CENTRAL EUROPE: part three... CESKY KRUMLOV

Our bus trip from Vienna Toward Prague allowed me to compare these landscapes of wheat & sunflowers with those from the western Kansas plains of my childhood...

[NOTE: Click your cursor on any photo to enlarge it... then click the Back Arrow to return.]

While our itinerary gave top billing to the three capitols of Budapest, Vienna & Prague, there was, tucked into the day we drove from the second to the third city, a stop which arrested our imaginations. A castle & its town named Cesky Krumlov was a stunning visual surprise. This collection of frescoed walls lift fantasy towers above street-front decorations proves the possibility to find oneself rather truly lost in time.

One further depth to the illusion was to see a rare example of a Rennaissance theatre, with a stage much deeper than the audience containing a system of flats which could be almost instantly shifted by a turning axel under the stage to quickly change scenes. It seems that fireworks were often used to further heighten these moments... thus causing said rarity.

We saw it in action only via our group's imagination stimulated by a wonderfulguide,an American who has lived there for many years with a profound appreciation for this gem. I am going to allow you to make your own tour, only if you wish, with my version of a silent slideshow. Just poke about my views as you wish. Meet me on the other side of town...

Begin with this photographic overview from the web...



Then refer to this Map of Cesky Krumlov Castle
if you want to peek deeoer into the buildings.





















There was a minor show on the river,
which obviously attracts recreational boat traffic...
this one got high centered attempting to run the spillway...



I enjoyed this view of a saint with a sagging halo
causing him to be seemingly on his phone with a mouthpiece...

I found these simple bells on a street stall...
note that the "evil eye" amulet, which is identical
to the one Stephen brought back last year from Istanbul,
reminding us that the Turks were long in this area.

The clouds gathered above deepening pastels of the town square, as did we, helping to overcome our reluctance to leave this fantasy lapsing four centuries onto the bus driving towards Prague.

FAMILY PHOTO ALBUM...

While this posting will not be of such general interest, I'm going to share my shots of the family traveling together as a break between installments of this travelogue.

It will thus be a way to introduce them.

Although each of them also had cameras & were often making better photographs of each other, they got used to seeing me with a camera at hand all the time & thus I'm afraid they assume that I was recording people when my focus was usually more about other things. Still I captured a few which I like...

Stephen's sister Alice & her husband John were high school sweethearts. They have three of the most handsomely beautiful & quite photogenic young adult children.




This affectionate shot of them tells a story I like...



I sometimes took advantage of the posed set-ups, like this of their family, Mark included:



Alice has been the consummate mother, which now begins to allows & requires her to work those energies differently, even as she blossoms fully into her daughter & sons...



John matches & raises her that with a sense of humor... as when he saw me photographing outside the window of a shop he was inside...



Here he & David contemplate something during one of our guided tours in Vienna...



These three are obviously good friends, here hugs & there conversation on the roof terrace of our hotel in Prague...



Johnny has his father's swarthy good looks. He works marketing in Minneapolis. I stopped him in a shop doorway in Cesky Krumlov, a castle town about which I will write next...



Sarah is now job hunting in Chicago, after graduating from the University of Wisconsin just before this trip... she is sweetly smart & ready to easily smile, or to blush into her even deeper beauty...






David also graduated in May, from Holy Angels high school in Edina, MN, where they grew up. He will be attending the University of Minnesota next semester. David's sensitivity is obvious...



I am enjoying watching him as he explores learning who he is...



He is easy to like in his quiet manner...



He literally stands in the doorway of life...



They each enjoy their special Uncle Mark, about whom I wrote in the last posting.



Mark loves to pose. The trick is to catch him unaware, but his exuberance in front of the camera is much fun as well...



Mark loves to dance... here we found a New Orleans style band performing on the Charles Bridge, where he almost danced with a nun...



Two aspects of his muggery:



He isn't always comfortable with dogs, but this sculpture on the Charles Bridge in Prague has the reputation of being lucky to rub the dog on the relief of its base...





He usually likes to think of "we three bros" as being him, Stephen & me, but here is another configuration...



A candid of Stephen & John...



Helen is gracious matriarch of this collection...




Her gentle, appreciative intelligence & open curiosity is a gift which shows in her family.

My partner Stephen is her eldest. I see in him much of her...

Dynamically mixed, equally obviously, with Otto, his strong father whose generous foresight created these family outings. He continues to partner through Helen blessing this family with rich juices. We celebrate him through & beyond Mark's reliable toasts... "To Dad!"

I especially wonder, since I met him only twice... whether it could ever have been better than to get to know him finally through his family...



He is a delicious mystery. A dreamer of a particularly steely type. Not the hard, but a soft sing-zinging sort of the stuff. He had a fascinating meeting with a beautiful gilded mime who wielded a singing bowl in the night on the Charles Bridge...



I like this photo salvaged from an even darker exposure.



He can be equally silly of course... thankfully!



His yellow & my more occasional red remind of the Indian wedding...



I continue to discover that my camera & I are not very good at snapshots. I'm challenged to learn how to see anticipatorily. I have a good teacher for my trial & error mode of learning...

There is more as we approach Cesky Krumlov, Czech Republic, stopping to visit this gem of a castle town happily lost in history on our way to Prague...