Wednesday, October 4, was our one full day in beautiful Cesky Krumlov. We were determined to make the best of it. After a good night’s sleep in the big bed in Room 6, we went down to the big table in the lobby and had the first of two wonderful breakfasts. Bill decided to try the fermented wheat, which was described as an “original” breakfast offering at Monastery Garden. The receptionist who had checked us in the day prior was there for breakfast, and she explained that it’s not difficult to make fermented wheat… but the process is “quite stinky”.
I’ve mentioned before that Bill seems to like things that stink… like exotic cheese and probably even me after a particularly active afternoon. 😉 I have a very sensitive sense of smell, though, so I can’t abide a lot of things he enjoys. I wouldn’t have ordered the fermented wheat anyway, because it had mushrooms in it, and mushrooms are of the devil. I didn’t notice that the dish smelled offensive; it came with poached eggs, and Bill seemed to really enjoy it.
I had Eggs Benedict, which were absolutely fabulous. I especially loved the way the dish was presented, with super sweet cherry tomatoes and greens. It was almost too beautiful to eat.
We also had filtered coffee and fresh squeezed orange juice, which was served to us whipped into a foam. On the menu, it mentioned that the juice could be served with “chili” pepper. I asked about that, since I’d never heard of anyone putting pepper in their juice. The receptionist said that some people like to use it to heat up their metabolisms. I joked that I could use a little of that myself, but I decided not to try pepper in my juice. Bill, who likes things spicy and hot, did put some in his juice. He didn’t complain about it, but I noticed he didn’t add pepper to the juice the next morning! Breakfast was not included in our room rate, but it was well worth what we paid.
While we were eating, we were chatting with the receptionist about the pandemic and how things were in the Czech Republic. I had read that they had been pretty strict there during the worst of the COVID era… which I guess is still ongoing. She said that a lot of Czechs were kind of slack about following the mandates. I would imagine that the way the pandemic was handled in Europe was very different than it was in the United States.
After breakfast, we started to explore and soon found ourselves at the Museum of Torture, which is on the main square. We bought a combination ticket with the Wax Museum, which gave us a couple of activities for our morning. The Museum of Torture was mostly interesting, although parts of it were a little cheesy. Like, for instance, at one part of the museum, there’s an exhibit that shows a woman suspected of being a witch being burned at the stake. They played an endless sound loop of flames and the whimperings of a suffering female. It was a little hokey and probably unrealistic, given how much being burned hurts, at least at first.
I have to admit, I was pretty horrified by how cruel human beings can be to one another as I looked at all of the instruments of torture used to punish people in the medieval era. I also couldn’t help but remember when we visited the superior torture museum in Rothenburg ob den Tauber in Bavaria, Germany. The one thing the museum in Cesky Krumlov has over the museum in Rothenburg is that it’s in a very cool dungeon like building that appears to be very old. The building definitely gave the torture museum some realism. Below are some photos…
After we spent some time in the torture museum, we moved on to the wax museum, which was also entertaining. The museum had some interesting replicas of celebrities– many of whom were (or still are) American. The wax museum also provided a narrative of Czech history, although perhaps not as well as the Castle museum did. Still, I think it was worth visiting just to see the wax versions of Mick Jagger and Tina Turner. I have a soft spot for wax museums anyway. My dad’s hometown of Natural Bridge, Virginia had one for many years and one of my distant relatives, Bar Tolley, was immortalized there. 😉 Below are some photos from the wax museum.
By the time we finished touring the two museums, it was late morning. We kept walking around Cesky Krumlov, which basically goes in a circle, and soon found ourselves as a bench offering a nice view of the Vltava River, which flows through both Prague and Cesky Krumlov. We were still sitting there at noon, which happened to be the time and day of the month when local authorities throughout the country test the sirens. I noticed an announcement in Czech and English that it was “only a test”. That’s more than we get in Germany.
Finally, we worked our way to the castle entrance, where we were able to see the bears that “guard” the moat. I remembered how when we came to Cesky Krumlov in 2008, I saw the bears. I also remembered that there was a guy at the bottom of the castle tower who took our money and advised us to go “slowly”. Now, there’s a big complex at the Castle Tower, and visitors can buy tickets to the museum and the interior of the actual castle. We skipped touring the castle interior, but we did visit and enjoy the museum after we climbed the tower. The tower wasn’t too awful, either. I was able climb it without too much trouble and was rewarded with some very nice photos.
After we visited the castle and its tower, we were ready to eat lunch. Since this post has so many photos in it, I will continue writing about our Wednesday activities in the next post! Suffice to say, looking at these pictures, I feel very fortunate that we had such nice weather. There were plenty of people in Cesky Krumlov during our visit, but it wasn’t extremely crowded. I bet the place is now PACKED in the summer! I think October is a great time to visit this town.
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