Hrad Krivoklat

Before I left for the States* Eva and the older boys and I went to the nearby castle, Hrad Krivoklat. Hrad means castle. So the sentence before last was very redundant. It reminded me quite a lot of Karlstejn. And I found out that Krivoklat was Charles IV's childhood castle and then he built Karlstejn when he grew up. So that's why they are similar! Also, I want a "childhood castle."

*That's what I call it now. America sounds funny to say; "I'm going to America" makes me feel like I just stepped out of "West Side Story." The United States is too long for normal conversation especially with someone whose English is not super great, and the United States of America is way too long.

Here is the big tower. Karlstejn's big tower is square. I liked Krivoklat a lot. It was only 25 minutes away, so that was nice. It is not as popular with tourists (I'm not sure they offer tours in English, for example; Eva translated for me from Czech), so it was less of a circus atmosphere and more of a quiet castle. There were super cute candle/tea/ice cream shops and a falconry demonstration for the kids. Honzik just stared at the birds. The woman running the show was all dressed up in medieval falconer clothes and even had a feather in her hair. I was most fascinated/grossed out by the bit of bloody animal (rabbit?) she kept in a little leather pouch and drew out to rub her big leather glove so that the birds would fly to her. The boys loved it. Shock.

There were very interesting carvings at the castle. Very elaborate for a functional castle, I think. If I understood correctly, they call this balcony the "Venetian balcony." It is lacy and ornate and silly like Venice.

The Venetian balcony was in the first courtyard of the castle, along with this wooden passage adorned with totally creepy gargoyles.

This one kept eyeing me in a disturbing way. Stop looking at me, gargoyle!

They didn't allow cameras inside the castle. I get it, I get it, they want to make money off of postcard sales, but I still hate that rule.

Especially since, unlike Karlstejn, this castle had cool stuff inside. There was a whole room devoted to sleds and sleighs. And not flexible flyers. Some of them were small and looked like they were made for royal kiddos, but some of them were meant to carry dead animals on hunting trips. Regardless of their cargo, the sleighs were gorgeously carved and painted. Magnificent all lined up in that old room.

There was also a beautiful library. I'm a sucker for libraries. I could spend hours just looking at the Biltmore House library from behind the velvet rope divider. This library had lovely dark wooden shelves and globes and portraits of dead people (they weren't dead when they were painted, thank goodness), and obviously loads of dusty tomes, as the phrase goes.

There was another room with 18th and 19th and 20th century furnishings that was preserved from the way it looked when the last people lived at the castle in the 1920s. There was even a life size portrait of the daughter-in-law of the last owner. She was beautiful and sort of Great Gatsby-esque in a flowery flowy dropped waist dress and big broad hat. The guide called her the most beautiful woman to live at Krivoklat, and in the next room he pointed out the ugliest woman to ever live there. Not quite fair, since her portrait was taken when she was much older and in the 16th century...

We spent a great deal of time in the dungeons and starvation pits and jails of the castle. Either that is what the tourists come to see so the guides indulge them, or the castle had an extremely brutal history. Hard to tell. Gross and dark, though. I preferred the library. Again, shock.

There was a funny black wood carriage that was built for a king. He used it on one hunting excursion and killed 100 animals, apparently. The carriage had a swivel chair inside (ha!) so that the king had 360 degrees of visibility and could swing around to kill animals in every direction. The rim of the carriage walls (it was more of a wagon, I guess) was scalloped so that the king could place his gun anywhere around the rim and have a steady shot. If only they had put that much thought and ingenuity into plumbing or better lighting.

It is interesting to me how these castles (Karlstejn and Cesky Krumlov and Krivoklat) were in the royal family and then were sold or given to other aristocrats, and then when those aristocratic families died out or needed cash they sold them to other aristocrats or just "common" people with money. So each castle has a list of owners and lots of different crests and things. Eventually all the castles became property of the country. Unfortunately in the Czech Republic that meant that they were in the care of a Communist government and didn't get the care they needed. But now it seems that they are being preserved and "loved."

I am writing this in Starbucks at Zlicin, the outermost metro stop on my side of Prague. My internet at the house is not working, which sends me spiraling into despair. Slight exaggeration. But I do feel quite isolated when I can't email! Anyway, so I am at Starbucks and they are playing the classic Jeannette McDonald "Indian Love Call," more popularly known as "When I'm calling you!" from an old old movie, Rose Marie (1936). So funny to hear that in the Czech Republic. And now it is "Cheek to Cheek" with Fred Astaire. Love it.