to say the least - items included a coat of arms and a chandelier made using every bone in the human body. There are supposedly the bones of 40,000 people in the church. We had a quick look around the museum of Alchemy where we were shown round exclusivly by the curator - a very interesting bloke who looked like he had probably done too much acid in the seventies. Lastly we went underground into a disused silver mine. It brought back memories of caving - crawling round in dark and wet places. It was cool but the tour guide wasnt all that great - to be honest I dont really like going with tour guides at all & I think that was possibly the first we've had to endure. Unfortunately there was no other way to see the mine.

Today is going to be our last day in Prague and I've just come into the centre to get some food for tomorrow and to use the Internet. We're going to be stopping over for one night near Ostrava then on Sunday we'll be driving into Poland On our way to Auschwitz then Krakow.

By Matt

We arrived now in Prague which although, involved driving round the city on the ring road which was very hectic - against all odds, we found the site with relative ease. I was talking to some Danes when we got there who got got lost even using their SatNav. There's something to be said for using a map (compass comes in handy occasionally too). Back to good ol' city camping with the joys of cramped pitches and road noise. Its not too bad though. We headed into Prague centre yesterday and were able to the things we didnt get to do last time which was nice. We got the bus and Metro in, then went to the old town square for mulled wine and traditional pastry (drinking before lunch..tut tut) then we headed to the Museum of Communism for an enlightening and somewhat moving experience. A video showing the run up to the Velvet Revoloution in Czechoslovakia was brutal and obviously still strikes a nerve with the local population, as one Czech lady starting crying during the video. We then had lunch at vegetarian restaurant which Chloe loved, naturally. We headed then to Josefov - The Jewish Quarter, where we went to the Jewish Museum, consisting of several Synagogues and the cemetary. This also made for a moving experience but also very informative as there was lots of information about the Jewish faith.

Last night was pretty cold in the van with temperatures reaching zero! I wasnt cold, only when I got up to go to the toilet did I get chilly.

Now we're sitting in an Internet Cafe in the Wencelas square and this is the first entry I've written ina while that is completely up to date! After a lay in this morning we headed again into the centre. We're going to go again to the Vegetarian restaurant then for drinks and then to a traditional black light show.

From Cesky Budeovice we headed off to Plzen. When we got there we got a bit lost & drove around the city for a while. The road that we needed to go down was closed due to road works so this caused us a bit of problem. Eventually we found the campsite we wanted to go to but it was closed! We decided the Plzen didn't look so good after all our driving around. Very dirty & nothing very different to any other city we have been to so we decided to move on to a Frantiskovy Lazne which is on the far western side of Czech, reasonably near to the German border.

The site was nice with it's own private lake for swimming in the summer & it had lots of fish. It would have been quite a quiet site if it wasn't for the two dogs that the owner had locked up near the gate. Who were very noisy every time another dog or person walked by - which became quite annoying. We liked it anyway & the site had some old alloys wheels on legs which you could use to build fires on which was fun. We decided to stay there for a week & relax without the time limit to get to Munich before Oktoberfest finished! The local town was quite quiet in the morning but then later on was full with old people & had nothing but shops selling clothes for old people & spas. The spas were ok & we tried water from most of them but it didn't taste that nice! We only spent an afternoon there.

The next day we had to take a bus trip to the next nearest town called Cheb to look for a bucket as we ran over our other bucket for our waste water whilst we were putting the van on to chocks! We found one & Matt managed to find a guitar something he has been whinging about for ages! He didn't bring his guitar to save on space & just took his ukelele which we are both getting sick off! So now he has his guitar he is happy! There was nothing else to do in this town other than shop, but we did get the train from Cheb to Karlovy Vary - an other spa town. The buses in Czech are very old & on this train we had our own private cabin - Matt said it reminded him of James Bond!

Karlovy Vary is a more upmarket spa town than Frantiskovy Lazne with loads more tourists. We tried some of the spa water which was hot this time so was a bit nicer & just looked around the town. It had some nice architecture but loads of shops selling rubbish souvenirs. We only spent an afternoon here. The rest of the week was spent hanging around the campsite. We went for a couple of walks & hired bikes from the campsite which were really uncomfortable! We spent one day at the Aquaforum which was a big swimming complex with Jacuzzis, a flume, a couple of outdoor pools, one of which was really hot & was really nice.

Again its been a while since the last update, we just dont seem to be getting regular internet access at the moment. Its not too bad though as it's a welcome break no being on the computer day in day out, at work and at home. We crossed into the Czech republic about two weeks ago with little hassle. There are border crossings into the eastern states, whereas with holland and Germany there are none. The guard at the border pulled is in and we had to wait for about 5 mins whilst he checked our paperwork. He then came over and us me if we had any drugs, guns or knives then let us go. As if I was going to say 'yes actually I've got 10 Kilos of coke in the back and some uzis under the bed, you've rumbled me, if only you hadn't of asked..damn.....'

Then we were on our way again and what a difference, noticible immedietly. Run down villages and houses, poor rutted roads and rather crap signposting (so much so we had to by a new map, fully detailed). It really felt as though we had gone back in time. and it felt good. Quaint villages and beautiful scenery were order of the day en route to Cesky Krumlov. Unfortunately we never made to Cesky Krumlov as we didnt take the turning we needed as neither of us even saw it. We settled instead for Ceske Budejovice, the next big town north of Cesky Krumlov, which turned out to be another stop on the beer trail - they brew Budweiser Budvar there, which is infinetely superior to Amercian Budweiser! We stayed there for 4 nights, explored the town centre, went up the black tower and wandered around the local markets. Everything is so cheap here, even in Prague where its the most expensive, its cheaper than the UK. Out of the the big towns though, its peanuts. Oh and the beer is uber-cheap, and is actually cheaper than soft drinks in bars and cheaper than juice in the supermarket!

From Ceske Budejovice we got the train into Cesky Krumlov. It was a fair old walk from the campsite to the station so we were glad to get our tickets without too much trouble. One problem we have encountered in Czech is that it can be very, very difficult at times to understand notices, signs and train times etc and virtually impossible to understand announcements. The train was pretty old with old fashioned conductors, with whistle stop go conducting at each station and some of the stations were very run down , others just a signpost and others, what appeared someones house. It took about an hour to get there and the town itself was quite nice, nice old fashioned eastern European houses, cobbled streets, Vlatava river all with a castle backdrop. It would have been even more beautiful if it weren't for all the ......yep you guessed it - the tourists. There were hundreds. Coachload upon coachload of Germans, Americans and Japanese. We walked about the town for a while then, went to the museum of torture and an excellent National Geographic photography gallery. We also went into the castle grounds but didnt pay for a guided tour around castle. We opted for the bus back to the station as it was a pretty hefty walk, which is always an event in itself - the buses dont often have numbers or anything to indicate where they're going and the driver never seems to understand where you want to go. after a few hairy moments of 'is this the right bus?' we got back to the station.

Although Cesky Krumlov being the UNESCO world heritage site is probably the 'nicer' place, Ceske Budejovice seems so much more real. It was mostly locals, harldy any tourists and parts of it were very gritty and urban, yet most places are accompanied by a warmth and welcome you dont always get elsewhere.

by Matt