JOURNAL - DAY 9

DAY 9:

Slept until 1000! Compared to the busy Friday, Saturday was to be the day of rest and sightseeing. We (Richard, Steve and Petra) had a lovely breakfast a la carte at Tomas' pub - ham and eggs (in Czech "hemenex") and freshly baked buns!

After that Steve left for Prague and the Czech Few team went to explore the lovely surrounding countryside from a different perspective unusual for us - ie. from the land. As Orlik was the closest point of interest, we decided it would be nice to explore it more (for a brief historical overview see the blog from the previous day).

As was mentioned before this castle belongs (once again since 1992) to the Schwarzenbergs. The head of the family Karel Schwarzenberg was until last month the Czech Minister of Foreign Affairs (previously also a Chancellor under President Vaclav Havel). 

Schwarzenberg family crest: Nothing But Law!

In one of the first rooms of the guided tour one can see the Schwarzenberg family tree - and right there one can find a very interesting detail: the family is related to the Stauffenbergs. Does not ring the bell? Maybe a little hint: Valkyrie. 

Yes, it is the selfsame family that produced Claus Philipp Maria Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg, a German army officer and aristocrat who was one of the leading members of the failed 20 July plot of 1944 to kill German dictator Adolf Hitler and remove the Nazi arty from power in WWII Germany. Along with Henning von Tresckow and Hans Oster, he was one of the central figures of the German Resistance movement within the Wehrmacht.

So there we were, paddling for the Czech Few, admiring the historical sights and suddenly we were reminded how things are unbelievably interconnected. 

Richard also discovered that after a week in the boat, his legs are more sea-worthy than land-ready. Therefore we decided to take the day in relaxed way, return to the camp, cook some gnocchi on the gas stove and get ready for the last stretch of the way to Prague.

As Richard was complaining of his drysuit not being as dry as it was supposed to be, Petra spent ages submersing it in the water to find the leak... only when she was properly wet and completely convinced there was no possibility the thing could be leaking, she discovered the whole time she was inspecting the wrong leg! There you go... university-educated person. In the end, a minuscule hole was found and patched. 

All was repacked and ready to go to push for the last 104 kilometers to Prague.