The summation of the day is a day for the kids.
After the exploits of the last few days, the plan was to stay local and visit a couple of activities for the kids. Whilst the time in Karlovy Vary was certainly not all cultural and everything was planned with the kids in mind, today was purely for them and would start with a visit to Lanový park Slapy.
Located in a thick forest just 10 minutes from Novy Knin, Lanový park is a Czech version of Go Ape. It has a number of different high rope courses, each aimed a different age group. There is also an adventure playground for the younger kids. Forrest and Matty were able to go on the Green course without a need for an adult to supervise up in the trees (although you did need to be nearby on the ground). This included many different obstacles and zip lines. Paloma and Emma would have been able to go on the Purple Course, however this was very basic and from experience Jana suggested the adventure playground would be a better choice. This also included obstacles and their own zip line, and whilst it didn't keep their attention quite as long as the boys up in the trees, they had fun. Paloma has made it a life goal to be a contestant on Gladiators, so she naturally turned some of the course in to her own version of the eliminator!
It was then back to the house for some lunch, including Jana making Forrest his favourite butternut squash soup, a swim and to find a local bowling alley that was open. We'd spoken about going bowling earlier in the holiday, but never expected it to be such a challenge to find somewhere to go. The most local alley only opens from a Thursday through to the weekend, and another one that Jana knew about was closed for a competition (sounds just like Wycombe swimming pool whenever we think about going for a swim back home). Eventually we found one in the town of Benešov, about a 40 minute drive away and with the kids insistent on wanting to go bowling, we got in the car and set off.
Talking of the car, we've had a little Citroen C3 this week from Sixt at Prague railway station. I was a little worried when it was first brought over to us as to whether it would fit all our bags, but it had a deceivingly large boot and took all the bags without any issues. It has also been great for all the trips out that we've made, many on bumpy side roads in the rural countryside where our hosts live.
Most bowling alleys in this part of the Czech Republic are more bars with a bowling alley attached than dedicated venues and this was no different. There were 4 lanes in total, but they appeared to be full length and had all the usual electronic scoring.
The first game was just the kids and the scores went in ages order. We had booked for an hour and the first game had taken 40 minutes, so with the aim to speed things up we proposed that for the second game the kids would bowl the first ball with their choice of adult the second. It ended up becoming a bit of a disaster to be honest, it was no quicker and I'd rather forget about the over competitive nature of Forrest and what this brings when we go bowling, so I'm not going to write about it any more than this!
As it was our last night, Jana had booked a table at Restaurace Svatojánská Rotunda, one of their favourite local restaurants, for dinner. It is somewhere that has really good food, whilst also being happy to not only offer adapted meals for the kids but also have no issues with them just being kids. There was an outside play area that kept Forrest, Matty and Emma occupied before the food arrived, whilst Paloma was happy to be entertained by some toys in an indoor area that were probably aimed at those a little younger than her, but if she's happy and not talking, we're not going to attempt to change it! The food was indeed very good, although the portions were a little on the large side, especially after having a starter too.
It was now almost 10pm, so after the short drive home it was time to get the kids in bed and then start packing the bags for the trip back home tomorrow.
Blogged by Matt.
