Monday, June 20
Our exam was held this afternoon: it was, I suppose, not as fearsome as I dreamt it. Afterwards, Peter Perina took our class into the castle once more to get a close look at some of the baroque theatre’s stored costumes and set pieces. One dress was sewn with real silver thread — can’t imagine carting that around. The skirts I wore to the festival were heavy enough, thanks!
Tuesday, June 21
I walked into Bata today at 4:30 and walked out at 5:15 with four new pairs of shoes for less than $100 Canadian. This bargain has now been recorded for posterity, and its glory will live on in my day-to-day footwear.
As for course material (shoe shopping, sadly, isn’t on the syllabus), today our class visited Cesky Krumlov’s revolving auditorium for a performance of As You Like It. The auditorium spins the audience slowly between scenes, creating a new “stage” at each rotation—like a revolving restaurant for theatre geeks. The performance was in Czech, but it was an interesting challenge to work through the story via the actor’s gestures and expressions. The play concluded with the cast walking away through a field of candles while the Beatles’ All You Need Is Love played in the background—proving that Beatles music transcends the language barrier and is indeed a universal language.
Wednesday, June 22
We got our exams back today, but there’s no time to enjoy the closure—our second papers are due on Friday. I’m planning to write about gender in commedia dell’arte, but precisely what I’m going to say, I have no idea. I guess inspiration will strike eventually. It’ll have to.
Today’s class was on staging innovations in the 18th century—backdrops, scrims and so on—then, in the afternoon, we screened Daniel Dafoe’s Moll Flanders (Moll Flanders is an example of a picaresque novel, a common form of baroque literature). We’ve watched so many movies here that the course could probably be counted as a film studies credit—not that I’m complaining!
Also, we’re done here in exactly a week. Seven days. How can that be possible? I won’t leave, they can’t make me. I’ll move into the moat with the bears. They’re vegetarian. It’ll be perfectly safe.
Thursday, June 23
Our papers are due tomorrow morning, so it’s writing time: at least it’s raining today, so I’m not tempted to head to the river instead. Our class was on commedia dell’arte, which was sort of a baroque Italian counterpart to the modern sitcom. Tomorrow is Baroque Night, an annual soiree at the castle. Most of the class bought tickets, and it should be a suitable post-paper celebration. I may even have to get another pair of shoes to match my dress.
Friday, June 24
Baroque night: the castle was closed to lowly tourists and ticketholders congregated in the courtyard where courtiers were handing out champagne with strawberries – how continental. In the castle’s ballroom, we took in a commedia dell’arte show, then headed through the hall of mirrors (where a showman was racing mice) into the baroque theatre. We didn’t get a program for tonight’s opera, so what actually happened was anyone’s guess, but the music was gorgeous enough that it didn’t matter.
After the opera, we went into the garden (which was all lit up with candles) and gorged ourselves on the buffet (which included a whole roasted pig over a spit) while watching the various entertainments – baroque musicians, a tightrope walker, and a fire eater, to name a few. The evening finished with a show of baroque fireworks. Our class was the last people to leave – no one wanted the evening to end.
Saturday, June 25
Both my roommates went out horseback riding this afternoon, but the last time I went horseback riding I got hay fever and also smelled like horse, so shopping seemed a more attractive option. On my way back from the boutiques I ran into a few of my classmates ordering mojitos from the roadside bar, and was tipped off that the plan is the celebrate our last weekend in Cesky Krumlov with one last night on the town—so excited!
Sunday, June 26
Today was beautiful—sunny and crisp and not too hot—so a few classmates and I rented a raft and went sailing down the river that runs through Cesky Krumlov to the forest. There are bars and open-air restaurants set up along the river for hungry boaters. We stopped for beer and sausages halfway through. After rafting, it was study time—our final exam is on Tuesday.
Monday, June 27
Today’s class (our last) was on baroque fashion, and I felt pretty wimpy for wussing out of heels on Baroque Night when I was informed that women 300 ago were wearing skirts four metres wide. Our final exam is tomorrow morning, so I spent most of the evening studying, but my roommate and I did find time to head out for dinner with Professors Gantar and Kow at a local game restaurant—I skipped the venison and eel and settled for schnitzel instead.
Tuesday, June 28
After the final exam (not as horrendous as it could have been), my roommate and I visited the castle art gallery, went shopping, and enjoyed a beer at a terrace restaurant on the river. It’s baking today, not a cloud in the sky, so I’ve been less than overjoyed by Halifax friends writing me to announce jubilantly that it stopped raining… Halifax weather is not something I miss. I spent a couple hours packing, and now I’m relaxing in the Pension before my roommate and I head to the farewell dinner. The bus leaves Cesky Krumlov tomorrow at 6 a.m. (ungodly hour, but these are the realities of being a world traveler). I can’t believe how much I learned here—in class and out. And even though I’m excited to come home, I’m sad to be leaving my friends and classmates in Cesky Krumlov. I’ve also stopped saying “if I come back” in favor of “when I come back”. It’ll happen.
I could write more, but my bag isn’t going to pack itself. Dal News foreign correspondent Rebecca Schneidereit, signing off!
Commedia dell'arte at Baroque Night
Farewell to the Czech Republic
Rebecca Schneidereit - July 4, 2011
The view of Cesky Krumlov from the castle.