Ceske Krumlov - Sent Up The River
Trip Start
Mar 03, 2005
1
47
235
Trip End
Ongoing
Ceske Krumlov,
Czech Republic
Tuesday, July 5, 2005
Czech´s can be an unfriendly bunch. Sometimes you wonder if it is just their drier Eastern European demeanor, but the predominant attitude if you work in a service related industry, then you act like you don´t give a rats. Sometimes it is restaurant waiters. Sometimes it is shopkeepers. Today it was those in the ticket office for the train. I do always wonder why this is the case, when obviously tourism is at least as important to this nation's economy as the Absinthe distillers are.
After a few hours rolling through the green hills of the Czech countryside, and a train swap at Ceske Bejodvice, I arrived in Ceske Krumlov. The hostel sits a little up a hill, overlooking the old medieval town, with its castle, river and churches.
I wandered off in the rain for a peek around the 14th century town, and to find the US girls I met in Prague. It turns out I am at their hostel, when they are at mine. Exchanged notes reveal that I have a dinner invite at their hostel.
Once again the people that I meet are staying at a much cooler place than I. I may have my own room, but their dorm rooms and surrounding areas more than make up for that with their character and general vibe. It is a communal atmosphere. A group of us sit and play cards while two blokes, Simon and Ethan, cook dinner. I am a semi-finallist at ´Spoons´ (similar to musical chairs, but with cards and on occasions violence) but was ripped off at the last hurdle. There is a group of ten people and a good group at that.
Our dinner is pasta and bread, and larges bottles of local reds and whites. It is the first, ´home´ cooked meal since the Shimla YMCA Bruschetta in the mountains of India. It is a very family atmosphere - a family of travellers who really don´t know each other. But homeless travellers do look after other homeless travellers. A few Aussies, a few Yanks and a few Sewth Efrikaans.
We departed their hostel for a Czech ´Rock Venue´. By this they meant it was dug out from the rocky ground in a bunker. The roof was barely six foot high in places, so I had that semi-permanent ´tilt to the side´ look going on. It seemed like I was highly interested in, or questioning everything that everyone else had to say. We later ventured to a Czech ´Music Bar´, to be confronted with one of the most amazing sights I have ever seen in my life.
There are certain things that the Czechs have been very good at over the years - beer production, tennis player production, and others. But dancers they ain´t. Now I don´t profess to being spectacular myself, but I am willing to learn. The Czechs are not a nation to learn off. There is a saying - ´dance like no one is watching´. The Czechs follow this to the letter, even though surely they must realise it isn´t the case. They are the ultimate daggiest of dancers to bad Euro Pop musak in the entire world.
As one of the Australian lads, Scott, put it - ´Australian girls wonder why many Australian guys don´t dance. It is because we have an underlying fear that we will look like these Czech people here tonight´.
There were some sterling 'Phantoms' done on the evening, which I am discovering is an Australian term. The general idea when hanging out with a group of travellers, is that you'll go to leave, but everyone won't let you. Hence if you do want to leave earlier than those with the strongest livers, you have to do so quietly without saying goodbye. Just sneak away as people head to another venue. It is an accepted method of leaving when travelling, even though you may never see the people again. The International Phantom.
Another late night, another sleep in. I wandered into town and through the alleyways to the elegent Ceske Krumlov Castle area, with its courtyards, gardens and churches. It could be that I am in 14th Century Europe, if not for the Eurotrash clothing outbreak. Ceske Krumlov is the essence of quaint.
Wandering a bridge over the river, I spotted some of the folks from last night, paddles in hand. They were about to embark on a trip down in the river on a six man inflatable raft. Soon I was that sixth man.
The Vltava River winds through the town, with a few concrete chutes for boats built into it which act as rapids for kayaks and rafts. We successfully negotiated them, and started drifting down the river, out of town. I struggle to think of better ways to spend a Wednesday afternoon than drifting down a river in the Czech Republic. The trees are green, the sun is beating down, the water is cool, and the bottle of local Rum provided by the rental shop is rough but warming. I found it interesting that they would rent six inexperienced tourists an expensive watercraft, send them down concrete chute rapids off to some other village downstream, and top them up with booze at the same time. But as they say, ¨when in Ceske Krumlov, do as the Krumlovians do....´
We hardly paddled for the first two hours, choosing the float method of transportation. Stopping off at a river bank stall for a quick drink with 30 minutes to go before we were to be collected, we suddenly realised that we still have over 5kms to paddle. Six sunning boat-loungers were immediately transformed into six Olympic quality paddlers. We paddled so fast that one fell out. We did rescue poor Ethan. He also rescued his wallet, and had to hand dry his cash later on at a bar in town. Back in Ceske Krumlov we sat down in the sun for a reflective Pilsner, with the company of a strange old Austrian man who told us in both German and French (but not English) that he was an alcoholic and communist, and that his penis was ´like Pinocchio´. Oh, the people you get to meet in Czech beer gardens.
It appears I have outlasted them all, as the night was spent not out at a drinking venue, but instead sitting around their hostel´s kitchen table, chatting and drinking coffee. Ethan, the American with paddle/balance issues, played guitar on his Lute shaped acoustic number. I challenged him by asking him to do Bluegrass versions of Simon and Garfunkel numbers, and Metallica versions of Johnny Cash songs. A new musical genre was created - Metallicash.
While my last morning here was fine, and chilly breeze and drizzle set in in the early afternoon, ruining my ideas of a bike ride around the Czech hills. Still if you are going to be rain-effected, Ceske Krumlov is not a bad spot to be rain-effected in. Medieval Towns are splendid even in the most ordinary of weather. It tends to make the Castle look even more authentic than it already is.
