FLIGHT OF THE PHOENIX: Cesky Krumlov

On the road again...we stopped for lunch at České Budějovice. People may possibly get more excited upon hearing its alternative name, also known as Budweis in German. Yes this is where they make Budweiser, (Mal sends apologies to our American friends) not the dubious American one but the one that originated in this town. Long story short, the person responsible for the American version originated from this town. The town and the expat had a prolonged court battle simlar to the whole "champagne" issue. As you may have guessed, the American lawyers won. Budweiser belongs to Bud and the brewery from Budweis had to change its name for the export market. Either way, beer from Budweis tastes great and Bud tastes.... like beer flavored Starbucks.

Brewery lunch

It passed the test!

Goulash

It seemed like we were moving from one pretty town to another. Cesky Krumlov was another UNESCO world heritage site. However, whilst Karlovy Vary was cutesy, Cesky Krumlov had a more down to earth charm and beauty about it. Perhaps the large castle dominating the town helped or perhaps the scenic river bisecting it lending to many pretty bridges connecting narrow cobblestone lanes lined with old buildings. They are both tourist hotspots, but we are tourists after all!

We were at the optimally located Hotel Dvorak. What was meant as a quick baggage drop developed into somewhat of a fiasco as we were given the incorrect rooms only to be advised (after unloading!) as we were about to start on our walking tour, that we would have to collect our gear and move into completely different rooms with new configurations. We were well drilled by this time, but this upset our pattern and led to a bit of chaos. In the end it was human error and the lady at the desk was apologetic. She threw a few alcoholic and cocoa bones our way and all was forgiven. The rooms themselves and the breakfast was excellent it was just a pity that it occured on the one day where we only had a short amount of time in a beautiful town. On the plus side, it did mean that we arrived at the best photo viewpoint right on sunset so all's well that ends well. Information on the 13th century Cesky Krumlov Castle, second in size only to Prague Castle, is well documented on the internet. Unfortunately for us, tours of the intereriors were closed during the winter so we had to be content with walking around the numerous courtyards, gardens, and terraces. What was interesting about the town was that Adolf Hitler's grandmother was from here and thus the Fuhrer's fond memories spared the city from destruction during the war.

Rolling our luggage to the old town under the Castle bridge which replaced the wooden ramp

The view from our room. I could live with that

Our "living" room. We had another bedroom that was separate

Gorgeous Little Castle with its beautiful renaissance facade accentuated by the sunset

Quaint cobble stone lanes

The moat with...bears. Yup 2 of them. See if you can spot one of them

One of the many courtyards

Look at how high up we have come!

Looking down to the old town

Perfect view from the top

Can't get enough of the pretty castle!

Tanzania has tanzanite, Penrith has penrite, Cesky Krumlov has Moldovite. This is not a breakfast spread, but a "precious" stone forged from the energy of a collision between earth and meteorite that must occur with the right size, speed and angle of attack. We entered the museum of Moldovite where we were able to simulate these strikes. Alas, all our simulated efforts fizzled upon reentry except for Elliot's. He created a crator larger than the caldive at Ngorogoro. If we had stayed long enough we may have seen wildebeast on the screen. Instead we moved on to the gift store at the end which sold, you guessed it... Moldovite! Call us suckers, but we bought some...several... there were lots of us!! It is actually quite pretty and ends up in all sorts of unusual shapes. It was more expensive than a bottle of penrite, but certainly a lot cheaper than tanzanite. Better yet, more than one purchase = a discount! Yes!

As our walking tour had us doing curving loops, I was rather disoriented and so would not have a hope of even telling you where we had dinner. It was czech cuisine and thus was the usual heavy fare. The ambience was lovely with rustic furnishings. I was just happy to see my favourite dessert dumpling on the menu!