2017-07-07

【Aiden in English】

        The Czech Republic, also known as Czechia, previously known as Czech-Slovakia, before that known as the Bohemian Kingdom, is an interesting country, to say the least. Its numbers run along the same lines of Austria regarding population and area, but everything else couldn't be more drastic. The people, the culture, and the religion all have their differences, and today's trip to Česky Krumlov, a small medieval town, demonstrates the contrast.

        So why does Czech contrast so much between its neighbors? Surprisingly, it all was related to recent history. World War II affected many countries, but rarely any as much as Czech. Adolf Hitler, assuming command of Germany, was granted the ownership to certain areas of Czech. He drove out a lot of the natives and gave the land to the Germans. At the time, most of the Czech actually was populated by Germans. Hitler gave them control, harshly punishing Czechs. After the war, Czechs returned the favor and kicked out most Germans from their borders. Therefore, much of the country nowadays is non-German. Furthermore, Czech had closed borders for half a century after WWII because of its position behind the Iron Curtain. And finally, they separated from Slovakia in 1992, resulting in another splitting of cultures.

        For these reasons, the Czech Republic is quite different from any other of its neighbors. However, it brews and drinks beer at an astonishing rate, much like its neighbors, leading the world in beer consumption. According to the locals, beer is water and not alcohol, which to some point is true. Beer, in most places, is cheaper than water, encouraging more consumption. In fact, the average beer consumed in a day is over 0.4 liters/13.5 fl oz? and that's including the underaged children and babies.

        All of this was on display at Česky Krumlov. This fairytale town is quite delicate, with a minuscule population of thirteen thousand people. However, it's the tourists that dominate the narrow, commercialized streets. And cars. Why are cars allowed on cobble, narrow pedestrian lanes filled with people, pets, and street vendors? I don't know. Regardless, the tourism core fuels the town. At the town center lies a hill with a Česky Krumlov Castle. The 13th-century castle has recently restored in Gothic, Renaissance, and Baroque styles. It is a typical European castle, having battlements, living quarters, and the main tower. However, the view from its various angles of the town was spectacular. Walking down from the hill, I saw many touristic attractions at play, like pretty souvenir shops and numerous street-side musicians. This showed the dependence on tourism here. The Vltava River wrapped around the old town provided sections for mom and me to set foot in the medieval times. To be honest, Česky Krumlov at least requires a good day or so to explore. An interesting item that we could've done further exploration in was the food and drink, as we only tried a single street snack called Trdelník. Rabbit, oddly, seemed to be a traditional dish, but outside of fine dining, there was much to try and only so little time.

        Česky Krumlov is the only town we will be stopping at within the Czech Republic this time, unfortunately. It, however, has shown the differences between the rest of our itinerary by a single tour in the past five centuries. Yet there is still much to see in Czech, so I may be possibly returning in the future to discover more of this small country.

【紅霞譯文】

        捷克共和國亦即捷克，以前又被稱作捷克斯洛伐克，古時還曾叫波希米亞王國，起碼算得上可以大談特談的國家，其人口密度和國土面積跟奧地利差不多，但在其它方面卻沒什麼可比性，畢竟民族、文化、宗教淵源迥異，今天中世紀古城克魯姆洛夫之旅足以讓我們感受到不同之處。

        那麼到底為什麼捷克卓爾不群呢？豈料所有一切均與近代歷史密切相關，真讓人跌破眼鏡。第二次世界大戰波及到很多國家，但幾乎沒有一個民族遭遇像捷克那樣，身為德國最高統帥的阿道夫·希特勒將捷克某些地區劃為己有，肆意驅逐當地民眾，強行把土地分給德國佬，那時日爾曼後裔實際上遍布捷克紮根落戶，希特勒讓他們作威作福，殘酷壓迫捷克人，致使戰後捷克人以牙還牙，統統將德國佬趕回老家，因此如今在捷克德國佬所剩無幾，再加上二戰後時處鐵幕背面的捷克閉關自守與所在的周邊西方世界隔絕長達半個世紀之久，1992年捷克和斯洛伐克終於分道揚鑣，導致兩種文化徹底決裂。

        正是基於以上原因，捷克共和國才與鄰邦各國存有天壤之別。然而，捷克樂衷釀造酷愛啤酒，其瘋狂勁頭令世人刮目相看，較啤酒國度有過之而無不及，難怪它獨居世界啤酒消費榜首，當地老百姓語不驚人死不休，宣稱啤酒是水而非酒類產品，從某個角度而言不無道理。啤酒在捷克國內很多地方確實比水還要便宜，變相刺激更多消費。有數據顯示，捷克啤酒日均消耗量近乎400毫升即13.5液體盎司，其中包括未成年子女和吃奶嬰兒。

        所有一切全部通過克魯姆洛夫再現出來，這個童話般古城小巧玲瓏，本土人口不足十三萬而已，倒是各方遊客遍及大街小巷，車輛川流不息，為啥竟允許汽車在萬頭攢動寵物橫行店鋪當道的鵝卵石狹窄人行胡同里來回穿梭？對之我一頭霧水。不管怎樣，當地旅遊業興旺發達，城中心山丘上矗立着克魯姆洛夫城堡，最近已修繕一新，重新恢復文藝復興、哥特及巴洛克式原有風貌。它是一座典型的歐洲城堡，城垛、住宅、主塔一應俱全，從城區不同角度觀看景色極為壯觀。我們從山上拾級而下，眼花繚亂的靚麗畫面連同漂亮講究的禮品商店及文武雙全的街頭藝人構成了一道道風景線，由此表明當地生活與旅遊業唇齒相依。伏爾塔瓦河環繞古城，我和媽媽漫步其中仿佛時光穿越到中世紀年代。坦率地說，來克魯姆洛夫古城遊玩至少要豪擲一兩天時間，這樣可以仔細品味餐飲小吃，可惜我們只嘗過一種叫“烤麵包卷”的點心，不無奇葩的是兔肉儼然成為傳統食譜，當然除了享用美食之外，還有很多生活值得體驗，但苦於時間有限只好作罷。

        可惜克魯姆洛夫是我們出遊捷克共和國唯一駐足的地方，好在它多方位詮釋了過去五個世紀別具一格的風土人情，由此說來捷克當該多加了解，期待有朝一日我會再來發掘這塊寶地。

Today in History(歷史上的今天):

2016: The British Isles via Kirkwall(英國—途徑柯克沃爾城環遊英倫三島)

2016: New vs. Old Cruise, UK(英國─新舊遊輪對比)

2014: First Day of YMCA Soccer Camp(基督教青年會營足球營第一天)

2012: Stage Taste(演戲興趣)

2011: Drama-Sports Camp-3(文體營之三)

2011: 業餘活動(Extracurricular Activities)

2010: 討價還價外傳(Another Bargain)

Crosslink(相關博文):

Europe(歐洲掠影)