Czesky Krumlov I -- Castles

So, it's been some time since my last post. There are many reasons for this, including act of God. More on that later.

After a week of class, the program had us set to go off to a little town in the south of the Czech republic called Czesky Krumlov. I'd heard a lot about this town, from people that had gone before, or people who had talked to people that had gone before. Either way, I had heard it was beautiful.

They weren't wrong.

Despite some not so pleasant weather, we piled into a bus, and headed out. Now, a side word about the busses, there weren't enough seats. This was caused by a little mix up by the travel agent that the institute used to book everything for the excursion. See, he got a little confused, and thought we were leaving Saturday. Not the case. So we had to hire a little shuttle bus, and the big bus was late, and not as big as we needed. More on this later.

I got on the big bus though, it was quite comfortable. I napped. It was pretty early in the day.

The countryside of the Czech republic is beautiful. A patchwork of fields of either yellow flowers or thick green shoots, dotted by idilic little towns straight out of any storybook. Little mountains, scenic valley vistas complete the picture.

On the way we stopped by a castle. Now, this made me more than a little bit excited. I love castles. As soon as we started out I was giddy. After getting off of the bus we walked down a little path to what appeared to be a castle entrance, but we found out we were not allowed to go through that entrance, and had to take a boat to the actual castle. So I suppose that was a pretend castle.

The Pretender

Also there were peacocks. We chased
them around with our cameras and listened

to them honk to each other.

Anyways, we got on our boat, and started around the lake. It was a nice ride, I like boats. I liked this boat, there was a whole area on the roof for sitting and watching things go by. It was kind of windy, but that wasn't a big deal, I had a castle ahead of me. And finally, it came around the corner, an actual castle. And it's an old one, built in the time of King Wincesclas (of song fame) Here's a badly stitched together panorama!

Then, we landed. 

Everything was better than I thought it would be. It was a gloriously crumbling piece of history, stone walls grown with incredibly green grass, and flowering trees. There was so much to take in, and we only had a short while there. We climbed the tower, from which you could see over a large portion of the calm lake and nearby forest.

On the inside, it was the opposite. It was clean and immaculately kept, full of old paintings, restorations of old paintings, and even an exhibit of contemporary paintings. The spaces were vaulted and lovely, alternating between cramped and spacious.

And then, it was time to go on.

And we went.

Next stop was the Budweiser brewery. Where they make incredibly large quantities of alright beer. There were free samples of unpasteurized beer though, which was interesting. It tasted a little like grass. I had two.

After all these distractions, we finally arrived at Czesky Krumlov. And what a sight it was.

Behold:

 

Aaaaaand this is becoming an incredibly long post, and I have work to do. So, I'll pick it up again later. In part II!

More on the First Weekend.

So, now that it's the end of the second weekend, it's time to finish up telling you all about the first.


Thankfully, though, there's not much left. After the tour of old town on Saturday, I was pretty bushed. Lots of walking, plus lots of info, and the overwhelming oldness of it all had taken it's toll on me.

However.

Rest is for the dead. Therefore I went out with some people, and we found that there was a festival happening near the pension. We went there for dinner, and grabbing some pizza to go (Americans that we are) we popped into the Wine Festival. As you can imagine, there was a great deal of wine. But there were other attractions, such as a glass craftsman. He had a kiln and everything there, and would create then destroy wonderful pieces of glass work right before your eyes.

We watched him work for a long time, creating glasses, mugs, and bowls with great skill. It was fascinating. There was also a band, playing an incredibly alluring mixture of slavic dance and 50's diner swing music. I wish they had had a CD or something, but I didn't find their name.

Sunday was a very relaxed day, as there was nothing official planned, and everyone was allowed to go where they pleased, and do as they pleased. I woke up blissfully late, and found the Pension empty, except for my roommate Rob. So, we struck out into the day, which was hotter than expected. We took a train to old town, and promptly became lost.

We had the whole day to try and figure out where we were, so we weren't worried. There's also a land mark in town, that I'll talk about in a later post, that is so distinctive I doubt I could ever be lost for long.

We saw some really interesting things, from statues to towers, and I've included pictures of them below.

The First Weekend

Back again!


So, time to give you a little taste of what has actually been going on here in prague. And that is a lot. I've not even been here for an entire week, yet it seems like much, much longer.

The first weekend in prague was a whirlwind. I woke up early, after a long, jet lag induced slumber, and trooped downstairs with my compatriots for a complimentary breakfast at the Pension. I have come to love these breakfasts, as they are free, and I do not have to do any work preparing them, rather sumptuous. Though, they are very small.

Back on track.

Finishing breakfast, I headed outside with the group to meet our guide, the energetic Michael. With flowing golden locks and a perpetual open mouthed smile, he greeted us, and told us to follow him to the institute. We took a tram to the metro station Flora, and took the metro into old town.

Now, I had been floored by the intricate architecture and interesting atmosphere around the pension, but when I arrived in old town Prague, it was an entirely different world. I was surrounded by statues and churches and shops and people and markets and cars and trams and a hundred other things to occupy my darting eyes.

I didn't know what to think, and really didn't pay attention to where I was being led, I just sort of followed. From Mustek station to the institute, I was in a daze. We finally arrived at the institute, which is nestled into a tiny court yard, containing apartments, a tea shop, and the institute itself. 

We were there for orientation, so we mostly sat around for a few hours, as they told us important things about the institute, and rules, and where our courses were, and other necessary tidbits. They also told us that the building containing the Institute was built around 1200. 1200 AD. I was sitting in, taking classes in, working and living in, a building hundreds of years older than the country I am a citizen of.

We were then taken from the institute by the faculty, and led around old town prague. There's not much to say, other than it is entirely spectacular. Around every corner is an ancient church, or a museum, or an exhibit of famous art. There are pigeons everywhere. Strange performances abound. I'll let some pictures do the talking.

I'll be back to write more, but it's time for the institute to close. 

Hello again!


So, let me tell you a tale. It's been so full of adventure that I barely have time to tell you about it! Anyways, I suppose we should start at the beginning.


I awoke several times that starting night, full of energy and anticipation. I rose from my bed excited, and ran a few checks on my luggage. Tying my shoes, and buttoning up my shirt, I embarked upon my quest: to breakfast.

After breakfast with my wonderful girlfriend, we headed out and bought a camera, and said goodbye to my parents and siblings. Finally I was at the airport, standing in line for my ticket. With surprisingly little trouble, I found myself in possession of a plane ticket to Europe. All that was left was to say goodbye to Stephanie, and go through security.

Security.

For some unexplainable reason, I found myself more terrified of security than I was of living in a foreign country. Entering the gates and heading towards the TSA labyrinth I was jittery with nerves, but steeled myself and moved in. Everyone removed their shoes, and shuffled along the line towards the full body scanner. I broke some of the nerves by making a TSA agent laugh, sliding along their actually rather nicely waxed floors. I stepped into the scanner, and they took me aside. There. I had done it. I was a terrorist. Actually, they just wanted to run a scanner over my hands, and look through my wallet. Finally, a large burly man took me to one side, and avoiding my eyes, said gruffly,

"I'm now going to pat down your buttocks."

I raised my arms for his inspection, per his orders and the diagrams on the walls, and felt his large gloved hand running up my leg. Three pats and a solid cup and squeeze later, he was satisfied. I could move on. Back to getting on the plane. I sat around, accompanied by my travel companion, one of my classmates, for around half an hour, then they announced that we were to begin boarding the plane. All nervousness was now replaced with unbridled excitement, as I stepped into the metal tube that was carrying me across the sea.

The flight was exhilarating. Just flying out of Raleigh, I was greeted by a sunset through mists and clouds. I was placed in a window seat, and since the plane had been over booked, I was placed in a crew seat, directly behind the business class. My seat could stretch out, leaning back and raising a footrest, until I was almost horizontal. Incredible. We flew for quite some time before I grew tired of staring out of the window.

After sleeping through the cold dark night above the atlantic, we touched down in Heathrow Airport. Sadly, against what I had hoped for, we were unable to leave the airport, without having to deal with significant issues. So we wandered around the enormous airport, which was mostly filled with perfume and alcohol.

A short nap later, and I was off again, this time for my final destination. The flight was quick, and the service was great aboard the british craft, also the accents were amazing. The plane touched down before I knew it, and there was a smooth and painless transition from aircraft to taxi to pension. Finally there, I was whisked off by my fellow students for dinner, and then returned for a nice, long, jet lag induced slumber. Even the view from my room is amazing.

More to come.

Hello!

So I made it to prague, and I promise I will update with a proper post soon. The Wifi here is not very good, so communication may be spotty with a chance of taking forever to do anything.