Day 6: Lots of Bones. Like 40,000+ humans worth.

For our last day in Prague, we decided to take a side trip to Kutna Hora a town about an hour outside of the city center. Kutna Hora is famous for its Bone Church or, as it is formally called, the Sedlec Ossuary. I had wanted to make the trip to this little town while I was studying in Prague but never quite made it (we went to the spa town Karlovy Vary instead--yay spas!), so when I offered the option to Eric and Carissa I was excited that they were interested. So off to the Bone Church we went!

These are actually photos from the night before but I hand;t uploaded them yet when I posted the last post. The Charles Bridge at night, Cocaine vodka which I hope doesn't actually have cocaine in it..., and cute kitties on a pack of cookies! Who doesn't want to buy cookies that have animals this adorable on it?

But any who, the morning started with a walk to the train station, which was a good gauge of whether or not we wanted to do it the following morning for our train to Munich. We had an underwhelming breakfast of sandwiches and pizza at the train station, but it was nourishment none the less. And after an hour on the train, we were there!

The first picture is actually the tower of the church that the Ossuary belongs to, it has a really long name that I don't really want to type out but its something like the Cathedral to Our Lady and John the Baptist. We thought about going in but when you get a glimpse inside, it looked pretty simple so we decided no. So we walked past to get to the main attraction, the Sedlec Ossuary.

The story goes that in the Middle Ages, some priest was sent to the Holy Land and came back with some holy dirt and put it in the yard of the Ossuary. When people found out, they were all clamoring to be buried on what was now, by extension, also holy land. It was said that those who were buried here would have a swift ascension to Heaven as opposed to a lingering existence. So all the people now want to be buried here which means lots of bones and little organization. Enter some Czech guy in the 1870s who is assigned the task of organizing the bones. And viola! Now you have the Sedlec Ossuary or the Bone Church.

Literally all of the decoration is bones. All of it. And this tower of bones is hollow but only just barely. Think of the number of people who have their bones here. We were told it's at least 40,000 people.

The chandelier is the grand masterpiece. The connection to the ceiling is made of human jaw bones  and then we have some skulls and vertebrae and femurs and all the bones!

Okay, so maybe there were a couple things that weren't bones, but you can't make a painting of bones so I guess there are exceptions to every rule.

Close up of the chandelier which I think uses every bone in the human body at least once, and then the shield of the family that owned Kutna Hora (I think...?).

I know you want to get up close and personal to the bones, so there you go. And then we have the signature, in bones of course, of the man who organize the bones so prettily. And a view from the stairs down into the Ossuary.

Cross with bones! Then some views of Kutna Hora and the Cathedral of Saint Barbara.

The Cathedral of Saint Barbara is actually a UNESCO heritage site, and a cool little cathedral. As you can see in the second photo, there are coat of arms of the many different people represented in the town and those who helped with the construction of the church. The church was built in either the 1400s or 1500s--I can't remember which. But it;s old.

I always love the criss-crossing of the vaulted ceilings. And some stained glass.

All in all, it was a pretty beautiful church.

The altar piece and then Eric as we make our way back to the train station.

Once we made it back to Prague, we walked to Old Town to get some dinner. We ended up settling on this Thai restaurant near Templova street, which when Carissa mentioned, I was like I KNOW IT! (imagine this in the Will Ferrell Elf voice). The food was actually pretty good, I enjoyed my pad thai very much. And it made it much easier for me to find my old street (not that its exactly difficult to find it either) and my old apartment :)

Chapeau Rouge! This place is where we spent many a night since it was about a block from out apartment and there was always something interesting happening there. And the interesting thing was the people that showed up--talk about some good people watching. The second picture is the door to our building, Dlouha 20. Although, I am sad to say that Coffee Fellows is no longer the cafe below our apartment, its now Follow Me (which I think is an odd name), but we have found that Coffee Fellows exists elsewhere! Like in Germany. And then lastly, the street sign for dear Dlouha--which might be one of the best streets in Prague (after Karlova of course).

We even made a visit to the Bake Shop that is a few meters away and got some sweets and coffee. It was as delicious as I remember!

This girl however was new... a new "decoration" on Dlouha. Modern art I suppose?

But anyway, so ends our time in Prague. I am so so so so glad that I made it back here. This city will always have a special place in my heart and I hope to return again and again and again. So if anyone ever wants to go to Prague, you let me know because I'll be your tour guide! 

On to Munich!

Days 4-5: My Homecoming in Prague

Finally, the city I was most anxiously awaiting for, my return to Prague! As many of you know, I spent 4 months of college studying abroad in this lovely city and it holds a special place in my heart. (If you care to read about some of that, go back to 2009 of my blog and you'll notice many of the same pictures!) 

We had a brief hiccup when we accidentally got off at the wrong Prague train station (they should definitely make this more clear when they make the announcement), and I didn't realize it before the train had already departed for the main train station. So we had to catch a cab to our apartment from this creepier and seedier station.

But once we made it to the apartment, we dropped our stuff off and went exploring! First up was finding somewhere for dinner, which was a restaurant across the river so first things first, we cross the Charles Bridge towards the castle!

The gate that stands at the entrance of the Charles Bridge from Old Town, and a picture of club where I spent many an evening while studying abroad here, the Castle is so pretty at night.

So pretty that we all got a picture with it! Eric, Carissa, me, then Jan, Monika, and Ben. And the gate at the opposite end of the bridge.

This lady was getting some leech therapy--yikes! And a picture of a church in the Castle district

Eat me, drink me! A pic of our drinks at dinner the first night, we had Bernard, Pilsner, Caipirinha, and coke; and for my first meal... goulash! It was delicious

Carissa liked this sign because the restaurant was opened on her birthday! And me trying on a russian style hat at one of the touristy shops.

After dinner we decided to explore a bit and headed towards my old neighborhood, Old Town Square. And there were Christmas markets! Pretty much made the trip for me :)

Old Town! My old home! The Tyn Church in the distance and then the Astronimical clock. Which legend has that the creator had his eyes gouged out after completion of the clock so he could never make another one like it.

And omg, Christmas markets in Prague!!!! This is something I'd always wanted to see but didn't think would still be operating this far after Christmas. A very pleasant surprise indeed. Tyn church and then a stall with a viewing tower, and a fabulously large Christmas tree.

Trying to find the perfect photo.

Awaiting the clock to go off at the top of the hour. and I'm just SO EXCITED to finally be back in Prague!

Off goes the clock! Kind of anticlimactic but what do you expect for a 15th century clock?

The next day, we set off to explore the castle district, but first--lunch! We ate at a place called Cafe Slavia that I had actually been to before and met the need of supplying us with some food. Then we were off to the races and walking to the Castle where we took lots of pictures, as you will see below.

Cola Light and the original Budweiser (bet many of you didn't know that did you? American Budweiser stole its name from the Czech Bud)

Whats a meal without fantastic desserts? Whipped cream banana with chocolate ice-cream, vanilla ice cream sundae, pear crepes with ice cream and an apple strudel.

Walking across the Charles Bridge during the day is just as beautiful.

 

Us with the Castle in the background, and me recreating a picture I took 5 years ago at the Memorial to the Victims of Communism.

I mean, I should probably be a model for this right? 

Embassy row! We found the American Embassy

The Czech are so silly with their sayings.

An old toilet? And I enjoyed how everyone around was like, oh what is she getting a picture of? Oh, just this old toilet, no big deal. Carry on. A view down the street and then a shot of an absinthe store which Eric wants to try (absinthe, not the store)

Another view from our vantage point and then the views from Prague from the Castle. I seriously love this city.

Carissa and I only enhance the view :) And then Ben with his beloved Starbucks. We went to so many Starbucks while he was with us. And next we found the unsmiling palace guards, yay!

The palaces!

St. Vitus Cathedral, we decided not to go in because we were somewhat short on time and wanted to get to see more of the city in the one day Ben et al had in Prague. But I had to snap a shot of the creepy human gargoyles, it had its tongue out all grotesquely.

The Basilica of St. George interspersed with a view of the rear of St Vitus.

We got some good photos of the behind of St Vitus :)

And more wonderful views of the city of Prague from the back of the Castle Quarter

Then we discovered all of these swans and some ducks near the Vltava River, combine that with the Charles Bridge in the background and I think it's quite stunning.

more of the swans and the Charles Bridge.

We found the peeing sculpture by the Franz Kafka museum! So I made Ben get a picture with it. And then a random baby doll in a stroller with its owner no where in site. Kids these days.

Looking back at the church in the Castle Quarter. And my old school: Anglo American University! Brings back memories of my 3 days/week of classes--having 4 day weekends was pretty awesome

I then took everyone around the corner to the John Lennon Wall. The wall is called such because students of Prague in the 1980s used it to write grievances they had with the Soviet regime that controlled Prague. The Soviets would paint over the wall, but the next morning it would be full of more writings and pictures. So it's long been a symbol of peaceful resistance and it now full of Lennon quotes or other good ones like "Freedom is always here as long as your mind is free."

A panorama of the wall. It was apparently repainted white in November, but as you can see, it has since recovered.

After our tour of the Castle District, we went back to the apartment to change because we had decided to go to the opera! We're so fancy. We went to see Don Giovanni, an opera by Mozart and interestingly enough, Don Giovanni was commissioned by Prague and had its world premiere in Prague, with Mozart conducting. The Estates Theatre, which is where we saw the play is the theatre were it was premiered and is the only such theatre that still exists where Mozart conducted one of his world premieres. Pretty cool, huh? Gotta love history.

The play was really good and I enjoyed it a lot. Even though I maybe took a short nap during part of the first act, but Eric took the cake because he fell asleep multiple times haha.

The Castle at dusk and then more Christmas Markets! This time in Wenceslas Square.

The Estates Theatre, a poster for Don Giovanni, and us saying "nazdravi" (cheers)

Ben and I are excited! #bougie And then some shots of the inside of the theatre house.

The theatre was truly gorgeous, even if our seats didn't afford us the best view but hey, for $15 it was totally worth it.

After the play, Ben, Jan, and I went to Karlovy Lazne to get our fill of clubbing in Prague. It was fun! And we ended up staying out pretty late (4-5am). Then dessert was needed at lunch the next day to help aide the recovery from a late night.

Ben et al sadly left the next morning but Eric, Carissa, and I kept on. We went back to the Castle District to see my favorite TV Tower babies in Kampa Park. I was glad to see these hadn't changed at all. I don't know why I love them so much but perhaps its because they are truly so weird. We got on them, showing all the other people who were around how to do pictures with the babies the right way.

We then decided to climb to the top of Petrin Hill and to go up the Petrin Tower to get some views of the city. We calculated that this walk to the top of the hill, from our apartment was about 2 miles. And combined with the snow and slush on the ground, it was quite slippery but we made it! And then climbed 300 stairs to the top of the tower. If we aren't troopers, I don't know who is.

Getting onto these babies is easier said than done, as shown in the images above haha.

Carissa and I had a great time posing with the babies. They're just so fantastic!

View from the top of the park but not quite the top of the tower. They had a mirror maze in this medieval looking building but we didn't investigate. And an alcove attached to a church at the top of the hill.

The Petrin Tower which coincidentally looks like the Eiffel Tower. And views from the first level of the tower.

We got some good photos from this height.

Praha all spread out beneath us!

Our little nature walk afforded us views of such exotic animals like the ferret. Who knew?!

These photos are of a Monastery in the top of the Castle District. These monks apparently brew their own beer but we didn't try any.

Loreta! More beautiful in the Spring/sun but still a handsome building.

Playing around some more near the Castle, one of the palaces has a very intriguing design and a side view of the cathedral from outside the palace walls.

CAMELS, there are camels! Because some event was going on. Eric and Carissa with the cathedral, and we also found the Whomping Willows from Harry Potter. 

Sadly the Royal Gardens and the Royal Summer Palace were closed but we still managed some sneak peeks.

Gotta love those white trees?

Eric posing like this one girl we saw who was getting her picture taken. He did the knee pop and hand on the hip pose quite well. And a view of what used to be the moat around the castle.

We came back to the Castle Quarter and it was performance time! Still not sure exactly what was happening but people were dressed in clothes from ages past and they had camels!!!

Also escorted by the Czech military and please note the "antlers?" on the dog in the second photo. And one of the Three Kings on his camel!

Happy 50th Barbie! You're looking good for such an old gal, plastic surgery maybe? Then walking back down the stairs to get to the Charles Bridge. These sailors kept trying to get us to go on a Boat Cruise. No thanks.

Old Town at dusk.

All in all, this second full day in Prague, we walked over 13 miles--quite the feat! But we saw a lot and had a good time. One last day tomorrow, and we're going to spend part of it in Kutna Hora to see the old Bone Church. I always wanted to go there when I was studying in Prague but never made it out there so now's my chance!