Cesky KrumLOVE!

On Thursday afternoon, we took a walking tour of Prague, going to Wenseslas Square, the Jewish Quarter... pretty much all of Prague on the east side of the Vlatva. It is a really beautiful city. Almost all of the buildings are from the Baroque period or before. Often buildings are layered with all different architectural styles because of renovations or additions. The only 20th century buildings are the sights of the few bombings in WWII. Hitler came to Prague and said it was too beautiful to destroy. However, some American fighter pilots got a little lost and thought that Prague was Dresden. The Americans bombed the Town Hall and a few other sites. Whoopsies!

We had an early night on Thursday because we all had to get up really early, so I just had a Luna bar and stayed in to pack for Cesky Krumlov [pronounced Che-ski Kroom-lahv]. The fashion people were going to Paris... I won't lie...I was a little disappointed that I was going to some little village in rural Czech Republic. But their flight was at 6:00 am... Our train was much later. Cesky Krumlov-1, Paris-0.

On the way to Cesky Krumlov, the train had a change at Cesky Budejovice [Boo-deh-yuh-vee-tseh]. During the layover, we visited the Budweiser Budvar brewery... the ORIGINAL Budweiser,not the bad American beer, so they tell us. We learned how they make their beer... they are very proud of their beer here. Breweries sponsor individual bars, making the bars exclusive to the particular beer brand. Anyway, we took a tour of the brewery and went to lunch in the town square. It was the first restaurant that I have been to that has not had English on the menu... don't judge, about 90% of the restaurant menus in the CR have Czech, German, and English. Deciphering enough Czech to order was quite the adventure. I got goulash and dumplings. I had high expectations for the meal [the dumplings especially, since I was raised on Granny's chicken and dumplings], but I was not the biggest fan. Oh well.

We finally got to Cesky Krumlov after a beautiful train ride through the countryside. It had just snowed, so the forest was gorgeous, lots of firs and pines. After a long hike down the icy hill from the train station to the town [with our heavy backpacks on!], we walked through the town square up to our penzion. The penzion was called Krumlov House. It reminded me of a hobbit's home: cozy and homey.  To enter, you climb down a steep set of stairs into a small reception hall with very low ceilings. The owners renovated it themselves with lots of blonde oak [that's a tree right?] beams and crafty furniture. It was super cute and comfy.

That night, we went to a local restaurant that served traditional Czech food. I got turkey on a stick... delicious. Art lead us to a local place afterwards called Gypsy Bar, where, unsurprisingly, Gypsies play gypsy music. It was a very cool place, populated with only locals [...and us...]. We felt very cool.

Cesky Krumlov is so beautiful. It looks straight out of a postcard. The castle is on one side of the Vlatava and the town is on the other side of the river. The castle complex was carved out of the cliff and has many different styles of architecture, ranging from early Renaissance to Baroque. On the other side of the river, the town has winding roads that all lead to the main square so it is impossible to get lost [a good thing for me!]. It snowed continuously during our stay, coating all of the roofs with snow.  None of the snowless winters of North Carolina! We got a good 6 inches while we were there and I enjoyed every minute of it. 

Last night before dinner, a bunch of us climbed an impossibly steep hill and went sledding. It was so much fun! However, my sledding came to an end when I hit a large bush. I am a tidge bit sore today.

We went to a restaurant called the Catacombs last night. Shockingly, the restaurant is in the  catacombs of the town. To get into the restaurant, you have to climb down spiral steps carved out of the rocks; claustrophobics beware! All of the food [LOTS of pork] was cooked on a spit in front of you...it was quite the experience. After dinner we went to the Horror Bar, which, in fact, was quite horrific. We left soon after arriving. 

After taking a final walk around the town [where I bought a little watercolor painting of the town], we packed up and took the bus back to Prague [faster, but much less picturesque than the train]. Apparently all of the restaurants have closed, so I went to the small grocery store around the corner and got a roll and some cream cheese for dinner. 

I had a great time in Cesky Krumlov. It was nice to get to know the Land Arc people better and very cool to watch them sketch the town. I can't imagine that the people in Paris had a better time!