The Last Dispatch from Eastern Europe

CESKY KRUMLOV, HOSTEL 99: It would seem none of you, dear readers, has heeded my advice since I've yet to spot any of you wandering blissfully through the winding streets of this fine town.

Since I last left you I have done very little. Yesterday we slept late, moved into a gorgeous little pension perched above the river, had the closest (and best) approximation of Full English for two months, and then wandered around the castle. In the afternoon we retired to our pension to read for about seven hours. I'm still plowing through Dostoyevsky's The Brothers Karamzov but every town we've vistited in the last two weeks (with the exception of Gdansk)has had ample stocks of back issues of liberal US magazines. So I've worked my way through a stack of New Yorkers, a copy of the Atlantic Monthly and am about to get started on some Harpers. So that's what we did yesterday.

Today was more strolling around town and then we did a brewery tour and indulged in some of the local product. Kate was even heard to say about a sultry dark beer, with a tone of authority, "This is one of the best beers I've ever tasted."

Anyway dear reader we are off for another cheap meal tonight before embarking on a fortnight of self catering: painfully dull pastas and cup-a-soups. Yes, we're leaving Eastern Europe. Saying goodbye to the Soviet's legacy, to disgruntled shopkeepers, broken roads, Lada's and the various Slavic languages. Tomorrow we leave for Vienna.

Good night and good luck.