CESKY KRUMLOV – Czech Republic (Wed 22 July)

We went up to the castle today and once again we were faced with the dilemma of there being five different tours and no combined tickets. So we opted for a climb up the stairs to the tower, as we have had quite our fill of baroque style state rooms for a few days. It’s an interesting castle. The exterior is painted in a fresco style (not sure if that what it is as on closer inspection the plaster seems to be etched), which gives it an almost illustrated fairytale feel.

But on the way to the castle we were studying the map and discovered that the castle had a ‘Bear Moat’, and we joked about whether the moat was to keep the bears in or our. As we discovered, it was neither. They keep bears in the moat. If you remember back to Auckland zoo about 35 years ago, when they kept bears in big concrete pits that were too small for them, well that is exactly what it was like. A couple of bears roaming around, picking through the cabbage for a bit of carrot, and looking totally bored with their lot. Kinda sad really.

But just in the nick of time we overheard something that gave us something to laugh about. It went like this, “How many countries are there in Europe?” “There’s like … you know … lots.” It wouldn’t be so funny if it wasn’t for the seriousness and conviction that the reply came with.

The other great attraction in this town seems to be the kayaking. You can hire out kayaks for a ride down the river, but the first step is through a short narrow chute, with a bit of white water at the bottom. This really is entertainment. It’s like rookie hour. Almost every single kayak not only tips it’s occupants into the water, but then proceeds to fill with water and sink. They have people stationed a few meters downstream to pick up all the pieces of debris and flotsam. And they have people lining up to do this who have obviously never stepped into a kayak before in their lives. It really is entertainment.

We spent the rest of the day generally browsing around the town. And it was during this browsing that I spotted something that gave me a new realization of the age of these towns. We were joining the audience watching another kayak tip it’s occupants into the river when I noticed a rock that a couple were sitting on. This rock was about 4 meters long and looked like it had been shaped at some point in it’s life into a square profile. Well weathered along it’s side was MDCXXV (1625). I am guessing that this was the year. This is just a piece of river junk, cast up on the bank for someone to sit on. It puts the age and time into perspective doesn’t it.