Wooo... it got really cold (and cloudy). The weather changed pretty quickly in one night. I didn't mind until my feet started to get cold. But I'd rather be cold than hot.
Our hotel, Hotýlek U Malého Vítka, included a buffet breakfast. It was nothing special. The coffee was decent. Interesting thing here a guy Karen and I observed eating. He basically loaded his plate with food. He emptied the sausage warmer of little sausages and piled on meat and cheese. It was amazing to watch him go at it. And the amount of butter or meat pate he spread on his bread to go with it.
After breakfast Karen and I walked over to the castle to sign up for a tour. It didn't start till 11:30 so we had about an hour to kill. The interior of the castle is not open to the public unless you are on a guided tour. So we started to explore the outside of the castle. One thing that struck me was that the walls had a painted on design that imitated bricks and sort of gave off a 3-D look. See the wall on the left of this picture?
I'm not sure what the deal is with that. Is it historically accurate? I tried to not to think about if the painting was done recently to spruce up the place and how cheesy it looks.
Towards the rear of the castle we passed by a door with a sign outside. All the info was in Czech, but I did see a word that I think meant "FREE" so I figured here was a part of the castle you could go inside and not have to pay, sweet! The room was originally the stable. There were some original items from the 18th/19th century inside, a sled, a carriage, and some horse tackle for example. Pretty neat stuff to look at for a couple minutes. After about 10 minutes inside, the castle employee sitting near the door stood up and started talking Czech. No idea what she was saying. Then she walked over to the door and locked it. Um... ok. She walked over to the exhibits and started talking out loud. I'm guessing about the stuff in the room. It was all in Czech! I tried to follow some of it but she was going too fast. Karen and I looked at each other and grinned. Oh well, good thing it only last 15 minutes. After we got out of there we explored the royal gardens all the way in the back of the castle grounds. That is where the royals went to promenade and ride their sleighs in winter.
The tour of the inside of the castle was interesting. We learned about the history of it and I learned what Rococo style means(gold gilding on stuff, straight lines/patterns, and oriental themes). We weren't allowed to take pictures inside which is too bad because there were some really neat things inside, including lots of bear rugs.
We ate lunch at Na Louzi (again) after that. And spent the rest of the day looking for a ceramic dishes. Side story here to explain why. When Karen and I got married, she wanted to register for china. I didn't. My reasons: we have no space, we'll never use it, we can get it later. Karen's reason: we probably won't buy it later so let's get it now. In all fairness I'm sure she had good reasons but since I'm writing this post I'm going to slant it my way :). So instead of registering for china, we decided to collect it place settings from the places that we travel to. We started on our honeymoon in Greece. And now we wanted to add to it with stuff from Czech Republic. End of side story.
We found a shop that made artsy ceramics, not traditional stuff. The shop did not have plates though, so we just bought a bowl and cup/saucer. The lady working there was very nice. We talked to her in German/Polish and explained what we were doing. She was very sorry for not having a plate. I think she liked our idea alot because she ended up giving us a plate that was holding some cards in the shop. The plate had streaks in the glazing so it wasn't a plate that would sell normally I think. But it's the thought that counts and she was very generous to offer the plate. Karen and I did find plates in another shop with more traditional designs on them so we were all set!
I bought another trdelnik to snack on. These are traditional pastries cooked on spinning rollers to form a tube shaped yummy snack. This video isn't one I made but shows what they are pretty well.
We went to Cafe Puro (again) for cappuccinos and to fill out some post cards while waiting for our bus. Unfortunately the owner had to close up because he had run out of coffee and needed to buy some more. So we walked over to the bus station to wait for the last hour. It started to rain at this point too. Can't complain since in the 10 or so days we were on our trip, this is the first time it rained.
The bus ride home was about 3.5 hours but on a bigger bus this time, and older. It had a 70s style decor to it. Or maybe you can call it communist style. Anyway, the bus was pretty full and some people had to stand for part of the journey. I guess you can buy tickets but without a seat assignment. One of two teen boys in front of us had such a ticket. But they didn't offer to leave the seats they took until someone else finally asked them to show their tickets.
So that was our adventure to Český Krumlov. It was a great place to visit. I would definitely suggest going to anyone who is in the area. And do try to go for more than 1 day. Besides the sightseeing stuff, there are hiking trails and an company that rents rafts so you can paddle down the Vlatava river.
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