Czech Me Out, Baby

   Have you ever been hurdled back thousands of years in the past to the ages of feudal lords, mud covered peasants, and shit covered serfs? Neither have I. But my excursion to the Czech Republic sure made me wonder what it might be like to be thrown into a black hole only to sucked back in time.  The Czech Republic is truly a land stuck in the Medieval Ages.  A tremendous castle loomed on the horizon, the town's people sat outside of their souvenir shops, smoking cigarettes and eyeing passing tourists.  We even went into a tavern that had coats of arms painted nearly 300 hundred years ago, dined under the shallow light of flickering tallow candles, and ate roasted medieval cheese on bread.  What a strange place to live! There are little cafes with nothing more than dinky wooden tables and a piano.  Yet, you can be sitting there enjoying a cup of joe and a Czech music student will walk in and start playing concertos so beautiful that it brings tears to your eyes and melts your soul.
   There is such a wealth of rich culture in the Czech, something I would not have known without wandering into the Schiele Museum of Modern art in Krumlov.  This man, Ergon Schiele gave birth to the 49th Viennese  Secession, as well as creating drawings disturbing and beautiful, wonderful syncopations of disgust and admiration such that your breathing will slowly stop as you examine his works.  It is incredibly sad to learn that he died of the Spanish Flu 3 days after his wife fell to the same disease.  But to think that such a place exists, and I literally had no idea.  I wonder what else the Czech Republic and obscure eastern European countries like it have hidden away in their dense forests.  A place like Krumlov is a gem of modern European tourism that is only known to the wandering bands of Asian tourist groups.  No Americans, only very few Germans, and lots of Asians.  I look forward to exploring it in the future, as this place is truly a mystery to most Americans.  We get caught up in tropical resorts in Cabo San Lucas and Mediterranean paradises of the coast of Greece.  But there is so much to see in the places we dare not look.  My curiosity has been sparked; I must investigate the Czech more.  Not to mention everything is dirt cheap.  Until next time, peace and love.