To our dismay, it started getting really cold. We spent our last day in the Czech Republic going to Česky Krumlov, one of the most visited places in all of the Czech Republic besides Prague! Alexis has a friend there who did an exchange program with her school back home.
We headed out nice and early in the morning to catch our 9am bus. It was freezing and hailing a little bit, but we made it there on time. Waiting for us at the station was Thomas. He couldn't have been a better tour guide. He knew everything about everything in that town. He showed us the bridge that had significance during the Nazi and communist rule, a really cool monastery and the only part of the town that hasn't been rebuilt after the fall of communism. It was kind of a bummer that it was raining and freezing while we were there because it did put a damper on all of the walking.
We headed to the bed and breakfast run by his parents to pick up umbrellas. It was just about the cutest thing I've ever seen. It was called the Castle View, aptly named because half the rooms have a great view of the castle. We got to see some of the rooms including the "penthouse" castle view attic room. It was huge, with its own little kitchen and this really cool canopy bed that was built into the side of the roof. If we ever come back to Česky Krumlov and money is not an option, we will be staying in that room.
After our personal tour, we headed to lunch at this really cool Bohemian medieval restaurant. It was truly like taking a step back in time. The room was upstairs and really small and cozy with big oak tables. The food was styled in the Bohemian way which got lost in Prague when now simple goulashes became more prevalent. Of course being as indecisive as I am, I could not choose just one dish so I ordered the Bohemian feast. Alexis ordered the same thing but with pheasant and I got mine with puffed barley. I've got to say, wrong choice. My initial desire of potato dumplings with poppy seeds would have been better. It was all wonderfully made, but all very intensely spiced. The Bohemian way is to heavily spice everything. There was tarragon, saffron, thyme, in the back of the menu they listed all of the spices they used. There is at least 5-10 in every dish. This leads for the food to be a mix between heavy, hearty and earthy. The flavors were a bit too overwhelming for me, but at least we tried it.
By the time we had finished our meal, it was snowing! We had our first snowfall of the year and it wasn't even November yet! Walking in the snow was much more beautiful than in the rain, but it was also a lot colder. I was silly and didn't wear my waterproof shoes so my feet were soaked all the way through. We would walk around and then rest inside for a little bit to get postcards, or simply warm up. We walked up the hill in the opposite side of the river as the castle so we got a spectacular view of it in the snow.
One of our last stops of the day was the castle itself. One thing that's really interesting about not only the castle but all of the buildings in the town is that their decorative elements were painted on. The columns, sculptures and cavings, even the bricks were all painted on. It was so strange and almost looked garish to me for some reason, I'm not sure if I've ever seen anything like it.
We didn't actually go into the castle because it cost a load of money and we didn't have a ton of time before our bus would come to take us home. We walked to the gardens of the castle. All of the hedges and trees were covered in a fine layer of snow and it was still falling. It was too cold to stay in one place for too long so were kept moving. We dropped off our umbrellas at the Castle View and then headed toward the bus station. On the way we stopped at a vendor to get some hot spiced wine. It tasted like Christmas in a cup and we drank it along the river.
Our time in Česky Krumlov passed amazingly quickly despite the cold and it was such a lovely little town, we were sad to leave. Our bus home was treacherous. The snow had fallen a lot deeper out in the smaller roads and the traffic was at a complete standstill. Cars were spinning off the road left and right. At one point a car driving in the opposite direction spun out in front of the bus! I was afraid it was going to hit us! We managed to make it home safely but we were very delayed. No matter we had nowhere to be, we enjoyed our ride watching Friends on the coach television and planning the next leg of our journey.
Cheers,
Liz
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