Day 3: My Visit to Pemberly

Think England's the only place with the Austen feel? Think again!

Our first stop on the Austen-ian Czech Tour was the palace at Lednice - a gorgeous Neo-Gothic structure held by the Liechtenstein family for generations. It also has an extensive English garden, which gave it the distinctly Austen feel.

And, of course, what place would be complete without the birds of prey?

Makes me feel rather buzzardly

Here are the gorgeous gardens

Posing with a, fortunately, clothed statue

Would you take a turn with me in the gardens?

I loved the outer decor on the greenhouse - everything was beautifully designed.

And, of course, they had a lake (but no Mr. Darcy dipping in it)

Yours truly posing with this fierce monster

A seriously gnarly tree

I finally got a shot with my dad in it - and the grounds were delightful!

I love the intricate designs on everything!

Seriously. A palace.

Another view of said palace.

We took a tour inside the palace, but they don't let you take photos, which is a shame because the woodwork inside was so gorgeous, I about died. You can get a little bit of a feel for it in these photos.

Our next stop was the village of Mikulov, complete with a slightly smaller castle. This one was under the care of the Dietrichstein family for many years. It really seemed like it was tucked away in the center of the village.

I love the foliage growing on the castle.

And I seem to have a thing for doorways - I love to take photos of them.

See?

And another one! But, they were pretty cool...

More castle-y stuff

This was the old tower we climbed up.

The stairways were quite narrow

The top of the lookout.

View of the surrounding hills (and cool buildings on top)

I love the "onion" towers that are everywhere (and always green...)

Super cool ruin on the hill

A bit of a fortification wall there - doesn't quite match the decor, don't you think?

And this is the famous Dietrichstein tomb full of the mummified bodies of several members of that family. We did not go in to view the bodies. Sorry to disappoint.

Random Czechsky Thought: Continuing the discussion on food, here are a few of the TO DIE FOR delights we did enjoy:

Smazeny Syr (aka fried cheese - oh, how I love cheese)
Bread of any kind - the Europeans sure know how to make bread - and they always seem to have like 20 varieties at every store!
Ice Cream - there are lots of little stores selling ice cream (in too tiny scoops) on every street - I don't know what they do different, but they have all kinds of flavors and they almost taste fizzy! SO GOOD!

Ah, Czech food, I miss you (well, some of you).