Hluboka &Cesky Krumlov

This was our traveling last weekend. We had a three day weekend so we borrowed a car and went to the city of Cesky Budejovice and stayed there Friday night. I suppose it is the "Czech" version of our "Moravian" Budejovice, the name of our town. ...if you caught the language. The castle you see above, Hluboka, is said to be one of the best "Medieval" castles persevered in all of Europe. I'm not sure, but it is quite lavish inside. Inscribed in Latin above the fire place mantel in the dining room, (which can seat 72 people), is the family motto, "Nothing But Justice". I suppose in America we see vast differences in economic levels. But when you view the 17th century interior of the castle and realize how the surrounding communities lived in the 17th century and in some cases still do... you begin to understand the impetus of past European social unrest. Even so, Rawls' theory of "Distributive Justice" might seem conservative
in this context. Whatever the case, one cannot argue with the beauty of the place.

Yes, an interior entry to another courtyard.

I show this picture mainly because I think my brother-in-law, Greg, would be interested. Note all the mounted trophy's. Each year there would be a huge hunting party and all the racks were mounted on carved heads with the name and date underneath. This castle has been around for a few years. There were even hunting parties up until the early 1900's when it was still in the owner's hands, so there are literally hundreds, perhaps thousands of these, most of which are kept in the many stairwells. Nice racks, eh? Now please, when do you get a chance to say that with an air of legitimacy? Color, mind you, makes life interesting... especially in the form of humor, so that we can laugh at ourselves. Btw, that is key to understanding the brilliance behind the Simpsons.

But the real interest of the weekend is not this castle, which we saw on Friday. It was the next day when we left Cesky Budejovice and drove to a nearby city, Cesky Krumlov. This city is by far the most charming, picturesque, amazing place I've ever seen. If Hlbukova is the best persevered medieval castle, this is its rival in terms of a beautifully situated and well preserved Medieval city. Now mind you, the castle here is perched above the town, which itself is on a bit of a hill with a river meandering around it. One thing the picture doesn't show is the surrounding area, which is mountainous. The setting is perfect.

Of course now looking at the picture, or lack thereof, perhaps being the fault of the either the camera or its owner, the picture doesn't come close to the experience. So I recommend making the trip. Below I will post more of the town.

Entry into the city underneath a walkway of the castle.

Just through the entry
I love the way the castle is built on/into the rock
Part of the Castle from the foot bridge

yes yes, looking back from said footbridge
The plaza. It so happened that we came during a festival!

life from the street

Two girls who think that because they've discovered a "horor bar" they should get to enter regardless of time or age.

This seemed the end... and so we left Cesky Krumlov. We took a wrong turn and ended up on a river road. We decided to follow it as it was a very pretty drive. Before we knew it we ended up here...

Rozmberk nad Vltavou

So we decided to have lunch.

This was quite a find. It was so close to the Austrian boarder that everyone spoke German. Also, the place seems to be a stop for mountain bikers, all of whom were also Austrian.
Fin