Sadly it was pack-up day from Cesky Krumlov. We do feel we are leaving having had a good look at the historic area in the town although there were other places nearby that we would have visited if we were here longer.

The drive to Prague was straightforward although one GPS did seem to think we were going in a different direction. We drove on a number of country roads, through some small towns and past a number of waterways before we got onto the motorway.

On the motorway we also drove through several small towns. The motorway was a mixture of dual carriage way and 130km/hr and 90km/hr stretches. The road was not crowded so it was easy driving for John, although he did stop once for a coffee hit.

We had contacted Yvetta,  who has the Airbnb apartment here, and she arranged for one of her managers to meet us. He made an excellent job of telling us all we needed to know. Katherine had found this place and made a great choice. It is not in the centre but very close to a tram line that gets us there. So we are living in a more residential area in a spacious 2 bedroom, 2 bathroom apartment. I could happily live here for a few weeks rather than a few days. There is a terrace off the lounge that gives a view over a courtyard area and we also have a small terrace off our room. Katherine has the room without the terrace, but has the bathroom with the shower and also plans to sleep in the lounge when her friend Jess is here so we all have private sleeping areas. The parking spot is small for a larger car, but we don’t think it will move from there until we check out.

The listing had made mention of a restaurant for breakfast although we were not sure what this involved. It turns out that Yvette owns a restaurant in the centre close to the Prague Castle and we can have breakfast free there each day from 9am to midday.

It is certainly colder here than we have been having so warm clothes have emerged from the bottom of bags. It was 14 on the way, 17 when we arrived and there were a couple of showers soon after we arrived.

We went down to the tram area and first found a place for a slightly late lunch. After a nice meal, we took the tram a few stops to find Yvette’s restaurant and then explore a bit. We had discussed whether to get the three-day transport pass but have decided it won’t be worth it so we just will pay each trip. It costs 24 crowns (15 crowns = $1NZ) for trips taking less than 30 minutes and we doubt if we will bother to return to the apartment during the day. The main issue we thought we might have was only having one set of keys until we sent a message to Yvetta in the evening and found we can get another set at breakfast tomorrow.

We found a few places to look at more closely on the way to the restaurant and also a quicker route to follow tomorrow. Then we were so close I suggested we head to the Charles Bridge. It was not really busy although the weather was picking up. We did take photos, including 2 for caches, while still hoping to redo photos with nicer weather. Sadly, the forecast is still for cloud tomorrow though.

We found information centres on both sides of the bridge. One seemed to be attached to a hostel and the other was for the region mainly, but we picked up some brochures to help with planning.

The 18 tram is going to be helpful. It leaves near the city centre and takes us to within a 6 minute walk from our temporary home. We stopped off on the way at the Kaufland (supermarket) we had seen when we went in. It was a new name to John and I, although Katherine knew all about it as it is a major German hypermarket chain (soon to open in Australia we discovered later). It was rather too big for what we wanted but after a few walks around the store (it is 2 storeyed) we had enough for tea. We then went back which allowed John to watch some World Cup before bed.