Broque Night at the Castle

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Day 8 (june 30) Cesky Kromlov Castle and Baroque Night
We arrived in Cesky Kromlov to a drizzly day. Kromlov is another medieval city that we’ve visited. There’s a river that snakes its way though the city where many people take rafts and canoes to float around the castle above. All the cities we’ve visited have cobble stoned streets so its been hard on our feet. Our first night, Amanda and I went out in the pouring rain to find the girls something to eat. I mean pouring. It’s very hilly in the city square so the rain was running like rivers over the cobble stones. Where it was uneven, puddles formed 3-4 inches deep. We had fun just getting wet. We finally found a place to get pizza and took one home. One thing we’ve found in our travels is that the Europeans love their pizza and ice cream. You can find one on just about every street or corner. Kind of like Starbucks back home.

Baroque Night - We picked up our tickets in the morning and meandered though the streets. In the morning we walked up to the castle for a tour. Again no pictures inside. Afterwards, Ted and I had to do laundry so that burnt about 3 hours. The girls had free internet in the room so all was good in the world. We picked up a book about the festival and they suggested that people dress in the Baroque period to really enjoy the evening. We found the local theater and asked about renting costumes. They did for about $10 each. So we got our costumes and headed home to get ready. We got all fixed up and headed to the square to catch a taxi. There was this group of about 50 tourists waving us over to stand in their picture so we did. It was hilarious! So we finally made it to the castle. The only lighting in the castle was by candlelight. Our first part of the evening was to a smaller room where 4 musicians were playing traditional music. There were 10 or so dancers dancing the period dances. I think they were chambermaids and the male help because their costumes were more the look of the commoner. The next part was to the Baroque opera theater. This was a huge theater in the castle. The sets were very cool and changed very quickly for an old theater. This again was only lit by candle light. The opera went on for about 3 too many acts for me. We survived and headed outside for dinner. During this whole evening there are clowns and other persons dressing in the period wandering around the castle. We went outside to have the whole area lit by candles again. There were many tables of food around the courtyard so you just went around and sampled different things. There were breads, cheeses, crackers, pastries, sausages, roasted pork and fruit. There were people walking around with huge dogs like elkhounds and great Danes. There was a clown wearing stilts and another swinging on this large swing type contraption. In the center of the courtyard, another was costumed in this black cloak with a white porcelain mask. Kinda looked evil. I had my picture taken with him. He said the mask was from the 18th century. It was very cool. A few clowns came around and took Breanne and Amanda arm in arm and walked them to the swing. They had a turn swinging then Jess and I took a turn. It was very fun. The evening ended with fireworks in the courtyard. It was all a lot of fun. We decided to skip the taxi back and walked through the city dressed in our finest. We got a lot of looks but it was a great way to end the evening.
In the morning, we’ll be heading to Prague. I’m not sure about internet time so it may be a few days before posting again.

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Photos

Baroque Clown
One of the many clowns during the festival.