Prague, Vienna, Český Krumlov and Budapest

Hi Guys! We arrived in Prague on Saturday and spent two nights and three days there. Prague is a very walkable city and was truly stunning to see. The only complaints are that we did get lost on the tram and we got fined by the Czech metro police for using the metro without a ticket. Our hostel, the Little Budget Hotel, was very well situated and within a one minute walk to the Charles Bridge, a main attraction in the city dotted with statues and street performers which offers a fabulous view of Prague from the water. We visited the typical attractions and enjoyed some live music one night. Overall, Prague was a great time.

In Vienna, we stayed at one night in Hostel Ruthensteiner and then two nights at an Australian youth hostel called Wombat's. Wombat's was nice and Vienna was a fun time. Our first day was spent walking and taking the tram all over the city checking out the huge parks and castles. We visited the Schönbrunn Palace and rented bikes on the second day which was a great idea...thanks Ron and Deb! While Vienna is beautiful and very cool in its own right, Jake and I both liked Prague much more.

We had two Australian roommates at Wombat's who had just spent a few days in the Czech city of Český Krumlov and told us we needed to figure out a way to get there because it is such a cool little place. We had originally planned on taking a day trip to Český Krumlov leaving from Prague and then heading on to Vienna, but we ended up skipping Český Krumlov at the last minute and went directly to Vienna instead. We found a flyer in the hostel for a shuttle bus from Vienna to Český Krumlov and decided to leave the next morning. It turns out that a young Český Krumlov native named Daniel owns the company, consisting of a bus and a car. Daniel spoke English well, as do most Eastern Europeans, and charged a fair price for a very convenient service. Here's his website: http://www.shuttlebus.cz/. Daniel arrived outside Wombat's on Thursday morning and drove us three hours through the countryside and back across the Czech border to our hostel in Český Krumlov.
Dilettante's Hangout is the home of an artist named Matya Dayo and was where we stayed while in Český Krumlov. To say the least, it was awesome. She gave us a nicer room at a discounted price since no one was staying in it and gave us a handwritten map the city, outlining restaurants and cafes that had the best coffee, goat cheese salad, etc. The entire city of Cesky Krumlov can be walked in about two hours, but the entire time you will be stunned at how incredibly beautiful and picturesque it is.

We had dinner in The Catacomb, an underground restaurant that had mediocre food but a very cool atmosphere. All of the pictures can be found here: http://picasaweb.google.com/jakebelvin/CeskyKrumlov. On the last day we toured the Castle on the hill and then took a shuttle bus one and a half hours to the Linz train station where we caught our train to Budapest. From the Budapest Keleti train station, we walked to where we are sleeping here, a place called the Activity Hostel.