Cesky Krumlov 1

We arrived today at Cesky Krumlov which involves a 3 hour bus ride due south of Prague or as the Czech call it “Praha”. We are only a handful of kilometers north of Austria and Germany,the three corners area. The ride was uneventful as we drove through rolling green lush valleys, low hills, and drizzly clouds. After an hour, the driver turned on music that was a mixture of modern pop, polka, but mostly melodic oldies of Bing, and Frank.

This is one of the most romantic and picturesque villages I have ever seen. At one point the three of us are standing on the barbers bridge over the Valtva River turning 360’s shooting one photo after another. You enter the village by crossing the “Horni” bridge. As you can imagine I’ve suffered terribly from the girls over the bridge name. “Oh there is Bob’s favorite bridge…”

It's amazing to imagine the town during the communist period with all the streets and building crumbling to oblivion. Part of the problem was that the predominantly German people who lived here were told to leave and take only 60 lbs of possessions. Entire homes were left totally intact, furniture, food, and homes sparklingly clean as the German owners would have left them. The new inhabitants came from Hungary and Romania. They really took no ownership of their windfall profit and let the homes and even the castle fall to ruin. It was so bad at one point that it was hazardous to walk the streets as walls and timbers covered broken cobblestones.

The Krumlov House Hostel is charming, manned by friendly American’s and Canadians’, and has the most delectable treat you can imagine. It has a walk in, hands free, hot water rich, tiled, shower. The drain is a bit slow, so it even soaks your feet in warm soapy water. Heaven.

Before we hit the cobblestones we stopped at a little café that is famous for hot chocolate. Actually is more like molten chocolate with enough whip cream to keep your spoon from becoming One with the chocolate. Gayle declared it’s better than the $12 brew we had on a famous Paris sidewalk café. Later the next evening, we walked by the café and witnessed the weirdest rock, metallic, head banger music one could imagine. The lead singer was wearing army style shorts and a tee shirt was playing his lips using his fingers. We might hold out for another Paris hot chocolate now.

We had a feast at Mary, Mary’s restaurant. For the same price as a divey dinner in Praha, Gayle and I, got Bohemian Feasts with smoked ham, millet casserole, potato dumplings, sauerkraut, roasted chicken, and a multitude of other morsels. Linda had a millet casserole with smoked ham and sauerkraut. Linda just described it to me again with a big, “Yummmmmm”.

Later that evening we strolled into the Gypsy Bar and Restaurant where each night they have Gypsy folk music. The dark beer from the local brewery Eggenberg was a sweet, toasty nectar. As we waited for the music, we sat next to 8 women from Germany. Linda at first said, “Look at that fiery red headed lady over in the middle, looks like Ursula”. Eventually we all became drinking chums raising our glasses and singing “Prost”. They are from Regensburg and met at a beer garden somewhere. Between 3 or four beers long ago, they committed themselves to lifelong friendships.

Linda told the gal sitting next to us that the fiery red headed gal must be the life of the party. She laughed and passed the message on to her. The red-head told us to wait and before the night is over she will dance to gypsy tunes on the table tops. I told the ladies that Gayle and I were going to Nuremberg in a few weeks. “Oh, that is part of Bavaria but it’s Franconia, not as nice as Regensburg.” More laughter followed by an explanation of local competitiveness between regions, towns and even villages.

Finally, our lungs filled with enough smoke I expected a fireman to rescue us and Linda’s voice getting huskier and huskier, the music started. They had a 4 piece band with the cutest gypsy violin player. Think Latin toned smurf with a wicked bow. Gayle captured a short movie of the band.