Cesky Budejovice to Karlovy Vary

Easy trip here, we meet Mikhail, who has rented us his apartment for 10 days. Main event is the Czech Film Festival, although KV is a pretty cool place all on its own. However, nice to stay put for a while, and get used to a place and, maybe, take a bit of a break from all the history (although there’s plenty of that here too). Apartment is huge, with a washing machine and a fridge (cold drinks and clean clothes being pretty much key ingredients for successful travel!). Nice to make coffee the way we like it etc. In short, home for a while…

Karlovy Vary (Carlsbad) is where the uber-rich and famous used to hang out (pre-WW1 was the heyday but they still do). Bulk (and sometimes bulky) Russians the main group here. Basically a German spa town that changed hands after the war. Lot of very posh apartments/buildings, walkways and monuments lining both sides of a small river for a couple of km. The festival itself is quite a buzz.

Helen Mirren is one of the star attractions this time and there’s a ton of music, parties etc all going on. Quite a scene. The beautiful people are all over the place like a rash, so we feel like we fit right in! We will, in our own small way, make a contribution to goings on. We’ve already downed a bottle of the local liqueur (Becherovka – not awful). I’ve not yet been approached for my signature, but I’m keeping a pen handy. Mary will be giving make-up and deportment tips to any interested women (I’ll take care of the gentlemen), so we are expecting to be busy. In between our red carpet appearances we also hope to watch a stack of movies, catch a good number of bands and hang out with the stars, something which we haven’t done for a while (OK, never, but hey). There’s a decent amount of other stuff to look at and do, so will keep you posted.