Czech This Out, Part IV

In Český Krumlov

As charming as Prague is, there is more to see in the Czech Republic. Which is why, even on a short visit such as ours, we left the capital on a Thursday morning, and found ourselves after a three-hour bus ride in the South Bohemian town of Český Krumlov:

Lonely Planet describes Český Krumlov as "arguably the Czech Republic's only other world-class sight and must-see". The attraction here is the Renaissance castle overlooking the 17th-century townscape; this was our first view as we toted our luggage from the bus stop to our hotel:

We would only stay a night in Český Krumlov, so we splurged a bit for a room at the Hotel Dvorak:

The view from our windows:

Lunch was had at the hotel's ground-floor restaurant. I went whole-hog with a selection of various pork meats, supplemented by dumplings and beer:

My daughter, of course, had no complaints when it came to dessert:

It was mid-afternoon by the time we'd finished our midday repast, so the decision was made to save the castle for the following day. Instead, we spent the remainder of the daylight hours strolling through the town:

Along the banks of the Vltava, the same river that runs through Prague, but not nearly as wide here:

The Regional Museum may have been closed for renovations, but the view from the grounds was open for all to enjoy:

Despite the crowds thronging the streets of Český Krumlov, I had the Church of St. Vitus, with its neo-Gothic tower, almost entirely to myself:

Náměstí Svornosti in the center of Old Town, site of the 1716 Marian Plague Column:

With darkness rapidly descending, my wife opted to return to our hotel, but Amber and I continued on, ducking into the Egon Schiele Art Centrum to see what was happening there:

Egon Schiele was an early 20th-century Austrian painter who lived in Český Krumlov, his mother's birthplace, in 1911. He didn't stay long as he and his partner were driven out by angry townspeople, in large part over his use of young girls to serve as nude models for his artwork. He was definitely ahead of his time in his explorations of sexuality:

While the museum has an extensive collection of Schiele's work, I found the two temporary exhibitions to be more interesting, namely those of Věra Nováková...:

...and, especially, the amazingly prolific work of her husband Pavel Brázda:

Walking back to the Hotel Dvorak:

Considering all the meat I had at lunch, for dinner I took Amber to Laibon, a rustic vegetarian restaurant. I ordered the spicy chili, which lived up to its name, so much that I needed to order a banana lassi midway through the meal in order to help put out the fire, as the beer wasn't up to the task. Memories of Thailand:

After dinner, my daughter and I crossed over the Vltava and headed toward the castle:

The courtyards were still open, and the views over the town below were impressive at night. We were definitely looking forward to the next day's adventures:

Back at the hotel and retiring for the night: