This morning we ventured by train to the small town of Cesky Krumlov. It was supposed to be a three-hour train ride for us but the ticket guy shares that everyone has to get off at the next stop and change to a bus because they are doing construction on the tracks ahead. Well okay then, we'll just have to figure this out, is what rang in my head, but it ended up being an easy switch with a bus waiting for us in front of the train station.
We checked into our Penzion (guest house) and ventured a half-mile into the city area. It is quaint, beautiful and quite magical in a medieval kind of way. We had lunch and walked all around the castle and city area, but our favorite stop was at the Speculum Alchemiae Museum. The museum is actually a alchemy lab that was found in 2002, after the great flood creative a sink hole unveiling this unreal lab -- Rudolf II's alchemical lab from the 16th century. It was a quick 30-minute tour, full of cool sites, interesting facts and quite a bit of history lesson too.
Another fantastic museum we visited is the Egon Schiele Art Centrum. Mr Schiele's mother grew up in Cesky Krumlov and Egon himself lived there for a few years. I had no idea that he died so young, from the Spanish Flu. His art really is outstanding and I have never been to such a beautiful, in a raw kind of way, museum space. There were two other artist being exhibited at the museum, who were equally interesting to view.
We also happened upon an awesome Mexican Restaurant, which always makes me happy. A good Mexican restaurant anywhere will pretty much make my day.
I wold so love to go back to Cesky Krumlov, as we were unable to see the Museum Fotoatelier Seidel (it was closed) and I would absolutely love to see a performance on the revolving theatre. I heard from a friend that the Puppet Museum is pretty cool too. As I always say, we can't see everything and we need to be grateful for the things that we are able to see, do and experience and not dwell on what we missed.