Kroměříž

One of our day trips from Olomouc took us to the lovely town of Kroměříž in the Moravia region. We went on a tour of what once was the Arch Bishop of Moravia’s summer chateau and is now a museum. The people at the museum wanted to preserve the original floors as much as possible so they made us wear these awkward little booties. The booties were fun and kind of cute but I was a little miffed that the guide didn't have to wear them as well >_<. The first room we entered looked like Gaston’s hunting tavern right out of Disney’s movie “Beauty And The Beast.” There were antlers and birds and boars all over the place with an artful display of weapons as the crowing piece at the head of the room. I’m sorry to say that the following rooms all kind of ran together. There were rooms filled with paintings that I liked but most were sitting or drawing rooms that only held value because of some famous or important individual that stayed there.

The booties I had to wear... They made me want to take a running start and slide down the hard wood floors. I don't think they would have appreciated that much.

The wonderful room with all the dead things. This was a huge room and this picture only shows a very, very small piece of it.

                One of my favorite rooms by far was the dining room that could seat 400 people for dinner comfortably. It was absolutely beautiful! The room was decorated with light colors, creams, whites and gold, with high ceilings and elaborate decorations memorializing the fine arts, science and mathematics and all four season. Even the paintings on the ceiling made me want to lay on the floor and stare for hours. And here’s a little tidbit for ya, the movie ‘Amadeus’ was filmed here. Cool right? My other favorite room was very small in comparison to the large dining hall. The walls were a soft blue and it had a comfortable, homey feel to it with cushioned places to sit and a small piano in the corner. It made we want to grab a cup of tea a good book and just curl up for a while.

The large dining hall. Amazing right??

Just a painting on the ceiling... really wanted to just lay on the floor and stare for a while.

Oh and they were going to have a wedding dress fashion show here too. This would have been an epic place to walk the runway!

Here is that little blue room that I liked so much :)

                After the tour we decided to climb to the top of this fairly high tower connected to the chateau. Since I now consider myself a fairly seasoned traveler my many steps and staircases under by belt I thought I could conquer this one with no trouble. I totally thought wrong. I had forgotten (as well as everyone else in my group) that I had not climbed anything besides a small inline in quite some time. We all started off with a confident and quick pace only to tire out and be panting for breath halfway up. Yup, the stair steppers back home have nothing on these insane spiral staircases here in Europe.

                I have to put a little rant about my lunch here. Don’t worry it’s a good one. Promise. I had this awesome spaghetti and soup for lunch. The spaghetti was fantastic but the soup was beyond belief! I don’t know what it was, or what was in it but it was one of the most amazing things I have tasted since being here and I wish I had gotten the recipe so I could make it at home. Yummmm! Ok food rant over.

                My next little adventure in Kroměříž was to the gardens behind the chateau. See, I had imagined gardens being pretty trees and flowers arranged in a pleasant picture or style. This was not the case. This place had a lake (probably more than one but I didn't see the entire place), and enough trees to fill a small forest with winding paths and cute little bridges over babbling brooks. And as if that wasn't enough there was a zoo too! A freaking soo with peacocks, goats, a yak, reindeer, monkeys, colorful birds, chickens and a rooster (and yes we saw a chicken cross the road…) and guinea pigs. I think the most entertaining thing I saw was this poor male peacock that was trying to get the attention for some females (there were four) and they were just not having it. The poor guy got teased and rejected even after he fluffed up his feathers and did this cute little butt shimmy dance. Better luck next time dude.

The poor fella I mentioned.

                At the end of our excursion we went to the second oldest wine cellar in Moravia. We got a tour of the cellar, an explanation of how the different wines are made and distilled and finally tasted some of their wine. My least favorite part of this tour was the fact that from about head level and up (including all of the ceiling) was covered in mold. We were told that the mold was a good thing and that it was proof that the temperature and conditions in the cellar were perfect for storing wine. I’m gonna stick with a fridge, thanks though! Of course I would have to say that the wine tasting itself was fun and a highlight of the trip. I was actually surprised at the different tastes and learning about the ‘bouquet’ of each bottle and how it was made. I felt pretty sophisticated if I do say so myself J.

Me trying to be sophisticated in the second oldest wine cellar in Moravia!

Lorena and I being awesome with our glasses of wine.

Ok little side story here. I am a total book nerd so anytime I see books I investigate. The small book on top was filled with music and songs in Czech. Veronica (the Grad Assistant that took us on our trip) told me that the books had been sitting there for hours and no one came to claim them so I should take it. She had to tell me about five times that it was fine before I finally claimed the book as my own. I am a book thief and I am ok with that fact.