Cesky Krumlov 9/15-9/21

Regular classes started this week. The Prague Institute is in Old Town, a two minute walk from Old Town Square, and we live at the pension which is about a 25 minute trip from the institute, by way of metro. I am taking an architecture studio (just like every semester), an architecture seminar (a lecture course on urbanism in Europe), Czech literature, and Bees and Beekeeping. Seminar and studio are taught by an American professor and Czech architect. Czech literature and Bees and Bees are taught by two Czechs. The Bees teacher’s English is amusing and he smells funny but the class will be fun. The literature class is more about Czech culture with an emphasis on literature. We talk about the Soviet occupation a lot in class, especially how in 1968 tanks came into Prague in the night to control an uprising that had been slowly building throughout the year. It was obviously an extremely important moment in Czech history, and in our teacher’s life, and it is very interesting to hear her perspective on it.

We don’t have class on Fridays to give us opportunities to travel. So this weekend some friends and I went to Cesky Krumlov. Cesky Krumlov is a small town about 3 hours outside of Prague, within the Czech Republic. It is supposed to be very pretty so we went. Mary, Meredith, Paul, Miller, Ryan, Danielle, Kelly and I were all planning on going. I had bought bus tickets at the main bus station the day before, so Friday morning, we all got to the bus station nice and early for our trip. It wasn’t until 10 minutes before the bus left that Miller took a closer look at the ticket and realized that the bus left from a smaller, different bus station. So, with baggage in hand, we all literally ran to the metro, changed trains, and ran out to the bus station, only to arrive two minutes too late. We moped back inside and found that all was not lost, there was another bus leaving in four hours. So, we spent the rest of the morning in Café Louvre, drinking coffee and playing chess and pool before arriving at the correct bus station for our afternoon bus ride.

The ride was long and uncomfortable, but we arrived in time for an hour or two of daylight. We walked through the town to our hostel. We were all in the same room and were excited about our stay when the manager asked for our passports. At that moment, we realized, our passports were sitting on a customs officer’s desk, waiting to be inspected, in Prague. We were already planning on staying out all night drinking, but we would at least like to have the option of sleeping in a bed. Luckily, Danielle had a cell phone, so we called Donna, head of the Prague Institute, who would have copies of our passport numbers on file. She, however, was not in the office, and was zero help. Desperately, we called the pension in Prague, and were able to get our passport numbers from them.

So, after two near crises, we were able to finally enjoy the town. We went out to eat and to a few bars before going to bed. The next morning, we walked around the town some more. The town is very small and pretty simple. There is a river and a lot of old baroque buildings. Above the river there is a castle with a large tower. There isn’t really much to do in the town, other than see the town as a whole. So we took our time and strolled through the castle area. We went up the tower and walked through the gardens and along the river. We ate lunch together at a place right by the river. We saw that they had mead on the menu, and not knowing what it was, ordered two pitchers for the group. It turns out mead is warm honey-wine. It was like drinking liquor as your beverage for lunch. It was less than satisfying, but the food was very good. After lunch, we took a few more pictures and then headed to the bus stop for our return journey to Prague.