Up before 8am this morning to get breakfast and then hit the castle before the day-trip crowds. We enjoyed the breakfast spread our accommodations puts out.
While the rest of us finished eating, Laura dashed up to castle and got tickets for a 10am tour of the theatre and an 11am tour of the castle. Good thing, too, because by the time we were finished with breakfast, the day-trip tour buses starting rolling in and things were starting to get a little crowded.
The theatre was cool. It was like a baroque theatre in a time capsule. I got to crank the wind machine and we all climbed around back and under the stage. Laura snapped a couple pictures before she got waved off,
but they have some good ones on the website like this panorama.
After the theatre, we toured the castle proper. They do keep you as a group and shepherd you through. They actually lock the doors behind you as move along. The castle inside is gorgeous. They've done a great job restoring it. They don't let you take pictures inside, but they do provide some nice ones of the things you see on their website. Inlucding these:
The fact that Český Krumlov was such a backwater for so long helped preserve it as a time capsule. American tourists seem to just be discovering it.
After doing the castle in the morning, we went in search of a rafting outfitter. After an exhaustive five minute search, we found an outfitter and we were off. We chose a short one-hour trip through the town. It was fun because it offered another view of all the sites here and includes three drops where there used to be watermills and some small rapids.
After rafting, we built up an apitite so we sought out a cool cafe we spotted. It had a terrace right next to the river and was next to a playground. It was all very relaxing.
To and from the lunch through the town, Katie decided that she likes garnets. The girls picked up some accessories from one of the local shops.
After that we headed back to the apartment to rest. It was early yet, but it'd been a pretty full day. We really have enjoyed our time in Český Krumlov. It's a been everything we could have wanted it to be and people have all been friendly and welcoming. It's easy to see why this is a popular destination.
