Left Prague Friday morning with freezing fog and cold weather. Prague was more crowded in October than in June last time we visited. Leaving Prague, which is a great city, easy to visit and just beautiful, is extremely difficult without Emily. Street signs are most anywhere you can imagine, normally on the sides of buildings at intersections, but sometimes, not. So you really have to be alert at all times, lest you miss a turn. Luckily, we ended up going the right way, which was a blessing in disguise. (Last time we left here, we circled the city for about an hour, before we got back to where we started and got out.) There's a light on the dashboard that flashes if the tempreature gets below 36, and it was on most of the morning. The sun came out in places, and you could see in the shadowed area the frost was pretty thick. Thr\e road was fine, and damn the fog, they're going to get there. Driving here is not as bad as Poland, but you have to be aware. Steam rose from the fields we passed as the sun hit it. Almost surreal looking. Took about three hours to get to Cseky Krumlov, which is a Unesco sight, and very easy to see why. This place has more charm and appeal than most anyplace we've been. The hotel is in a pedestrian only area, one of the few times I was able to actually drive into and not feel like an ass. Dropped our bags and parked the car in the local car park, about a half mile away. Our room looks at the river and over one of three bridges in the town. locals were fishing in the river this afternoon, and I went down to watch. Sunny and cold, which to us is much better than sunny and hot. Much easier to warm up. Our hostess at the hotel reccomended a place not 25 yards from here to eat. "Local Czeck food". Na louzi. Went there for lunch after we arrived and it was incredible. Kind of a share the table and enjoy the food place that held about thirty people at one time. The czecks have a way of doing cabbage, as I've said before that we've never had. Spent the rest of the day wandering around and seeing the sights. Dinner at a place across the street, which was good food, but not like Na louzi. This morning we got up and had a wonderful breakfast, before coming back to the room and looking for a place in Budapest, which we'll hit next week. Went to the castle which is one of the reasons this is a Unesco sight. Took a tour through the castle and then another through the theater. The theater is one of two Baroque theaters in the world that is in original condition. Most of the others burned (as they were lit by candles) or were rebuilt (such as Versaille).
In this theater, though the stage is only 15 meters long, it appears much longer, I guessed it was closer to 40 meters. the optical illusion created by the sides and backdrops are amazing. Went under the stage-----mind you this theater was built in the 1600's, where they could change scenery in about fifteen seconds. Amazing. Worth looking up online to see how it's done. They put on about four or five perfomances a year in order ot maintain the integrity of the place. Had a glog on the deck of a restaraunt next to the river and went back to Na louzi for dinner. Tonight was music night and we felt as if we were in a Rick Steves show. Turns out that this is his highest rated restaraunt in the city, which we had no idea of. We thought we'd discovered the place and would go down in history as the first Americans to mention the place. Day late and dollar short...............Tomorrow we head to Vienna.
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