Thursday, April 15, 2010

Cesky Krumlov Weekend

Well, it seems I have finally made it to the computer to do something other than frantically looking for plane tickets, hotels, and recipes. I was supposed to write about our trip to Cesky Krumlov about a week ago, but it somehow slipped through the cracks. So, now that it's 4:30 in the morning and I'm making breakfast for my friend Sarah's birthday today, I thought I'd take time while the dough is rising.

Nate and I have been trying to go to new places, as Germany has become a bit stangent for us. We've been to many places, but are a little sick of the same ol' thing. I was gone to Schweinfurt for work, so Nate and I were trying to find somewhere to go over the phone. Nate told me near the end of the week he had found a cool place to go and what to pack. All I knew is that we were going about 3 hours away. I made a few guesses, non of which were right, as I'd never heard of this place before. Cesky Krumlov. I was helping with the directions when we got nearer, but there was no way to pronounce that name if you can't read Czech or haven't heard it before.

We arrived into a cool Medievil walled city. Of course there was a detour, like Minnesota, there are only so many months to do road construction. The lady from the hotel came to pick us up and take us to the hotel, as this town does not let cars in the city center. We pulled almost right up to the castle and walked down just a few stairs to our hotel.

Our hotel was just below the castle, and you could see the tower from our door. The room we had was huge, with lots of space, a table, and Osu enjoyed the little couch that was in the corner which he claimed for his bed.

We got the camera gear all ready and headed out to walk the town. It was great! Just down the steps we found a Czech version of mini donuts, a cinnamin and sugar covered dough wrapped around a wooden dowel to bake in an oven. They spin bake, then get tapped a couple times to fall into your napkin to pull and eat on the go. Yummy.

Down the street was the bridge that opened up to the river and a full view of the castle. We stopped here to tale many pictures, as did many other tourists. It was great heading through all the tiny streets, some with very few people, others heavliy traveled. We made our way into the square and found a little market and some guy making fresh potato chips. We decided to try some, since we typically don't eat out much or eat chips. They were HUGE! It was almost like half a bag of chips from the store. We did not eat them all, not even half, but a few were good. Osu was kept far from them, as oil makes him sick and he had already eaten some lost soldierson the ground which made him throw up in front of a bag stand I was looking at. And of course, you have to pick that up too. I bet Nate was glad he went to get the chips.

We continued wandering the town to find different corners and cool photo spots. The castle ended up being last on our list, since it was up on the hill near the hotel. We walked up to the bears in the moat area and only saw a cat. We figured he was dinner and walked the castle for the view from the bridge. It was nice walking through at the end of the day, most tourists had left by then and gone back to Prage or where ever they traveled from for the day. On the way out we saw the two bears, in seemlying seperate cages in the moat below--and the cat was gone. We headed back to our hotel to drop off Osu and head out for dinner.

Dinner was at a place not far from our hotel. We wandered around a little before settling at a place that had a patio haging over the river. It was quiet and nice. The protions were pretty big and it was so cheap. Nate had a rissoto and I had veal, it was good! We packed up some veggies that were left from our plates and headed back to the room to give Osu a treat and head back out for night pictures. We went back to many of the same places as we did throughout the day, with a lot fewer people. I also had a hot chocolate that was thick as pudding. How can you go wrong?

Up early the next morning, Nate and I were out by 7 to wander for morning light shots before breakfast. If you couldn't tell already, the town is small. We walked the whole thing again that morning before breakfast at 8. Shortly after breakfast we headed home, Nate's back was hurting pretty good.

It was a great weekend! Great surprise. And now we have a new place we'd definately take visitors to see. We're actually heading back in about two weeks with some friends. This time we'll take a little more time to relax and enjoy the time.

Now, time to get ready for work with the monkey bread rises. It's all rolled in the cinnamon and sugar now, almost time for hot gooey yummy!

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