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| View of Cesky Krumlov from Krumlov Castle. |
Day 23 (Saturday, September 27th 2008)
My last day in Vienna began with a 10:30 train departure to Cesky Krumlov, Czech Republic. After departing from Vienna, I arrived two hours and 15 minutes later in Gmund, Austria. According to the train schedule I had researched, I should have only waited about one hour until the next train arrived, which would take me to Ceske Budejovice. However, after waiting 70 minutes and realizing that the train wasn’t going to arrive, I walked up to the attendant to see what the issue was. The schedule I had looked at was a Monday through Friday timetable, and today was Saturday so the train schedule was completely different. I then had to wait another hour for a train to come. I was quite irritated and angry with myself, but eventually realized that there was nothing I could do to change the situation and much worse things could have happened.
The tiny and ancient train headed for Ceske Budejovice arrived an hour later. I rode on the train for about 45 minutes until I came to a stop where most of the passengers were disembarking, which I thought was unusual but didn’t give much thought to. However, a few seconds later a local attendant walked onto the train and told me to get off and “bus." His hand was pointed across the way, where I saw two buses loading passengers.
Apparently, some of the rail lines were undergoing maintenance, but no one nor did the schedule notify anyone of this.Thankfully, the bus ride into Ceske Budejovice only took about 15 minutes. Once in that town, I was supposed to take a train into Cesky Krumlov, but low and behold, a bus was waiting for me instead and my one hour bus journey to Cesky Krumlov began. However, about 10 minutes into the ride, the bus stopped at a train station. A few people got off, and then a man motioned and told everyone to “come” and “train” so I got back on a train. The entire experience was very strange, the back and forth nature of it all. In total, my journey lasted about eight long hours.
From the train station in
Cesky Krumlov, I decided to walk into town versus taking a taxi cab as Rick Steves had indicated it was only a 20 minute downhill walk. Seemed simple enough at the time, but hindsight made me realize I should have taken a taxi. The first part of the walk wasn’t bad as it was slightly downhill. Eventually I came to a cobblestone lined street that was at a very steep incline. My suitcase couldn't handle the uneven surface, so I had to carry it all the way down the hill. I continued to encounter cobblestone, but decided to pull the suitcase behind me as my arms were killing me.
I made it to the gates at the beginning of the old town and followed the main street as it curved around the river. The cobblestone streets were full of people and I was blown away with the town. It was completely gorgeous and visually stunning with medieval and baroque architecture of every imaginable color. The
Vltava River curved beautifully along the walls of the city, and overlooking everything was the castle on the top of the hill. It was beyond all expectations I had of the town and I instantly fell in love with it.
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| Cesky Krumlov |
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| Cesky Krumlov |
I finally made it to the hotel about 30 minutes later. The name of my hotel was
Castle View Apartments and I stayed in the ground view apartment for 1800 Czech Crown ($106 USD). The room was quite nice, recently remolded with loads of character and even had an extremely comfortable bed, which I had sorely missed throughout my trip.
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| Castle View Apartments |
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| Castle View Apartments |
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| Castle View Apartments |
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| Castle View Apartments |
After dropping my bags off, I walked through Cesky Krumlov's main square to a nearby restaurant called
Na Louzi. It appeared to be full when looking through the windows, but I was able to snag a small table in front. Due to the expense of dining in Vienna, I hadn’t really had a "real" meal since Ljubljana, Slovenia (excluding the meal on the boat the night before) so I was very excited to be eating again in the cheap land of the Czech Republic where huge glasses of beer only cost $1.50 USD! For the main course, I had the Czech version of chicken cordon blue with delicious potatoes. For dessert, I ordered ice cream which was very good. For all of this food, I spent about $12 USD; such a deal compared to the cost of dining in a country on the Euro!
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| Cesky Krumlov |
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| Chicken dish with potatoes at Na Louzi. |
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| Ice cream dessert at Na Louzi. |
Day 24 (Sunday, September 28th 2008)
I awoke on my first morning in Cesky Krumlov to beautiful blue skies but freezing cold temperatures! Nevertheless, I was so happy to see the sun once again!
I had several things planned today, including a few tours at Krumlov Castle. As these tours required a specific entrance time, I left to buy the tickets as soon as I woke up to ensure that I would have tickets to both tours that I wanted to participate in
After securing the tickets, I took a short walk next door to Grand Hotel, where I had a voucher for a buffet breakfast. The breakfast was amazing, definitely the best of the entire trip, and included eggs, bacon, delicious bread, yogurt, juice, fruit, and several other items.
After breakfast, I left and walked around the city for awhile, as the first tour did not begin until 11:00. I immensely enjoyed being able to photograph the beautiful and colorful buildings with a bright blue sky as the backdrop. I was thoroughly impressed with the entire town; it seemed as though almost every building had been meticulously restored with immense care and pride. There were also amazing views to be seen from so many different points around the city, all of which provided me with ample photo opportunities. What I liked most about the town though was the lack of commercialism and the overall authentic atmosphere. It's obvious that the Czech people have gone out of their way to make sure that the appearance of Cesky Krumlov will remain as original as possible.
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After walking through town, I headed towards
Krumlov Castle, which took a good 15 minutes to reach by foot.
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| Krumlov Castle |
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| Krumlov Castle |
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| View from Krumlov Castle. |
The first tour I had received tickets for was the
Baroque Theater, which is one of only a few theaters that still survive in Europe today. The reason why so few survive is because the theaters used only candles for lights and special effects, so many ended up burning down. I was very excited to be able to tour the theater as I am obsessed with the Baroque time period but had never visited a theater like this before.
The tour lasted about 45 minutes and I had 15 people in my group, although the maximum they will allow is 25 at a time as they want to ensure a constant temperature in the theater to protect its fragility. As I sat on wooden benches, the tour guide described the history of the theater, the many props and tools used during performances, and an explanation of the recent restoration. Sadly, I was not allowed to take photos inside the theater.
After the theater tour concluded, I waited in one of the courtyards of the castle for my next tour to begin. The interior of the castle was only view-able via a tour and although it didn't come highly recommended in the travel books, I decided to go ahead and partake anyway. Unlike the prior tour of the theater, this tour had a ton of people: probably at least 40-50. Unfortunately, this large group made it very difficult to enjoy and hear my guide as it seemed as though the group spent half the time moving from room to room. A highlight of the tour for me, however, was the ballroom (known as the Hall of Mirrors) which was covered with beautiful paintings and drawings of scenes from a 18th century party.
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| Courtyard at Krumlov Castle. |
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| Courtyard at Krumlov Castle. |
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| Castle Gardens in Cesky Krumlov. |
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| Castle Gardens in Cesky Krumlov. |
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| Castle Gardens in Cesky Krumlov. |
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| View of Cesky Krumlov. |
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| View of Cesky Krumlov from Krumlov Castle. |
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| View of Cesky Krumlov from Krumlov Castle. |
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| View of Cesky Krumlov from Krumlov Castle. |
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| Krumlov Castle |
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| The Round Tower viewed from Krumlov Castle. |
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| The Round Tower of Cesky Krumlov. |
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| Bear at Krumlov Castle |
Afterward, I left the castle complex and walked back down into the town, stopping at the
Puppet Museum which had more than 300 puppets to view and a staff member who liked the puppets a little bit too much. She kept waving the puppets in my face and pretended to be in character, which was a slightly uncomfortable and awkward experience. Strange lady aside, I did enjoy looking at the multitude of puppets, from tiny to large, and simple to detailed. Given their age, most were in amazingly good condition.
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| Puppet Museum of Cesky Krumlov |
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| Puppet Museum of Cesky Krumlov |
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| Puppet Museum of Cesky Krumlov |
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| Puppet Museum of Cesky Krumlov |
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| Puppet Museum of Cesky Krumlov |
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| Puppet Museum of Cesky Krumlov |
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| Puppet Museum of Cesky Krumlov |
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| Chocolate shop in Cesky Krumlov. |
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| Chocolate shop in Cesky Krumlov. |
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| Cesky Krumlov |
I walked through town for a little longer, stopping in at a chocolate shop for a quick snack before settling down for a late lunch/early dinner. After much debate and thought, I decided to eat at a place near my apartment called
Satlava, which was located in a cellar-like space with a fun medieval atmosphere. The restaurant served some traditional Czech food, but it was best known for its huge slabs and hunks of meat which were cooked in an open fire pit in the center of the restaurant. I had a medley of pork, chicken and beef. The meat was delicious and I wished that I would have had more time in the town to eat at the restaurant again!
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| Satlava Restaurant in Cesky Krumlov. |
I sadly, and reluctantly, left Cesky Krumlov around 17:00 and took another combination of train/bus/train to Prague. Unfortunately, both train rides were very crowded and uncomfortable, which did not allow for any sleep or rest.
I finally arrived in Prague at 22:00 where a driver was awaiting my arrival on the platform of the train tracks. Although I could have easily taken the metro to
Konza Apartments, having the driver ready to assist me was more more relaxing and an efficient use of my time since it was so late at night.
I was once again back in Prague,
where I had begun the long journey more than three weeks prior. It was strange but also welcoming to see Pasquale greet me again at the apartment. Walking into the apartment was even more strange because it felt like "home!" As I had so little time before I needed to fall asleep, I quickly walked out to Old Town Square, enjoying it for one last time. At the last minute, I decided to have a late take-out dinner at same Italian restaurant near the apartment that I had eaten at previously.
I finally closed my eyes sometime around 23:00, knowing that my 04:30 wake-up time was just around the corner...
Up next: The grande finale in Paris
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