The Most Photogenic City I've Ever Met

Český Krumlov (CHESS-key KROOM-love), a city of castles and red roofs. Get ready for photo-overload because all my pictures of this locale were inexplicably good.

First of all, it is time to hand out the Most Adorable Hotel Room Award. Note that I don't usually waste my time with hotel pictures.

Like I always say, "You know it's a good hotel if there's a violin (viola??) on the wall."

They also had mini sculptures on their staircase.

[so I exaggerated on the "ALL my pictures were good" thing...]

On the first full day, Aidan and I decided to explore the ol' fairy-land. The place was beautiful, albeit a tad touristy. To my surprise, not a single person in our group complained about that. I believe it was because our regional stays were draining. Enjoyable, but definitely draining. We needed a cheery, touristy break.

Is that not what I just said? Gorgeous, yet the peasant clothes are clearly worn by people in the tourism business. I delicately framed it so that the car on the left would add a hint of irony. I have a very complex relationship with technology.

(Just kidding)

Here is Aidan, looking out upon the town. 

[Probably pondering the meaning of life or something.]

And a widdle biddle wiver! Ano, prosim! ("Yes, please!")

Even the stupid wall we were near was pretty.

 Plus I got to tour the tourists. 

Next we found a photogenic church. Sexy, even. (Am I allowed to say that?)

[I call zees one "Yin and zee Yang"]
 

WAIT a second!

Panoramic Interlude!

Then we saw another pretty building and another pretty building and a pretty wall...

['Tis a town of many pretty walls.]

Soon enough, our group--

 [Huzzah!]

--got together and went on a tour of the town's massive castle. It is the second biggest in the country only because it was illegal for this aristocrat to build it bigger than the king's palace.

["You may recognize me from other pics. I'm kind of a big deal."]

The outside walls have been painted on; it was totally vogue at the time.

[totally_fake_bricks@yahoo.com]

I saw this in other nooks and crannies in the Krumlov...

Oh and speaking of bears!

There were bears living in the moat! No lions or tigers, but still. 

An apparently this stemmed from a tradition that was hundreds of years old. When we were inside the castle, nearly every room was furnished with a bear-skin rug.

Sadly, we weren't allowed to take pictures of the inside. Let me appease you with these pictures of a fountain from the "front yard" instead.

So that was pretty. WAIT a second. This just in! I illegally took a single picture of a room from inside the castle. 'Twas the Baroque theater that is still in use today.

[The fancy columns are hand-painted on wood, there are other flat painted props and sound-effect makers too.]

This Baroque theater is rare because the directors during that time loved to incorporate fireworks into the show. This practice typically led to fires. 

Outside the castle was yet another photo-magic-calendar-worthy view.

[peep hole!]

The last bit of the castle tour was a walk through one of those castle gardens. You know, the ones that are almost too perfect and geometrically stable? Still pretty, but I like my gardens a bit more wild. 

That night, we went to a restaurant that served traditional Roma (or Gypsy) food. They played music too. 

[Joe and Claire featured in: the least blurry picture I have due to my stubborn avoidance of the flash setting.]

That is all for today, my fine-feathered readers. 

p.s.

My Prague Cottage

For some reason during week three there was a lull in my normally overactive picture-taking. Needless to say, I have not written a full length novel for you today.

One nice day, I shot a pic of the main square (namesti, if you will) of Roztocky. I was trying to go to the Post Office, which had sadly closed ten minutes ago.

After taking this, I decided to try and get a close-up of that couple on the bench to illustrate how strangely okay PDA is here... but unfortunately they were just cuddling and not making out or anything else these gutsy CR couples do.

Roztocky has an abundance of cute little shops, my favorite of which is "Dog Pet," though I have not yet ventured inside.

 

I also took a photo of the cottage I live in! OMG, motherfuckers!

That's okay to put this on the internet, right? No one knows exactly where it is. Wink.

Do you like the green and brown striped fence? Me too.

Oh! And don't let me forget my deaf and blind dog pet, Homer.

He doesn't really sleep on my bed this much, he only very rarely ponders it when Jarmila is gone.

Which leads me to... drumroll, trumpet blast... my BED! As they would say on every episode ever of MTV Cribs, "This is where the magic happens."

[And by "magic" I mean Homer slept there once.]

I have a pleasant view through the window every morning. Lets just say, there are flowers. Ready for it?

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I've also begun wearing air-dried clothes. So Prague. I know. 

Yep. That's my underwear and I am not ashamed. Also, we often see a pretty white cat in our backyard named Angie. Today I got her to let me pet her and found out she has one green eye and one blue eye. I didn't take a picture though... we don't know each other well enough yet. 

Let's see... what else to say? Jarmila has grandkids, as evidenced by her refrigerator. (Side note: I met some of these aforementioned kids on Skype the other day.)

The girl on the fridge is one of Jarmila's daughters. The English words are courtesy yours truly. 

I close with a picture of Naomi. She said, "I feel like such a bad-ass hipster right now, someone needs to take a picture!" 

Don't worry, she's not usually a hipster, it's just that she happened to be borrowing a guitar, wearing a scarf, AND smoking a cigarette she had rolled herself. The stars aligned.