Ceske Budejovice – Prague

This morning's most remarkable thing was a trip to Tesco! We couldn't resist really – it seemed so odd seeing something so familiar in such an unfamiliar setting. It was just like at home as well – well, apart from the language thing obviously.

We bought 2 new outside chairs and some beer – I nearly bought a hairdryer (all the bathrooms of the campsites have plugs in them, and my hair would really, really love to be dried properly I think – might look a bit less 'free style' that way) but I do already own a small hairdryer – I just didn't think it was worth bringing it away with me. Next time. Jon was thinking about buying some hair clippers as his hair needed cutting – but they were really pricey, so he went and got a hair cut instead – at the in Tesco hair dresser! A much cheaper option.

The beer though – great stuff 7Kr a 0.5l bottle – less than 20p, and that's for a bottle of Staropramen – one of the most expensive beers you can buy on draft at home. Makes you think really. Well, makes me think – mostly “fill the van with crates of it” :) Stuck to 2 bottles. Restraint being my middle name and all!

Also in Tesco was the fresh carp stand – a bit like the fish counter at Tesco at home (infact mostly it was like that) but also including a tank of live carp so that you could select your catch for dinner. Interesting idea. And yes, I was playing the tourist this morning – taking photos in Tesco – whatever next?

Had a text from Tom this morning as well about this thing with the flights – looks like they might be late arriving tomorrow - which will be a shame. Still, no point worrying about these things until they happen.

So, finished in Tesco we headed out of town – only to be flagged down by a policeman about 5 minutes down the road. Nothing terrible though – we just didn't have our lights on – something that is compulsory in CZ as of 1 July this year. We remedied that and were waved off on our way.

30km up the road we stopped for lunch – pulled off the main road to a parking place by a lake that I had spotted on the map. It was lovely. The most amazing thing though was that, in the lake right in front of where we were parked, there were zillions of fish. To start with Jon though they were reeds just poking up through the surface – but once they started leaping out of the water it was pretty obvious that they were fish! It was incredible, there were so many of them.

Lunch over we went a bit further up the road to check out another lake – lovely – not really a swimming lake (a bit murky looking for that) but chock full of butterflies flitting about and frogs leaping out of your way – 'mazing – nature :)

Anyway, eventually we made it to Prague – and straight into the campsite recommended in the Rough Guide – apparently the “oldest and nicest” campsite in Prague. You know what I'm going to say next right? If this is the nicest campsite, what must the others be like? It's not so bad, I mean it's by the river and all – but it's also got a mighty fine view of the motorway on the other side of the river, and the shower block is a bit – well – shall we say “authentic”. Still, it was easy to find, we have a river side pitch and that's it.

So, we had some dinner and then headed out for a walk along the river, stopping at the far point for a beer at a random bar. We ended up staying for a second (ridiculously cheap) beer because it had started raining and we were waiting for it to pass :) Excuses eh? We did go home eventually though.