Back to Karlstejn (June 20)

Sunday morning.  Colleen and I agree to sleep in, as we didn’t get home from Dresden until midnight or later.  So, I woke late and did my usual morning routine … pray, espresso, snack, yoga, dance to some upbeat tunes, shower, break my fast – and I’m ready to go!

So, I leave the building and notice something immediately … the car … is – not – where – I – parked – it!  So, I check my memory to make sure that I did indeed park it directly in front of my building … and yes, my longer-term memory agrees with my short-term. Sooooo … the car is gone.  I promptly call Colleen and tell her we have a problem, what she asks, the car is gone I say, what do you mean she asks – and I forgo sarcasm for logic and say “well, there really isn’t any other way of phrasing that sentence – the car is gone.”  We agree that it must have been towed.  Colleen kicks into high gear, she’s good like that, and says she’ll check with the hotel and call right back.  Within minutes, even before I can boot up the computer back inside to see what I can find on the internet, she texts with info on where the car is and how much it will cost to get it out.  And off we go!

Unfortunately, the hotel clerk was not terribly specific about WHERE to get the car, so we wandered around for a bit - - got some help from a nice local man, as well as a policeman.  We eventually found the lot, and yes – there was the car!

We paid the $75- to get it out (wow, only $75!  I recall paying more than that when my VW got towed in Charlestown!) … Colleen took my pic for posterity, and we were off!

As Colleen said “we need to get a pic of us getting the car out of jail” … nice! 

Now, we originally had planned to go to Terezin, the concentration camp not to far west of Prague – which I must admit was not my first choice, as I thought it would be too depressing.  But, I was willing to go for the experience.  However, we had planned our time tightly and the tow adventure had thrown us off considerably – so we moved to Plan B, which was to go to Karlstejn Village for some shopping, we would not do the Castle as it was too late and Colleen wasn’t interested anyway.

Colleen’s fab GPS ended up taking us the scenic route, as well as bringing us into Karlstejn from the other direction.  Which I didn’t realize until we arrived (according to the GPS) and found that I didn’t recognize the place - - it then dawned on me that we had come into the village from the TOP, whereas last time I had come in from the BOTTOM.  Now how freakin’ cool is that?!?!  I choose to go to a place I have already been, and circumstances (HPS momma!) see fit to show me a different view!  However, the full implication of this is not yet known to me.

The village is wonderful, very very green with foliage and has a Bavarian feel about it.  So, we get out of the car (as the village is a Pesi Zona, unless you live there) and proceed to walk downhill.  The stream that I recall from my previous visit is there, and I sigh with tremendous pleasure … this end of the village is silent and serene and very lovely.  All I can hear is the bubbling brook, and I tell Colleen that I could sit by it contentedly all day.

Isn't that just wonderful?

Colleen asks where the castle is in relation to where we are, and I answer that I am not quite sure.  Suddenly, we walk around a curve in the road full of trees – and POOF … out pops the castle.  It was a little startling, let me tell you!  I mean this magnificent Medieval castle just pops into view above us … and not where I thought it was going to come from either, NOR the side that I thought we were going to see.  It now becomes clear to me that we have come upon the BACK side of the castle – a side I did not get to see last time. Check it out …

This pic has a neat story to it.  I gave a friend a Skype-tour of my 1^st visit to Karlstejn (you can share your screen on Skype – cool!), and when I got to the 1^st pic taken from the castle courtyard (#0693 on June 12) he asked “is that the village” and I said no, that I was not sure what that was.  I knew it wasn’t the village though, and said it must just be some remote houses behind the castle.  WELL … this pic is taken while standing IN FRONT of those ‘remote’ houses!  I now fully understood how the village ran according to the castle, and where we were in relation to the part of the village I had been in last time.  Nice!!  I get a lot of pleasure out of figuring things out!     ;-}

I just LOVE this little old rusty overgrown greenhouse!

What a great shot this is!  I just love all the ivy climbing the wall, and the dark reddish wood of the Burgrave’s Residence makes a nice contrast to the foliage greens, the stone greys, and the plaster beiges.  What is REALLY cool though … is that my last trip here I actually took a pic out that teeny window you see in the wall under the Burgrave’s Residence (#0715 on June 12) – I can tell by the metal piece dissecting the window.  I just LOVE making those connections!

Again, with the lovely stream … look, a little mini waterfall to boot!!

And so now we have come into the town center, and back to the part of the village that I know from my previous trip here.  And now for the money shot …

A lovely shot showing the marvelously Medieval castle above the sweet old village below.

And that is about it for castle shots.  We did some shopping, explored the village (up and down hill), and got some nice stuff too!  And then began to make our way back up the hill towards our car.

The flora and fauna here are lovely, just lovely - and wonderful to be in the midst of.

I just love this shot, this flower looks luminescent!

What a sweet little house, just nestled in some lovely foliage.

More of the beautiful flora and fauna, this one with the stream in the background too!

Do you see?  This place feels like a forest!  How fantastic is that?!?!  A Medieval castle and Medieval village in a Medieval forest – a dream come true!

See … told ya it was a forest!

A cool wooden statue in front of a restaurant close to the top of the hill, near our car.

I just loved the pics from my 1^st visit of these things … the little driveway over the sweet stream, into the neat little property.

This thing … is just SO freakin’ awesome … the water, the rock, the moss, the trees, the downhill flow, the pool at the bottom – just love it!!!

And so our short visit to Karlstejn was done, and we headed on our way back to Praha.  Goodbye Medieval town and castle, and thanks for the memories!!!

On our way back, we came across this large field of flowers … not just poppies like we were used to seeing, but some purple and white flower that we were both unfamiliar with.  We just HAD to stop and get some pics.

We both agreed after looking at them, that they don’t seem to be a poppy – but we don’t have any idea WHAT they are … except of course that they are beautiful and make a great contrast with the vivid poppies!

  

Thanks for joining me on my 2^nd visit to Karlstejn!

Here is a link to the day’s photos on my Picasa page … Karlstejn Revisited