Living a fairytale in Cesky Krumlov

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Dobriden everyone from Cesky Krumlov in the Czech Republic.

With its cobble stone streets, little shops and of course a beautiful 13th century castle with frescoes and a river that runs all through town I am living a fairy tale existence.

We arrived here in Cesky Krumlov yesterday afternoon after having taken 2 trams, 3 trains and a bus from Vienna. We took an Austrian train to Grum No to the bordertown, then an inner-city train ïnto the Czech Republic and then took a bus and then a cargo train. We arrived here after about 6 hours of travel to what is one of the most beautiful towns I have ever seen in Europe. We are staying a beautiful hotel right at the heart of the Old City. We can see the Castle from the dormer windows of our room on the 3rd floor.

Last night my friend Jacklyn and I had a lovely dinner Czech style on the Terasa. She had carp with potatoes and I had chicken breast with camembert and cranberries and potato and wild mushroom soup that was delicious. We had a great tour of the town after dinner that told us about many of the stories behind the people who inhabited the town dating back to the 13th-19th centuries. All the roofs of the houses are red tiled and many of them have now revealed frescoes that date back to the Renaissance and Baroque periods that were once covered in plaster and now uncovered in the refurbishing. There are many ghost stories in this town about ghosts who apparently now roam--some of whom who died after having drunk too much beer back in the day and got into arguments. Apparently the Czech Republic still boasts as being the country that drinks the most beer in the world. About the equivalent of 180 litres per person per year. I tried one local lager last night that was good. We got to see the Hotel Ruze, the monastery, many of the breweries of which there are 5. One of them was run in the monastery where in fact monks and nuns lived in close quarters.... who knew. We also got to see the main plazas and admire the beautiful facades on the multicoloured buildings throughout town. Our tour guide was fantastic and very entertaining.

This morning we got to go on a wooden raft on the Vltava River... there are a few rapids and such but it was great to tour around the town and see it from the water. There were many kayakers in the water too and some even flipped over. We learned again about the history of this beautiful place. I also did some shopping on the main street and then we went to have fish on the fishermanś street. Carp is the fish of choice here.

We just came from a tour of the castle called Zamecka Vez. The castle changed ownership several times over the course of its long history and so we learned about the Rosenbergs, the Schwartzenbergs and the Eggenbergs. A beautiful interior of Renaissance and Baroque art and furniture and as the tour guide called it the 18th century microwave to keep the food warm.

Although I had never heard of Cesky Krumlov... It is definitely a must--see for everyone visiting in Czech Republic. I will be sad to be leaving here but I am looking forward to the beauty of Prague tomorrow too.

It is sunny and warm here in Cesky Krumlov and I am having a wonderful time. To my teacher friends... the end of the year is near... you can do it.

Hugs to you all. Happy Retirement Aunt Carol.

Love Katy xoxoxoxoxox

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Comments

[Naomi]

I am drooling. Am in the middle of this blog and I keep going back to "Camembert and Cranberries.............