Konopiste

Going through the castle map we happened upon another nearby castle, that I noticed was right next to my friends Kate's home. We decided to give it a shot, and I texted Kate to tell her we were coming. We took the train, which took almost an hour, mainly because it's a communter train, and Kate met us at the station. The walk up to the castle is mostly through the castle grounds which are now a state park. The day was sunny and warm and a walk through the gardens was very relaxing and fun.
The castle is the first I've seen that has bears in residence in the former moat. So you see several pictures of that. We wandered the grouds for a while, includin gthe famous rose gardens. Eventually Kate had to leave, and Megan and I stopped for lunch at the Barrel Restaurant for some Klobasa. We went back up to the castle and did one of the tours which I think we both really enjoyed. The last owner of the castle was the guy whose assasination sparked WW1. Afterwards we walked back into teh nearby town of Benesov and got some pictures of their cathedral and what appears to be a single remaining Cathedral wall fragment. Someday I will translate all the explanatory sign I take pictures of. Speaking of which...