August 1 and 2 - From 5 Stars to 2 Stars

From  5 Stars to 2 Stars , Two days in Cesky Krumlov, a Renaissance town in Bohemia. 

We headed out of Marienska Lazne after one last foot massage at 7:30 am (needed for those tired feet) and one last gigantic, but fair at best, huge buffet breakfasts groaning with meats and cheeses and herring.  It was onto Cesky Krumlov three hours away.

Before we departed, we discovered a little problem. The lovely villa hotel we booked in Cesky, in our hotel booking fervor, was for the wrong nights and now there was 'no room at the inn' for us.  We figured we would wing it and just show up.

We whizzed out of Marianske Lazne and made a midway stop for a drink and lunch for Steve in a very small town in the middle of the countryside. It had a shaded outdoor patio with umbrellas and wifi.

So while Steve was enjoying his waiter selected lunch of schnitzel, I was searching for a room in Cesky.  Much was sold out, all the best was sold out but I found a maybe decent little place and booked it, the Hotel Romantik, figuring we could always bail if we didn't like it.

At lunch we sat next to four cycling Czechs, who spoke perfect English, and suggested we stop and tour a castle just a kilometer down the road. We passed on the castle but instead pit stopped when Steve saw a medieval tower sticking high above a town and just had to have a closer look.

We pulled in and parked and discovered a gorgeous uninhabited, not open for touring, castle, as a centerpiece to a flowering public space with a cafe, a stage and gardens with lakes (or actually moats) filled with water lilies and.......what is that over there? Do you see what I see?

A park full of reindeer and children feeding and petting them!  This warranted a much closer look and some petting of our own. They were totally placid and gentle and their antlers were amazingly soft and fuzzy.

Now that was a quirky find.

We arrived in Cesky and found our hotel. It was small. Maybe four or five rooms. It should be called a BNB. Sign on the door. Says to call when you arrive and they will be right over. Great, we don't have a cell phone (#3 time we needed it) but we have Skype. How to get wifi??

Luckily a knock on the door brought a guest who showed me in and gave me the password (trusting wasn't he?) and Hanne with little English arrived to show us our room.

It was on the second floor which meant Steve had to lug our cases from the car, seven steps up to the front door and up another full flight on a hot day with again no A/C. The room was clean and very small and very kitchsy, and it was a good thing we were traveling with a fan and probably a bad thing I had booked this place.  Within the first ten minutes of being in the room, not unpacking because I wasn't sure we'd be staying, I could already see Steve plotting to escape. But we locked our door and headed into town to for a drink, a walk, and some dinner at a little veg place with lighter fare.

We shared a table outdoors on the river which snakes through the old town. Our dining partners were a great couple, he German, she Austrian, and so dinner had some new conversation partners. Afterwards we took a chance on a nighttime walking tour sponsored by the TI.

Christian, our guide, is a native San Franciscan married to girl from Cesky. He knew the town inside and out and charmed us with his history and stories.

Back at the Romantik, we plotted to move on early the next morning and make some headway to Vienna. Fan on, windows open and cool night air made sleeping just fine.

Imagine my surprise when at 7am Steve suddenly announced it was not so bad and he has woken up in the middle of the night and decided we would stay.  We had a lovely breakfast and met  two great couples from Australia, one of whom was traveling for A YEAR doing everything from housesitting to WOOFing  to meeting up with friends for some hotels and dinners out. 

We toured the castle where I was amazed at the world's oldest and best preserved Baroque theater fully restored and we got to tour under the stage to see the old fashioned winches and pulleys that moved the scenery and lifted actors and props through trap doors onto the stage several hundred years ago.

Still on display and working, our tour guide demoed the special effect machines that made rain and wind and thunder.

It was all rather ingenious and the castle also impressive with its size and architecture going from Gothic the Renaissance to Baroque and Rococco. 

It was hot so that we decided the afternoon was for rafting on the Vltava River that winds its way through Cesky Krumlov. We were driven five km down stream to float back to Cesky passing campgrounds and lazing our way through river beer stops and small rapid shoots.

 I must admit my canoeing skills are not very good and Steve ended up doing almost all the paddling. It reminded me of why I love boats and love hiring captains even more, so I can simply sit back and enjoy. 

At the third rapid we had very specific directions from the outfitter, stay to the.....is it left or right? And don't go down the rapid, just pull over and take out and walk the canoe and then put it back in after the rapid. Why? Because we had a rigid canoe which can easily capsize on rapid #3. Steve was confident he remembered go to the right, I could have sworn left, shit, which way, shit the rapid is near, shit ok let's just go down the rapid like everyone else.  Which we did, without incident, if you don't count my shouting at Steve in a panic.

I think, just like when we had a boat and I hated to drive it, there is a lack of control on the water which I hate. Come to think of it, I probably just just hate anytime I feel out of control. 

But we did make it back without incident and headed out for one of the best Czech dinners we have had. For those of you who have been missing food porn and food blogging, we invite you to share our last impression of,Cesky Krumlov, yum. And if you haven't guessed, we have been missing those food porn worthy meals too.

Le Jardin at the Hotel Bellevue... Lovely,and HOT

Cold bottle of Czech white, name unknown but it had that unique Czech white taste I really like, a bit sourish???

Smoked trout soup,with lemon oil and tomatoes (M) and beef carpaccio with lentils (S) for starters.

Penne arrabiatto, which is served semi sweet, not spicy (Steve) and lamb shank with two miniature herb coated  lamb chops and parmesan risotto cake (Marci).

Divine, as the lamb chops were perfectly cooked and the shank tender and moist in an incredible balsamic glaze.

Back to our not so Romantik hotel, fan blowing, night air cool, packing to be done, blogging to be posted to stay in touch. Tomorrow off to Vienna to 95  degrees and a hotel with great A / C according to trip advisor and hopefully no bad navigating along the way.