Ceske Budejovice

Saturday night the Swiss juniors joined us for pizza meal. Was great listening to the kids work out how to communicate with each other as the Swiss juniors spoke a mixture of languages including German and French. Our team were amazed at how many subjects they take at school and compared it to our system when we have to narrow down the subject choices so early.
the Swiss were equally amazed that we didnt have to learn another language.
We organised some full runs with them the next morning and we awoke to a gorgeous sunny day, one of the few so far.
Unfortunately for Shaun and Brent they missed out as Shaun had gone down with the Czech belly and had a bad case of the D's and V's.
After lunch then another training session while Shaun stayed in bed with Brent as nurse we packed up and started the drive to Ceske Budejovice. We were very pleased with the direction we were heading in as after a 4 day weekend the locals from Prague were streaming back into the city and the traffic was banked up for 100km's or more.
We passed hectares of wheat fields and sunflowers which looked an amazing sea of yellow ,all nodding their heads in the direction of the sun.
Arriving at La Tocna Pension was like returning home and we were made to feel very welcome. Our dinner was ready out in their garden restaurant and a cold pivo (beer ) to wash it down.
Shaun made the trip without the need for an urgent stop and I was pleased he seemed to have recovered.
Now Monday and a planned rest day for the team which is great timing after an intense 4 days at Roudnice. Kidda had them really getting to know all the moves on the course with some being pretty difficult. Needless to say that I have great footage of Ella's many rolls.
After a leisurely breakfast and a repair session of the C2 ( had bought stuff from the Galasport team in Prague) we decided to be tourists and visit the gorgeous town of Ceske Krumlov. The day is raining and a complete contrast to the heat wave when last years team was here.
There is a photo opportunity at every turn and is a must visit for anyone coming to the Czech republic.
We walked up to tour the castle and as luck would have it , castles in Czech are all closed on Mondays, so maybe next year will be third time lucky for a tour thru.
We wandered around the impressive gardens with old trees and fountains and then met again at the Torture Musuem. The team are checking that out, then the wax musuem before we meet again for an early dinner. Hopefully we can find the place we ate at last year with an open fire and tons of atmosphere, although with the heat wave we were sweltering. Today it will probably be very pleasant.
Ceske Krumlov is only abou 20 minutes from Ceske B so back for an early night and a few more chapters of the book I started today.
Great news for those seniors who got through to semis in Tacen. The team have decided they want to watch the World Cup finals in Augsburg so the free day sightseeing is under review.
Ausgburg is a very cool place so I am happy with that plan if we can find accommodation there.
We will train tommorrow and Wed morning at Ceske B then head to Prague to stay in A1 apartments again for the Veltrusy race. They will train in the mornings at Prague and then afternoons on the Veltrusy course as it is only open 5-7pm . The race is on Saturday and is a German club race so will be great for the team to have a race before the Junior Pre Worlds.
Anyway enough of a ramble
Cheers for now
Sue