Český Krumlov

This is the name of Czech Republic's second most visited town. It's small, picturesque, and pretty quiet, compared to Prague. The name means "Czech bend in the river" and if you see the map of the town, you would see how it gets its name.
We went the weekend before everything "officially" opens for tourist season. So we got great prices, no crowds, and to see some snow on the ground still. But, we didn't get to tour the castle, see the bears, or the castle gardens :( I guess we'll have to go back. Also, the biggest tourist attraction there is simply the river itself, for canoeing or rafting. Maybe we'll plan to go back in July, when it's a lot warmer!
Here are the first three pictures. One is looking from the castle at the Church of St. Vitus (built in the 15th century). Next is the castle, with its colorful round tower, showing off its splendid paint, originally done in the 16th century. And then there is a picture from the Main Square, with its Baroque and Renaissance homes from the 17th century. The pink one is a pharmacy that has been there since 1620. Rick Steves says McDonald's has tried 3 times to get a spot there...no such luck yet. The tour group in the picture is the largest group of people we saw the whole weekend. Their group was even larger than our group. Only 15 students made the trip from our group...too much homework for most of them to leave, I guess.
Which reminds me, I have one more picture to share: Geo doing his homework on the trip in our 4 star hotel room.