More Burcak (oh and a castle)!

Sorry for the delay in updating! The longer I'm here, the more it feels like nothing new is happening.  The immersion class is over- although rushed, it helped with every day events (ordering, numbers, hi/thankyou/please) but my czech is still awful and I end up reverting back to the phrase "mluvite angliscky?" Yes, it means- do you speak english?! Other than that nothing is new, a few new pubs, cafes, shops. 

Today I decided I needed a break from the group and ventured out by myself.  Since it was last minute, the Sunday before actual classes start, and I've never been to a huge train depot by myself, I decided to go to a fail proof castle 33 km (20 miles) away from the center of Praha. Karlstejn Castle was recommended by a English woman's blog, who (from my knowledge) has Prague pretty spot on- so I decided to take her advise. Much to my surprise, there was a wine festival this weekend! (It was destiny!) Right now everywhere in the Czech Republic, everyone is going crazy for burcak (boorchak)! It's also called "young wine" which (if I didn't mention it last week) is a wine where the grapes are still fermenting when it is created.  It tastes like juice- legit. Which I found this wine festival much more entertaining than Prague's! So this is what happened:

So I started out at the main station in Praha!

 And ended up in the country! I was walking over the main bridge in Karlstejn at this time on my way to the castle!

 Since I'm into rocks and what not, I thought it was a nice outcrop- I haven't seen much geology since Prague is so built up!

 Then all of a sudden, I hear these drums and see this on a side street....

 And a couple more minutes of walking I find the festival! On my way to the castle (they make drinking this sweet wine convenient!)

 I took my time through the festival- I thought it was going to be very "touristy" buttttt very few people spoke English.  It was more along the lines of the Renaissance Fair in Colorado- huge festival thingy, but mainly locals.
 I made it up the hill (it was huuuggeee) and had this view for a while:

 While the pretty rolling hills that are amazingly green were on my right, the actual castle was on my left:

 After seeing the castle (no pictures from inside) I took the scenic walk down to the festival again through the woods:

 It was a nice 7 to 10 minute walk down, which set me all the way back down the hill.  Where I realized how pretty the castle was again.

 But, I had to stop admiring how beautiful everything is, because the festivities were starting! I heard a whole bunch of drums and other instruments (wooden windpipes and what not). The Emperor was arriving! It was quite a scene!

 So I hung out more, bought some postcards for a few more people and tried to talk with some people (complete fail).  But, I decided since I did a good deal of walking I deserved a treat! This stuff is just absolutely amazing.  Annndddd it's not fried! YAY!  But the stuff is called trdelnik. I get through half of it and have to throw it out.. It's a bit too sweet for the whole thing.

I'll post the other pictures from the trip at a later time... It was a wonderful trip- I forgot how calming the country is compared to a big city! :)