Cesky Krumlov

Cesky Krumlov Castle

The one major attraction that we had missed in the Czech Republic was the town of Cesky Krumlov south of Prague.  Since that site was in our path towards Heidelberg, it became today's main focus and proved to be well worth seeing.  We did leave our hotel as planned at 9--quite a feat for us--but took some back roads which delayed our arrival until nearly noon.  The charming town is surrounded on three sides by the Vitala River, filled with kayakers and rafters,  with the castle perched above.  The first castle was built in 1240, and changed hands from the Rosenberg family to the Eggenbergs, who made the baroque changes and expansions in the late 17th c.  Later it passed to the Schwarzenberg family and was finally declared a national monument in 1989.

We signed up for the 1:40 English tour and spent the intervening hour wandering through the town while the rain came and went.  There are more crowds here than we have seen since Prague.  The castle tour covered numerous baroque-style rooms and furnishings, and ended with the amazing concert hall, whose walls are painted with amusing figures.  The famous baroque theater is on another tour, so we missed seeing that.  Following the tour we walked through the castle gardens and then returned to the bike, hungry and ready to find a dry seat for our picnic.  The nearby cafe offered more delectable fare so we once again enjoyed a cooked meal.

figures on the concert hall wall

We finally got underway at 4:15 and needed to get some miles under our belt, so it was north into Germany along some lovely roads that included the  Bavarian National Park--very woodsy with inviting trails.  We were headed for Z… but stopped in Frauenau 7k short to check the map and noticed a new glass museum.  This appealed as a morning diversion so we looked around for lodging, checking first the **** hotel which wanted 114E (a little pricey for us).  Two other hotels were closed, so we started for the next town and almost missed a pension off the road.  So here we are enjoying a large room with balcony and good internet for 55E.