To Cesky Krumlov

June 30, Thursday Our destinatin is Cesky Krumlov. But we can' get into the Airbnb until 3:00 and it's only a 2 1/2 hour drive to Krumlov. We plan to saunter all the way there. We take our luggage with us to the Costa coffee place so we don't have to climb back up to fetch them before heading out of Prague.

We drive for a little over an hour and arrive at Konopiste Chateau. It was first built around 1294. The Sternbergs held it for about 250 years. Various noble families held it until 1887 when it was bought by Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria. During WWII it served as a SS Nazi headquarters. Now it's open to the public. We rode a little tram the 2 km to the entrance of the chateau. Here we found George, a lonely bear whose home is the dried up moat of the castle.

We paid for what we thought were tickets into the castle but they turned out to be just for a lecture on the the dress of the 1700's. No photos were allowed. I was kinda okay with thar but when the tour guide was handeling and touching the various items of clothes and accesories, it seemed rather silly. It was mildly interesting but not for 50 minutes! Then we went around to a different part of the castle which turned out to be the main entrance. Here we could buy tickets for other various tours of parts of the castle. We were a bit hesitant after our recent experience and decided to just poke around in the gardens and head into town for lunch.

The gardens were nice but not spectacular.

The tram wasn't going for awhile so we decided to just walk back to the car. It was mostly shady and mostly downhill. We got there a little before the tram. We find a nice place for lunch on the square of Konopiste. They serverd potatoenpancakes for a side. No apple sauce or sour cream but they were very good. Quite garlicy. Now I want to make latkes. Castles and all tend to close at 5:00 which is a little frustrating when it stays light until about 9:30. Five still feels like the middle of the day. We head to the Zamecky Castle that looks really nice. We know that we won't have time to go inside but we can at least see some of the grounds. The parking lot appears to be at the bottom of the hill, quite far from the castle. Since it's close to 5, we figure the last shuttle bus up has already left. So, we follow our noses to where it looks like we can get at least close enough for a good view of the castle. We feel that we're close and there seems to be a parking spot next to a path leading in the right direction. We park and start walking. Our noses are good and we come to an open part of the gardens and we're able to walk down to the gates of the chateau. The knockersn the door are really unusual - a raven pecking out the eye of someone. Not too welcoming!

One part that is still open is the WC. I really have to go. Of course you have to pay. There is a dour woman sirri g there. I drop coins in the slot and they all go straight through and fall out the return slot. I have euros as well as Czech Korunas and I really don't know which are which. The dour woman leaves and I decide to try to crawl over the turnstile because Ihave to go that badly. Of course she comes rushing back and yells at me. I tell her I'm sorry and hold out a handful of coins for her to chose which one I need. of course when she was sitting there earlier, there was no effort to help me. At least I was able to legally use the facilities and have some interaction with the locals. We walk back to the car and find that we have a ticket! Suspicious behavior was the charge with a possible $200 fine! Another opportunity to interact with the locals. We had seen a police station on our way up the hill and decided we would try to find it in the next 15 minutes before Google said they would close. We see a police car with someone standing outside it. We stop and he actually speaks some English. He tells us it is very bad what we did. The parking is only for religious people going to the cemetary across the street. Thefine could be $2500 Krunos. He looks at our passports, gives us all the once over, hesitates, dramatic pause and says $300 Krunos or $12. It would have been more than that for us to pay for parking and the shuttle bus up to the castle for the three of us. I'd say it worked out fine.

Now it is time to really head for Cesky Krumlov for real. We have both Waze and Google maps going. They generally agree. It is taking us down smaller and smaller streets. We call our host and tell him where we are. He comes out the door abd we see him but he is obviously very agitated. You can't be here! If the police see you they will charge you a lot of money! We,ve had enough i teraction with the police for one day. We quickly drop our baggage and leave to try to find the legal parking. After some false starts and turns, we find it. We had to leave the pedestrian area and spiral around to get back to where we started but just on the traffic side of the river. We walked across a pedestrian bride and there isour host waiting for us. He is much calmer now. Our place is on the river and was originally built in 1526! Our host has been modernizing it with an eye towards keeping things as original as possible. He loves the history of the place and has pictures of the original. Has decorated with old hinges, tools. Really a cool little place and right in the middle of everything.

We go out and explore a little and find a place for dinner that is on the river. We have traditional Czech food and end with a shot of slivivitz which is a plum liquer that was a favorite of Dan's grandfather.

We will enjoy our time here!