Chateau......

So we toured this crazy, huge Chateau that had fake caves, beautifully decorated rooms, a library, a gallerie, and a tower to see all the city. Let's start with the fake caves.... There was apparently a nice theme of fake things among the people of Kromeriz... There were a few rooms that had this crazy cave theme. [Think Rainforest Cafe of the 17th century]. It was pretty serious and detailed..

Speaking of detailed, there was another room that was completely COVERED by mosaics! Little tiles decorated everything from the floor to the ceiling! It was BEAUTIFUL!

Then, of course, there were the crazy rooms for the rich people of the Chateau (which I'm pretty sure held Bishops??) There was the guys' room that had a pool table and beautifully decorated walls full of ANIMAL FACES... eeewww! It was so gross! I wasn't allowed to take a picture, but I wasn't even sure I wanted to! It was filled with little baby animal heads. They didn't even look real. I'm pretty sure the rich guy who lived there payed some artists to make some iron casts of baby animals and place their heads on his wall surrounded by some crazy weapons in order to make him feel more masculine... ((You are aware the next room was filled with pictures of this cat wearing a DRESS!?!?!?!?)).... Our guide said there werwe 225 heads in all... I was not impressed... just a little sick...

There was also a library in the Chateau! It is the second largest collection in the world! It had over 88,000 scientific boks alone! It was really fun to be in that old ancient library and wonder if that old rich man ever even looked at them.. I'm guessing it was more for bragging rights than anything... It instantly made Rachel and I start singing "Belle" from Beauty and the Beast."

At one point we went to a ballroom that was a little over the top. All the chandiliers were imported crystal from Italy and there was gold everywhere. Exactly what you would think of when you imagined a ballroom.... This sent more "Beauty and the Beast" songs through our heads, but we refrained.. Our Czech tourguide sang us a beautiful song while we looked at the walls.... ((See video))....We were all amazed at how old everything in the Chateau was! Actual pieces just laying around! At one point, Rachel looked around and said ((I promise she said this...)) "Oh, look! The mirror still works!!" Yep...

Then we went to the tower. The view of the city was amazing. We also got the chance to see a "historical carousel" while we were on the tower! WOW! :) haha* Our guide was pretty funny... [We'll get to that more later...]

Afterwards, we visited the gallerie. It was a large, great collection that contained pieces such as [I'm not making these names up] "Still Life With a Cat, Dead Birds, and Vegetables" which, of course, was from the same period as "Still Life With a Cat and Dead Birds." Really?!?!? You are ARTISTS who have an amazing GIFT and the BEST name you can come up with for your MASTERPIECE is "STILL LIFE WITH......"?!?!?!? I guess I'm just not much of an art person.. I don't get it.. I cannot interpret it, but I do think it is beautiful and I appreciate the artists who worked so hard on it. There was a famous work in the gallerie: "Apollo and Marsyas." I knoew it was famous because there was a nice, thick, velvet rope around it, indicating its importance... :) Overall, the Chateau was a great place to visit! The working mirrors were amazing! ;)