Since we got here on Friday evening and didn’t exactly have the most ideal beginning, Saturday is actually the first full day we spent in Krumlov.
After a wild night when one of the kids was suffering from a cough, I was determined to find a pharmacy in the morning and buy all the things we needed. I went online – how else to find things in an unfamiliar town? – and looked for a pharmacy. I was surprised to see that the two closest were closed on Saturdays, and the one that was open was about five kilometers away. Considering the time I’d spend getting there and back, the idea of heading out on foot struck me as quiet utopian. But walking to the parking lot, driving to the pharmacy, driving back, parking, and walking back home seemed equally time-consuming. Living in the center, you can’t drive to your house just like that. You need a permit from the local police for a specific license plate number, date, and time, plus you have to pay a whopping 100 crowns. Hardly worth it, right? The third option that occurred to me didn’t work out, either, since on Saturdays public transit doesn’t really run along the route I needed. Good thing some friends were coming to visit and could pick up some syrup on the way…
In the morning, I set out to get my son to fall asleep in the baby carriage. I was walking at a slow pace, but I was constantly afraid that he was going to fall out and not fall asleep. But the child survived and fell asleep. Now what? He’s asleep, we don’t have a garden, and the apartment is on the third floor… So I sat down on the square with a book I’ve been reading. When I arrive, it’s tourists wherever you look. I take a seat on an empty bench, and over the next several hours I share it with a succession of benchmates. Some musicians show up (just what you need when you’ve got a sleeping child), as does a line of honking cars from a wedding (about 150 of them). The shade disappears and isn’t back for another two hours… But the child slept and I read a bit of my book. Based on the number of people on the benches, I’d say it wouldn’t hurt to add some more. It was also a bit confusing that you couldn’t tell where the road ends and the sidewalk begins.
In the afternoon, the kids and I went to look at the fountain and figure out why people throw money into it and how much there might be in there already. We had some excellent soft-serve ice cream, too. Strangely enough, on Latrán Street you won’t find it for less than CZK 35, but two streets away you can get it for 25 – quite a difference if you’re buying more than one. We watched the rafters and kayakers (many of them waved back), and also had a beer to the sound of pleasant music at a restaurant.
When I look back on it, I can say that I got a good feeling from the first day – mostly, that is, from the time we spent outside the city center.