Ćesky Krumlov
River in Cesky Krumlov
October 25, 2004
Our train ride from Prague to České Budějovice had a stop that was way too long
(we were waiting for another train to arrive for transfer passengers). We were entertained
though by a train from Austria that had stopped across the platform from us. It
was only about 1:00 in the afternoon, but they were already extremely drunk and
didn’t seem to have any motivation to slow down. Everyone was on the platform with
the music blasting and the alcohol flowing, I saw three or four people put down
two and a half bottles of some sort of purple liquor in a matter of 15 minutes;
I was completely fixated on the scene... much better than TV.
We got to České Budějovice and caught a bus to Český Krumlov within minutes, but
we had to stand on the bus since there was no more room.
I was surprised on the way to Český Krumlov to see as many automobile manufacturers
as we saw. We saw Ford, Chrysler, and a number of others. On the bus to Český Krumlov
we had a number of young people wearing BMW hats and in the town itself we saw a
lot of kids in a school group that were also wearing BMW hats. I can only guess
that there was a BMW factory that we simply didn’t see and that many people in Český
Krumlov work there and commute daily, which would explain the number of buses between
the two cities running constantly.
After arriving in Český Krumlov we immediately found a hostel, Hostel Merlin. It
was cozy, but we soon took off to see the city. The town has a feel like no other
place I’ve been, like a medieval city with few street lights, no cars; only the
river could be heard.
In Český Krumlov we got dinner and a local Budweiser beer. We headed back late and
crashed.
Today we got up and checked out the town in daylight. There was a fog over the city
and everything seemed hazy, as if we had truly entered a different world; the fog
kept us away from the reality that exists outside of Český Krumlov.
The city reminded me of Iaşi, România in the sense that it has a true feel that
has been almost untouched for years and it still holds its culture, identity, and
atmosphere that is so often lost today in cities.
Unfortunately on the way out we missed our bus by seconds, we actually watched it
drive away so had to wait an hour to catch the next one. It was at this point that
we had left this heaven and entered reality; we met two backpackers, one an older
man from Alabama, who said he travels a lot in Eastern Europe and the other a New
Zealander. We all separated in České Budějovice, from where Derek and I went off
Telč.
Castle in Cesky Krumlov