Thursday saw us at Karlstein Castle. We didn't rush ourselves, having been there before. A fairly painless train journey later, we had to fight off a taxi driver outside the train station as we wandered off castleward. There's an entire habitation that used to be for people who supported the castle, but now is festooned with gift shops that are supported by the presence of the castle. There's a restaurant at the bottom of the valley near the river where we ate, and while the food was sort of so-so, the ambience was fantastic. Shortly after we ordered, roughly fifty tourists turned up. Always plan your meals before fifty tourists arrive and order theirs. Advice for life.
When we went before, it was distinctly winter. The place was far more inviting in the summer, and it was originally intended as a summer residence. Within there were crenellations as far as the eye could see, and without there was chlorophyll as far as the eye could see. Probably the other eye. Stunning scenery. Eireann made friends with a horse on the way up, as we paid to be lazy and to go up in a horse and cart affair. However, the driver made us worried by slapping at the balls of a stallion on another cart after having seen a dubious insect around there. I have no idea why he managed to see that so easily.
We took a tour that wasn't particularly hugely attended, but it had the obligatory bored boyfriend, while his partner was listening in fascination. I suspect it was the history version of watching a chick flick.
I dutifully bought some tat, though this was high quality tat. Eireann discovered that royal chocolate tastes rather like wax. We wandered the battlements, pondering on how a few dozen archers could really make a mess of an attacking force, and we baked in the glorious sunshine. SPF50 was daubed everywhere the sun could shine, and we made the most of it. Fantastic place. Heartily recommend it.
Other than that, we sort of plodded along and Eireann and I met up with a Slovak friend of hers called Josef. He has some of the most unusual tales you will ever hear, and he was blatantly telling the truth in them. That's the scary bit.
The day after, Cab and I mooched around until it was time to head to the airport, though given that we couldn't be bothered getting out of bed until late o'clock this wasn't a problem. We nommed at a Hooters and got to the airport in plenty of time, only to have over two hours of delays due to some half-inching tosser nick someone else's iPhone and bugger up all the fun.
However, in the airport I did manage to continue my dream of forcing my corpulent and furry torso into the hands of yet another massage artist (this one based on the airport), so I can tick this one off my list.
I may remember more. I need to put up more photos.
Rapscallion
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