Hungary 2008!!: Karlštejn Castle

I decided to take a day trip from Prague - actually it was a morning trip - easy to get to and return in a 4-5 hour time period. It was a pretty train ride - only about 45 minutes. Once we got to the town of Karlštein, there was about a 35 minute walk up to the castle.

The town is beautiful, but has learned to cater to the tourists that's for sure. I meandered up the hill to the castle and after taking several pictures I went into the castle gate and purchased my "English tour" ticket.

I had some time to wander around the grounds so I took more pictures. There were lots of people sitting around, waiting for their tour, eating sandwiches. I wondered to myself if they were Hungarian :)

Eventually it was time for our tour. I was pleased that they offered tours in English, though that seems to be the norm now a days. I was on the tour with a group of Russians who most likely did not understand the tour. They had brochures of information in Russian - so I think they were okay. There was a sign on our way into the castle though that read "no translating allowed" I have never seen a sign like that before. At any rate, the inside of the castle itself is not that impressive, and our tour guide was quite nervous to be giving our tour. You could tell that she had not done it many times in English, and she struggled to come up with the words that she needed. She was young, and most likely studying English in college - but she didn't have much energy or enthusiasm about the castle. Having said that, she still was giving a tour in a language that was not her native tongue - so it's automatically hard. As a result of my experience teaching non-native English speakers, she was doing a great job. I understood her, and did not have a hard time listening to her tour. There were two other Americans on the tour however, who were not as tolerant of her struggle with our language. This guy, probably in his 60's I'd guess, was quite vocal in telling anyone who would listen that the tour we were on was "the pits" and "it might as well be in Chinese - I'd understand about as much." He bitched the entire time and even when I tried to help him understand what she was saying, he wrote me off entirely. UGH. He was so annoying and I wanted to punch him.

After the tour was over, this guy and his wife immediately sought out a manager or "higher up" to complain about our tour. I stood back and watched them speak about how it was the worst tour they had ever gone on and they would not recommend her to give English tours in the future. After he was done, I immediately caught the attention of the same manager and basically said that he was an American with no patience. She did fine and I was able to understand her quite well. I did say that she needs more practice to not be so nervous, but that there was no need to tell her that someone complained about her tour. That stupid guy really pissed me off. This was a young Czech girl who has probably studied two or three foreign languages in depth and he was complaining because she had a strong accent to her English. Well screw you buddy - what did you do to try and be patient - NOTHING.

Here is a picture of the old guy and his wife as they were leaving. Phoey to them.

Despite the stupid tour guy, the morning was amazing. I took lots of beautiful pictures and was back in Prague by 1:00. I still had the entire afternoon to do whatever I pleased. It was a great journey and I'm happy I did it. Here are some more pictures: