Day 16 - Harriet's Birthday and Homeward Bound

Today was the day we arrived back home in London! We woke up in time for buffet breakfast at 8:00am, then we went and packed our things and stacked them in the biggest apartment, it had 4 bathrooms, and 3 bedrooms and a lounge. We also had to clean the apartments properly. We then had time to either go to the shops, or stay in the apartment and chat and play cards etc. We all decided to stay in the apartment and play cards until we had to leave the apartments at 11:00am.

We left our big bags in the security room, and went out for lunch to celebrate Harriet’s birthday (No cheese and ham sandwiches!) we went to Restaurant Můstek where there was Czech food, but a lot of it was quite recognisable by now. There was, rabbit, duck, chicken, pork, soup, fried cheese and chips. It was different but familiar. I also had a big Birthday cake and everyone got a slice after I blew out the candles and cut the cake.

After we had ordered and eaten the yummy food, we went to get our bags from the security room so we could make our way to the train station.

When we got to the train station the leaders bought the tickets and we had to stamp them through a machine. The train journey went quite quickly, only 4 stops. After we got off the train we had to find the right bus stop and wait for a bus to the airport. All in all it was only 30 minutes from the city centre to the airport and our tickets cost 40p each.

As we queued up for check-in we wrapped our backpacks in bin liners to protect the straps. Then it was through passport control to hit the duty free shops before lining up for security ahead of our gate. Once on board we settled back for the two hour flight. Can you imagine our surprise when the captain made a special announcement for Harriet’s Birthday – the plane then sang Happy Birthday to her and she blushed!

We soon realised we had landed in England because it was raining (despite some thinking we were in Kazakhstan!) and we sang our way to the monorail and border control.
Ellie’s bag had a mini-adventure of its own - ending up on a different carousel – but they were soon reunited. Then it was through customs and out to find our coach. Throwing our packs into the back we boarded and sang our way back to London over the Border.

We said our thank you’s and the leaders got some lovely gifts from the girls and then, before we knew it, we were saying our final farewells and going our separate ways.
What a fantastic trip for everyone involved.
HB

Day 15 – Prague Castle, Charles Bridge, Old Town and Shopping

Today we all woke up at 8 o’clock to get ready in time for today’s activities. And then all of us met up in the leaders’ room for breakfast.


After breakfast we got the tram to the Prague castle and cathedral, where we decided to pay for a tour guide so we could really experience and understand about where we were. We all thought it was worth paying for a tour guide in the end especially when we had an exclusive tour of the Royal Crypt and the Wenceslas chapel. For lunch our leaders took us to Subway where we could spend up to a limited amount each. We then walked across the Charles Bridge to the Old Town.

We then split into groups so we could look around the shops and buy last minute souvenirs and presents. A whole afternoon of shopping, how lucky were we? After everyone had done their final shopping we all met up in the Old Square to return back to our lovely apartments. At the moment whilst I write this everyone is in their cooking groups cooking dinner for tonight. The plan for tonight is that after we have all eaten and put our plates etc into our dishwashers we then meet up in the bigger apartment to have a de-brief about our trip and maybe watch a DVD.
AG

Day 14 – Moving to Prague central and city bike tour and cooking

Today was the day we would leave from Camp Mechanice and we were going to leave to go to Prague. We got up at eight o’clock and had a quick breakfast of croissants and a few muffins. We left on foot and walked to the bus stop with our big rucksacks, it was really hot. It wasn’t far on the local bus and we got off at the Smichovske Nadrazi train station and got the metro to Mustek and walked through Wencelas Square to get to the apartments where we were staying. We got there around 11am so we left our bags there in storage cupboards because the rooms were not ready yet. While we were waiting for the rooms we did another guided bike tour like the one we did in Krakow. It was great fun but now all of our bums hurt because we were riding for over three hours!! We got back very exhausted and we were shown to our apartments by Kathy and we relaxed for a little while. Then we were split into groups to cook ourselves dinner. Two people from each group went shopping at Tesco and most of us had pasta but one group (I think) were planning pizza. After we had cooked dinner we went to bed and were pleased to hear we could have a lie in the following morning!
RL & AG

Day 13 – Ceský Raj and Rachele's Birthday

Today was a very special day as it was Rachele’s birthday. We made sure she had a great time. We started off the day by having a breakfast buffet in the restaurant at the camp site.

After that we got on the coach to Cesky Raj which means “Bohemian Paradise” and it’s a nature park. We hiked around it with our tour guide and he told us information about it like the stories behinds the rock formations and their names.
We also learnt about people climbing the rocks and the dangers of it. We saw a memorial of Czech climbers who died climbing somewhere in the world. After hiking for a few hours we got back to the beginning and walked around a few market stalls. After that we went to the castle to have a three course meal which was a real treat for all of us, especially Rachele. It was delicious!!!!

We then went into the town of Liberic and went shopping. We went back to the campsite after that and had supper of hot dogs, ham and cheese rolls and crisps. We then had chocolate birthday cake. Overall, it was a great day and very exciting.
Happy Birthday Rachele!!!!!!!!!!
EH

Day 13 - Cesky Raj and Liberec

We've finally had some good web access so have updated some photos and a few blog entries. Here's some photos of our day trip to Cesky Krumlov on Monday.



Yesterday we were exhausted following our Adventure Day! Although everyone says they are glad they did the canoeing and rock climbing.
This morning we had a Birthday breakfast for Rachel followed by a hike around Cesky Raj and a three course Birthday lunch in a castle.

More blogs to come. Off to Prague tomorrow

Day 12 : Adventure Day in the Sázava River Valley

We had an early start today as we had to catch a ferry at 7.15 am and we would meet our guide at 7.00 am however the guide told us at 7.45 am that he would be arriving at 8.00 am. This meant that although we had crossed the river ages before we then had to run to our 8.00 am train. We weren’t amused. After we boarded the train, which looked like a bus, we had to wait about 20 mins until our stop came up. The train worked its way along the valley. Once we disembarked we started on our hike down the valley towards the river. As we walked our guide briefed us on the upcoming day and he broke the news to us that he wasn’t providing shoes and our leaders knew our flip-flops were not adequate for the day’s canoeing and said they weren’t prepared for us to get our shoes wet. Fortunately as we trekked down to the river we passed a shop that sold crocs and Sharon and Kathy decided to buy us a pair each. They looked very lovely and colourful on our feet!

As soon as we reached the river we were given a safety talk and after putting our stuff into waterproof barrels and getting our packed lunch we were sent into the river in the canoes. After we had got used to steering and paddling we were sent into the rapids.

Very soon after starting some people were thrown out of their canoes, but we bravely ventured on. During the next hour and a half we battled against various rapids and many of us fell in repeatedly, and when we finally reached our first stop we were glad to be on dry land.

We walked to the Gold Mines, which were very cold for our wet skin.

After a little lunch break we continued in the canoes down a very rocky section. All very different from Fairlop Waters! After another 3 hours of canoeing we stopped off to do some rock climbing. This was very different to anything we had experienced at Chigwell Row.

After we had finished climbing we continued down the river to reach our final destination 1h30mins late.

We came back to the campsite by bus, Kathy & Sharon organised a treat at the camp restaurant (pizza, hamburger, omelette or sausage and chips followed by ice lollies) and then we were all grateful for an early night.
JW & EO

Day 11: Day out to Český Krumlov

We had an early start to the day as we had a two hour coach journey south to the Southern Bohemian District in Czech Republic. On the way we were told the history of Czech Republic and that Český Krumlov was the “capital” in the province. We walked through winding streets and visited churches which date back as early as the 14th century. Our guide, Kaisa, told us the beginning of Český Krumlov, how all the families fought against each other to be the head of the land and it eventually ended up with a family who had five sons, so there was plenty of five petal roses about the place. It was pretty and scenic - the town is on the UNESCO world heritage site so no modern buildings can be built in the town.

At lunch we were given free time to explore the shops and try some of local food but that proved tricky for a few groups because the town is more of a tourist site than anything else. The leaders managed some Czech pancakes and blueberry dumplings.

After lunch some of us climbed up the tower and were greeted with stunning views of Český Krumlov and the very narrow stairs, the low ceiling and the live bear that traditionally protected the castle (don’t worry, it was in the non-escapable moat). Shortly afterwards we had a walk round the outside of the castle. We walked through courtyards where royalty had once driven through in their horse and carriages, and out into the beautiful gardens. The tour was then ended as we headed back to the coach. Looking back, the town has a history going centuries back with a unique form of architecture. In the evening we had traditional Czech dinner in the campsite restaurant which was delicious. We then had some time for reflections which was on the River Vltava with the sun setting behind the hill. We then had an early night as we had a fun packed day ahead of us.
ED

Day 10 – ‘…and on the 10th day, the girls did absolutely nothing…?!’

After an extremely busy week, the leaders decided the girls were in need of a typical lazy Sunday. After waking up to find only sparkling water for breakfast, a convoy was sent to the local shop, which was promptly emptied of all their bottled water, bread, milk and cheese! At last, with still water and a hearty breakfast in our tums, we embarked on some highly skilled matches of table tennis, worthy of Wimbeldon, snooker and card games straight out of Vegas! After much persuasion, Lauren was dragged to the pool side to act as lifeguard, whilst we jumped and splashed about, desperately trying to tan our factor 50 arms!


Kathy and Sharon then led us in the Look Wider programme and a few Guide badges to broaden our Guiding knowledge and make sure that we did one thing productive on our ‘day off.’ The day was flying past at such a rapid rate we were soon sitting down to a lovely meal of meatballs, (which Harriet ate ten of!) and pasta. After dinner we were given some time to chat and have a gossip, and then it was off to bed, nice and early, ready for an early start tomorrow and a day of adventure!

Day Nine - Arriving in Prague

Hey folks

We have now nested into our accommodation just south of Prague. They are lovely little ensuite bungalows and it has a nice atmosphere.
We don't have so much internet access as we are outside of the main town - so sadly we wont be able to update the blog as regularly - but we are writing it, so will upload everything as soon as we can.
Keep sending us your messages as its nice to hear from you.
The train from Krakow to Prague was hot but there was a nice breeze through the windows when we were moving.

We got into Prague around 7am and after a toilet stop we found our bus stop and queued up to get the 361.
We then had a chilled out morning and early afternoon, playing cards, using the playground and reading. We also did loads of washing and explored the area.

In the afternoon we went to a nearby airfield where we went up in a plane - more about that later - it was fab and we couldn't quite believe we were flying over rivers and castles.

Then the leaders did a supermarket sweep at "Plus" shop and we came back to the site for a lovely pasta bolognaise and Swiss roll.

We then found ourselves really tired so we hit the sack and Sunday we had a long lie-in :-)

Day Nine - Getting to Prague and flying around

We arrived in Prague at 7:20 in the morning. We entered the station and went to find the toilets where we had to pay 5 krona each – although Kathy paid for us all. We then waited to get on a bus that took us to Mechanice where our camp was. We arrived at 8.40am so after waiting a while for our rooms to be ready (we found the playground), we then settled into our rooms where we had two hours to relax.

After a short sleep and lunch we got on a coach which took us to an air field where all went into a small plane that we viewed lakes and towns in. The leaders were left waiting at the air field with a cup of coffee – they looked like they missed us.


The group got the coach back to camp where we played cards and had dinner before bed.
AC, RL and SC

Day Eight - Up the mountain and then onto our train to Czech Republic

We started Friday early (At around 5.30). We had to join the queue for the cable car, which would take us up to the top of the Tatras Mountain. We had to wait 2 hours in a queue, even though we got up very early. It took 2 cable cars to get to the top. When we reached the top Danielle and Lauren decided where they wanted to make their Promise. Everyone went up the top and we all made our promise sign. They both made their promise. It was enjoyable and I think they both had a great time. We then came back down the mountains looking at the beautiful surroundings. When we got back to the hostel we had to pack and then there was a big storm. There was a huge panic, because all our bags were outside and uncovered. We were all sitting in the common room watching T.V. We then made our way down the hill and to the coach. We got to the bus station and we were on it for 2 hours. We then arrived in Krakow and got to spend 4 hours in the shopping centre, we then given money to buy our own breakfast for the following day in groups and we also were tasked to buy our own dinner. We got a chance to look around and spend our last zloty. We then got onto the sleeper train, which was extremely hot until we moved and we couldn’t get to sleep. When we finally did get to sleep it was great. We like the sleeper trains.
AC & RL

Day Eight - Up to Kasprowy Wierch and the Slovakian Border

We had a very early start to get ahead in the queue for the cable car. It was worth the wait - the views were breathtaking and it was stunning. We also had the chance to walk in Slovakia for a bit!

Day Seven - Zakopane and Morskie Oko Lake

We've had a long day getting the bus along the road past the Slovakian border and on towards Morskie Oko. The buses park at the end of the road and then its 9km up to the Lake. Although we went in a bumpy horse and carriage up the mountain we walked back down again - so including the walk around the lake we walked around 15km today.
Despite the weather we had wonderful views and all agreed it was truly amazing.
Suffice it to say we are all knackered and having found new muscles that we didn't know existed we are all off to bed for an early night.
Here's some photos to keep you going! More blog entries to come.







Day Seven – Morskie Oko
Yesterday we went to Morskie Oko Lake. We got up at 7:30 and went to have breakfast. Then we got a bus that took us to Wolsienica. The bus ride was about 30 minutes, and when we arrived to Wolsienica we paid to get the horse and cart to take us up to the lake. The places in the carts were 40zl each, so in total this cost us 880sl. (£220). The horse ride was for about 1 hour to reach the top. However, they didn’t take us the whole way to the lake, when we got off we had to walk for about 30 minutes to get to out destination, Morskie Oko Lake!

We then had to split into our groups and walk around the lake. It was quite chilly and the water was freezing, but the view was incredible. When we were walking around the lake we could see Poland's tallest mountain, Rysy, which was 2499m high! Walking around the lake, we had to climb over rocks all the way round, some were easy and some were tricky, but we all made it back in one piece. We also saw a waterfall which was beautiful, but it made all the rocks slippery. The walk was suppose to take around 30 minutes, but for some groups it took a little longer. As my group was 5 minutes from the end, it started to rain. But we got back just in time. We then had lunch and as usual we had cheese sandwiches. But we also had a lot of fruit and yoghurts.

After lunch we decided to walk down the route we came, so we could save some money, and have a nice hike! We had to walk for 9km, and this took us around 3 hours to complete. We had to take a lot of rests and also had to drink a lot of water because we needed to keep hydrated. We saw some great views of the mountains and another waterfall. To make the time go faster, we sang some camp songs and many of the polish people waved and smiled. When we finally reached the bottom everyone was relived and couldn’t wait to sit down on the bus. We got on the bus and the driver took us into town, where we split into our groups, and were able to do some shopping. After half an hour of looking around town, we all met up to have dinner. We went to a restaurant called Owczarnia Grill. Here everyone got a platter of meat, which was filled with mainly pork! It was huge! The group was split into 3 tables, 2 tables for the girls, and a table for the leaders. Between 9 girls, we still couldn’t eat all the meat on this one board, however, it normally serves 3-4 people!!! The vegetarians however had jacket potatoes and 2 of the vegetarians, Ellen and Sarah had some potato pancakes. Each table also had a salad bowl, which we found hard to eat because everyone was extremely full. After dinner, we went to get ice creams which were delicious! They are about 5 inches tall and are a combined ice cream of chocolate and vanilla. We then walked to the shops to get some food for tomorrow’s dinner, and then we went home. Sharon then called everyone to a team meeting to talk about the day, and we all got into our pyjama’s and watched the last half of the film, ‘p.s I love you’ Then at 9 o clock we were all off to bed as we had a long day ahead of us tomorrow. (5 30 am wake up call!!!). Then we were all asleep after our tiring walk down the mountains.
EB - On Behalf Of The Team.

The Adventures of Mr.Fred Bear: Zakopane and Morskie Oko

Greetings Pallies!
Today in Morskie Oko I was lucky enough to ride on a horse and cart. It was fantastic! (Although at times a little bumpy). There were some amazing looking horses; their coats were so shiny and smooth! There were also some fantastic views. We were so high up in the sky.

We took a nice stroll up to the beautiful lake where we had a chance to walk around it and have a look at all of the wonderful sightings we could see. You could see right through the glistening water, as the sun shined brightly. It was great! Around the lake were lots of big rocks which acted like stepping stones as we jumped on to each one to try and get around. (some of the distances away from each of the stones were to hard for my little legs to manage, so I got a lift around in some scorching hot backpacks, it was handy though!)


On the way back to our coach we had to walk down the mountain! (5 miles! My little legs couldn’t handle it, so I was carried down in someone’s arms! It made me feel much more loved). It took us a very long time to get down the mountain, as everyone’s legs were getting tired. (I can’t understand why though!) Also because we had to keep stopping to let more horse and carts by. I found it very enjoyable because everyone was singing the camp songs I love so much!

Kathy told us to stop, so we could look at a waterfall. It was beautiful, everyone took so many photos!
Then we continued to walk down the mountain to the car park where our taxi-bus was waiting. Then we went right into Zackopane, where everyone had some free time to go shopping for some last minute gifts from Zackopane, everyone mainly bought shoelaces! The were very funky and bright!
After we went to a big grill where we had lots of food to eat. It was brought out on a platter type plate, and we got to pick what we wanted to eat off there, I tried a bit of the curly sausage! It was bigger than my head. Ellen also let me try a bit of her jacket potato! It was scrummy.

After we had all finished eating the yummy sausages and meat and jacket potatoes! We were able to buy ourselves an ice-cream, they were huge! I tried a bit of Harriet’s with out her looking. HeHe.
After the ice-creams that filled my little tum, we walked up to the bus station where we got on a bus and went up to our hostel!
Then when we got to the hostel, everyone was given a choice as to whether they wanted to have a shower, go on the internet, or watch the end of the film! I was tired from the long walk down the mountain, but I decided to stay up and watch the film with everyone else! Then at 21:00 we were all sent to bed so we could have an early start in the morning as we had to get up very early!
When my head touched my pillow I was fast asleep… Sweet dreams.

The Adventures of Mr. Fred Bear: Krakow

I last had time to blog when we were on the train from Berlin. What a jam packed few days its been!

My favourite part of this trip has been when we went to the salt mine because unlike you peculiar humans, I have a nice warm coat of fur covering my skin to keep me warm. Aunty Sharon lost her fleece; I chuckled to myself when she wasn’t looking. Haha

The worst bit has been the weather! All this heat is not very good for the bears you know! Very sweaty, the last time I saw deodorant for bears was in Brazil and it was rather expensive.

I’d recommend you coming to Krakow because the people are very nice to the teddies of Poland, I had many “Dzien dobry”s. Also, the streets are very clean and there’s such a friendly and warm atmosphere!

I’ve mainly been looked after by Ellen, Ella, Elle and Harriet (I reckon it’s something to do with the “E”s; they’re particularly friendly. They’ve kept me in their shady backpacks, Pockets, around their lunch filled waists – Everything you could possibly imagine, it’s all rather exciting.

I’ve shared a dorm with everyone really, mainly my friend Ellen but blimely do her room talk a lot! Sometimes I wonder whether some of them are capable of shutting their eyes for more than 10 seconds. They’re sorry in the morning though when the sleepers get in the shower first.

The thing that most surprised me was how low those birds flew in the beautiful main square in Krakow when there is a Ted around. I’m kicking myself for not jumping for those tweeting flying things. Ellen said it was because they were much quicker than me which got me in a right huff. She’s still wondering where her chocolate biscuits went.

The tastiest meal I’ve had on the trip was the food in the polish restaurant, I had chicken meatballs with boiled potatoes and dill sauce. I asked Kathy whether I could come and live in Krakow because I liked the food so much but she said I had to wait until I’m older. I know that she’d just miss me too much, I have that effect on women.

There are so many reasons as to why I like Krakow: The buildings are beautiful, friendly people, good food, lots of souvenirs to buy and because we all enjoyed ourselves! The people working in the hostel were also very helpful and the hostel was clean and new.

Today the lovely people in Ella’s group bought me a new pair of leather shoes! They’re absolutely gorgeous, much better than walking around BEAR footed! GET IT?! Oh my, I’m so funny.


Very much so looking to the trip to Morskie Oko tomorrow, we’re going on a horse and cart! Until next time, Bye friends!
I’d also like to thank EW for typing this up as I said it because I am just simply too busy drinking iced tea and eating cake.

Day Six – Last minute shopping and heading for the Tatra Mountains

After a great lie-in followed by a late breakfast we packed our bags and we got into our groups from yesterday and then went back into the square to try and find postcards and stamps. Once we found them we had to find our way back to the hostel, but we knew the way by now. Some people needed batteries for their cameras, because we have used our cameras loads. There has been so many nice churches and beautiful scenery to take pictures of. We then all went back to the hostel we then started writing our postcards to many different people who helped us raise money to get here, through giving us grants or helping organize fundraisers.

After we were all in the hostel Sharon checked all the rooms to check that none of us had left anything in our rooms. We then all filled our water bottles and headed off to the bus station via the supermarket, where we got things for lunch. Once we had finished in the supermarket we walked to the bus station that was a bit like a national express bus. We knew we were going to be on the bus for 2 hours, so we knew to pack our iPod and books in our day sacks. When we got to Zakopane we nearly lost a couple of jumpers and we did not know whether we lost a bag, but we didn’t - two people just got mixed up. On the bus we had lunch (which was a bit complicated but tasty).

The scenery was amazing; there was lots of countryside and some very nice house that were a bit strange but massive. When we got off the bus we got onto another smaller bus, which was very squashed and hard to fit on with our big packs. When we were driving through the town there was lots of shops and looking around really made me feel that I was really away in a European country. When we arrived at the hostel we were all stunned by the place we are now staying.

We all had a look around the place and put our things away. Next we got a small bus back into town in our groups to have a look around.



We have just finished dinner of pasta bolognaise and are now watching the DVD “P.S I love you”. Our new hostel is great and we are looking forward to travelling up the mountain by bus and horse and carriage tomorrow.
Speak soon
Missing everyone
Lots of love the girls and leaders of HOE
EO xx