Cesky Krumlov - Day 4

We awoke at Ingrid's pension around 9:00. It was difficult to get out of bed due to the lack of a working heater. We have found the comforters in the Czech Republic to be extremely comfortable. First off, they are usually extremely thick, often with down. Also, they are two smaller blankets that equal the size of our standard blankets. This was great for keeping us from fighting over the covers on a freezing night.

We went immediately to the other pension that we had reserved for the night before. We told our sob story of how we missed our bus and got into town late. Luckily, they allowed us to credit our missed night's payment to the next day. This apartment was similar to the one in Prague. Lots of stained wood. Very nice!

On the walk into the center we heard the church bells ringing for the start of services. The gothic church was old, large and very beautiful. Unfortunately, they decided to keep it so much in it's medieval state that there was no heat of any kind. It made for a long and cold hour.

That afternoon, we went to the castle; however, it was closed for the winter. We could go up into the tower though. This gave us the opportunity to take some scenic pictures of the town. The climb was very long and even became a bit perilous. Emily lost her nerve about three-fourths of the way up and had to stop. Joe, however, passed the barricades and climbed into the very top into the bell-tower. The view was absolutely amazing from the top. You could see for miles and miles. Descending the tower, we began to explore the outside areas of the castle. In what used to be the moat, they now have two brown bears. We had seen postcards of some cubs, but we never saw them ourselves. The castle was very impressive, outside. Too bad we couldn't get inside.

After the castle, we were very hungry. After four days of being surrounded by meat, Emily was ready for some good vegetarian food. Surprisingly, there were numerous vegetarian restaraunts in both Cesky Krumlov and Prague. We went to a nice veg-restaraunt that offered more than your usual cheese pasta or salad. Emily had a mixture of the house specialties while I had lentil curry. I still find it amazing the types of food I have learned to enjoy due to Emily.

After dinner, we did some souvenir shopping. I was trying to decide between a stein or a marionette. Nothing really struck me as, "Had to have" though. Emily got a nice garnet ring from a local jewerly store. Garnet is heavily mined in the Czech Republic so it seemed like an appropriate souvenir.

Later, we went to a cozy pub/restaurant for some beers. Nice atmosphere. I ended up speaking to some of the locals. They were surprised when I spoke Czech to them. Mistakingly, I told them that I don't speak Czech just a little Russian, but that I think the languages are very similar. They found this insulting so I kinda goofed there. I guess they are still a little bitter about the whole Soviet occupation for the better part of a century thing. At any rate, they were still very friendly.