Three Countries in One day

Saturday 3rd August
3 Countries in one day!!!!
This morning we woke in Linz Austria - boarded the bus at 8.15am went to Czech Republic, while we are on the bus our boat will travel on to Germany where we will arrive late this afternoon.
Our tour started with a short loop around the city of Linz. It is a nice looking town - nothing very different except it is the town where Hitler lived through his younger years and also had planned to live there when he had accomplished his plans. Some of the successful industry in the town links back to money and ideas Hitler started when he was first gathering power.
We travelled through beautifully wooded hills - everything very lush and green even though it has been 30 degrees most days. We eventually reached 'no man's land' between Austria and Czech Republic, which these days is lovely park lands. After the war neither country wanted the responsibility of the land in case there were still unexploded bombs in the area. And so after a short distance we crossed into the Czech Republic. Every thing looked exactly the same - same style houses etc. same lovely woods. This region is Bohemia.
The bus had been winding up hills and now we started to finally descend down into a valley region. We could hear laughing and the sounds of people having fun - there was a break in the trees and the river beside the road was full of holiday makers from Austria and Czech Rep. canoeing. A lot of them had brought their dog and the dog was sitting in the front of the canoe. We continued on to the town of Cesky Krumlov. A UNESCO world heritage listed medieval town, mostly built in the 12th century. It was now 10.30am.
Our guides walked us through the town, a bit of a challenge for some because of very sloping paths at times and also most of the paths were cobble stones. One path that went under part of the castle was very steep and curved had been covered with floor boards because that had been easier for carriages. This was really hazardous for some of the group. There was an enclosure at the front of the castle where two brown bears were kept. This had been a status symbol back in the time of the town but the tradition of the bears continues. There were beautiful areas overlooking the town and hopefully the wi fi will be powerful enough for us to up load some of these views. We had lunch in a restaurant which was in part of an huge old Jesuit monestry and church. It is a favorite spot for holiday makers in the area and it was easy to see why. Every one on the tour had a great time.
At 3pm the bus headed off to Germany. The guide had an easier afternoon as the majority of people had a nap. It was lovely to have a cool breeze from the air-con!! And so I was still awake when we crossed from the Czech Republic into 'no mans land' about 3.30 and then into Germany and I woke as we were nearing Passau.
We arrived back at the boat at 5pm. The boat was meant to be leaving at 7pm but because of very low water level this had been brought back to 6pm. All on board by 5.45pm. There was just 3/4 of an hour for us to have a quick look around this beautiful town. We managed to find a famous baroque stlye church which was white and had been very ornately carved so it looked like a beautiful wedding cake. We had a quick look around inside - it was magnificent.

We boarded with only minutes to spare. And so while the captain started us in the direction of our next destination - Regensburg - we had a 6 course meal which was the chefs choice - we had been wondering if that meant baked beans on toast but it was actually the best meal we have had so far.
The evenings entertainment was a music quiz. The most modern composers mentioned were Lennon and McCartney so it was great fun. We called our team Barrock and Roll. We didn't win but only lost by half a point. It was an amazing evening - it had been a very tiring day but maybe because of all of the bus naps everyone was dancing and singing and having a great time till well after 11pm.