Český Krumlov

Hello everyone,

Today is another dreary rainy day :( It has been raining and below 40 for over a week now! I guess I should just get used to it instead of complaining about it huh. I woke up this morning at went straight to the cafe outside of Mitch's house to study. Eventually he and Brian woke up and met me for brunch. Ariella wandered in right when we were ordering so she joined us too! It was a nice brunch, study session combo.

Yesterday my entire program went on one of our "included" day trips. (I like to think of these programs as free because we don't have to give any money upfront!) We went two hours south of Prague to Český Krumlov. It is a small, romantic little town in the countryside with a huge palace ironically called the Český Krumlov Castle :) The town is surrounded by mountains, trees and green open fields! On a nice day one could go horseback riding through the hills, hiking through the mountains or whitewater rafting on the Vltava river.

The Castle was originally Gothic, built in the 13th century, but since has become mostly Renaissance (although it has a huge Baroque theater as well). Overall, the town's buildings are mostly in Gothic, Renaissance, and Baroque. Its kind of cool because the buildings are structurally Gothic but the decor is very Renaissance.

The town and castle have gone through many owners. Originally, the House of Rosenberg owned both for about 300 years. The Austria-Hungarian emperor Rudolf II bought Krumlov in 1602 and gave it to his son. Next, Emperor Ferdinand II gave Krumlov to the House of Eggenberg. From 1719 until 1945 the castle belonged to the House of Schwarzenberg, and then it became a national historical sight.

Once we got into town, we went on a tour of the castle right away. Then we had a huge, and of course traditional Czech, lunch. I tried the warm wine that is very big here and it was actually pretty good. Then we had free time. It was rainy and gross but we had a ton of fun! We wandered around the city and found a really sweet playground, tucked into a cafe to warm/dry up and get hot chocolate, wandered into a church, stumbled upon gorgeous gardens with amazing views and climbed the castle tower for an even better view! Despite the bitter cold and at time torrential downpours we had a ton of fun!