I had two options for today; get up really early and tackle the 120-140km ride or sleep in, visit the Chocolate and Marzipan Museum and catch the train for two thirds of the journey. It was an easy choice. Although I’m not a fan of the taste of marzipan, I was impressed by the artwork. It ranged from cartoons (modern and classic), models of buildings and everyday objects. I had a few chocolate samples at the end and they were delightful.

After the tour I had to catch three trains and I was a bit nervous since my last experience in Germany left me waiting for two hours. The trains here have ticket inspectors who check that everyone is on board before blowing the whistle and signalling the driver to continue. This came in handy three times: when I got stuck in the lift and nearly missed the first train, accidentally left the second train a station too early and when I had two minutes to switch trains. I also bought tickets for the wrong day, so I’m glad the inspector was so helpful and fellow passengers were kind enough to help me lift my bike onto the less bike friendly trains.

I arrived in Slavonice and relaxed a bit, knowing I only had 40km to ride. It was really easy and there were pretty things along the way too.

I ended up staying at an airbnb place in Lancov, hosted by Jana. They had a beautiful property and the wooden building reminded me of my little cabin in NZ. At around 9pm I went to look for some dinner in town, but I was unsuccessful. The restaurant was only serving drinks and there was a second place further out, but it had a private function. I could only just see over the fence, where dozens of middle aged couples were slow dancing to “Love Hurts”. Jana and her boyfriend invited me to have dinner with them instead and it was nice it sit in the yard with them and chat with my Google Translator app. It was nice to stay at a place further from town and I fell asleep really easily.