Prague to Český Krumlov

 Breakfast at 7 pm and then back downstairs with our luggage at 8 am.  Jeanne and I both opted to just take our backpack or shoulder bags with us when we got to Český  (pronounced Chezkee) Krumlov since we would only be in Český Krumlov for one night.  Our suitcases were left on the bus.  Sharon and Kris opted to have their suitcases with them in Český Krumlov. Český Krumlov is known for its mushrooms.  The saying goes "All mushrooms are edible, some only once!" ;-). It is a UNESCO-protected town.

Our petrol/rest stop

Nice play areas for kids

Time for our treats

Mead, left-over Jagermeister, Kofola (Czech's version of coke).  I tasted the Kofola and the mead.  They were both ok, but I am not sure that I would want to drink much of either.  

Our bus.

When we got to Český Krumlov we went to the hotel and dropped off our backpacks and whatever we did not want to carry around with us all day.  The streets were too narrow for the bus to make it to the hotel.  While we were galavanting, Petr arranged a taxi van to cart all of the luggage to the hotel for the people who needed their suitcases.

Jana handed out another treat, layered chocolate wafers.

Sgraffito design architecture, layering cement and scratching designs.

Moldavite, is a unique glass formed by a meteorite impact many years ago. 

Vltava river

Because of all of the previous flooding we could not do the rafting.  I was disappointed.  

This shows how the Vltava river runs through Český Krumlov

Using my zoom - see the green top through the hole in the wall?

 

After getting a brief orientation walk, Jana sent us off to find our own lunch.  We wanted to go down by the river. We found Krema U dwau Maryi Restaurant or the Tavern of the two Marie's.

Unusual glasses for our wine.

Jeanne ordered the trout with wine, rosemary and potatoes.  It came with the head visible so I did not take a picture.  She said that it was very good.  Sharon and Kris ordered the chicken with tarragon and potatoes.

I ordered the steamed buckwheat with spinach and vegetables. It was tasty.  The spinach, carrots, onions were all mixed in with the buckwheat.  It was served with a cabbage salad. 

Unusual watches.

Note the music notes on the outfit and on the stair.  It was a music store.

Then we headed up to the castle fortress for our 2 pm tour with Matej. It is the second largest in Czech Republic.  

Matej or Matthew

Original frescos from a long time ago.

Only the royalty eat peacock.

Every room had a big metal thing in the corner.  We found out that they were the heat source of the room. Each one was different.  This one was the largest and most elaborate.

Gold carriage, which was only used once.

It all looked this bright but the lighting was better for this picture

The ballroom.  Fun painting all over the walls.

In the moat they keep rescued bears.  They try to always have 3 bears.  When they die of natural causes they become floor rugs.

How would you want to walk by that in the middle of the night?

I saw all three of the bears.

Whew, rest break.

Actors going in for a show, I guess.

After the tour we headed off to find the Egon Schiele Museum.  He was a famous artist from around here,

We searched for an ice cream place on the way to the museum with no success.

Mirrored origami-looking crane. This sculpture was probably about 3 feet tall.

We sat and watched a video about him, luckily, it was in English.  It was nice to sit down.  I did not like a lot of his work.  He used a lot of young girls as models for his drawings.  He was arrested at one point because there was some objection to those drawings. He was able to express a lot of feeling with just a few lines. That was impressive.

Then we headed back to the hotel.  We saw the restaurant we are going to return to for dinner.

Don Julius

Success!! They found ice cream.  

We got back to the hotel around 5 pm and checked in.  Cute room with a very tiny bathroom.  I realized that I forgot to take a picture of our room in Prague. 

This is a very cute town, very touristy but exhausting to walk around because it is hilly and the streets have very irregular cobble stones. 

We met at 6:50 pm to go to dinner.  It was not a long walk, when you know the way. 

Very fun walls of the restaurant room we were in. We couldn't decide if they were plaster or clay.

Fun details and 3-D.

Dinner was very good. We had preordered, trout, pork, or pasta.

Our wine.

We all got the mushroom soup.

Sharon got the pasta.

Kris got the trout.

Jeanne and I got the pork. I wasn't impressed with their version of dumplings, but I did like their sauerkraut and pork.

Puffy pancakes with blueberry sauce

Some type of liquor.  Different ones for the men than for the women.  

Kris went around and took pictures of everyone.

Petr & Jana

After dinner we all meandered back to the hotel.

Night lighting when we walked home.