Ciao Stranger,
Before I hear any complaints, I know I'm incredibly behind on my posts but I've been travelling far too much and have had no time to blog at all. In order to attempt to catch up, I am currently writing this in class. I rarely come to class to begin with and now that I am here, I don't pay any attention to the class. What can I say, my parents must be incredibly proud of my dedication.
Saturday
Sean did a bit of research beforehand and wanted to go on a day trip to a nearby town called Kutna Hora which had a skeleton church, and since the rest of us didn't have anything planned, we all agreed to go along. There was a private tour to the city with the same tour guide we had from the previous day but by the time we got to the meeting point 5 minutes after the assigned time, the tour had already left. Not letting that ruin our day, we decided to take it slow, eat some food and slowly make our own way to the city. The guys got some smoked ham, sausages and sour cabbage potato thing from this stand. My verdict? Salty.
Not being the meat lover, I went for some unnecessary carbs. these trdelnjks, a Hungarian pastry that can be found all over the place. It's a piece of dough rolled around a pin, sprinkled with cinnamon and lots of sugar. It's cooked over the oven while its spinning on the roller. It tastes like a dense piece of dough covered in sugar, exactly how you would expect it to be, nothing spectacular, nothing out of this world. Would I get it again? Maybe to share, but definitely not all for myself.
This is probably my favourite building in all of Prague. I just can't stop staring at it. We passed it the day before on the walking tour and the guide pointed out that this building lives and breathes the Art Nouveau style, which can be described as a type of architecture that encompasses nature, greenery, and flowers. We went into the building and realized that it's actually an opera house (like most of the bigger establishments in the city. Even a good portion of the churches here have been converted into theatres & music halls since not many people practice Christianity anymore due to the rough history the Czech Republic had with religion). I obviously had to take a picture with this beauteous structure.
On our way to the train station, we went into a convenience store to get some water and found some lovely hash brownies/cookies/chips casually placed right by the chocolate section at the front of the store. For your reference, 99 Kc is around $5.50 Cnd. Sorry to inform you but we did not buy any.
After 2 hours, 2 trains and asking a handful of people every chance we got, we somehow made it to Kutna Hora. Once we got out of the train station, I realized just how rural this town really was. There was no evident bus system, no taxi service, no other forms of transportation other than walking into town, which was apparently 3 miles away. With no options to choose from, we began to walk and found the Sedlec Ossuary, the bone church. Honestly after Capuchin Crypt, the bone church in Rome, I never wanted to see human skeletons again but since the boys wanted to, I'm no party pooper. Mountain of skulls...how...*insert your own adjective here*
A chandelier made out of human skulls: creepy and unique at the same time. Just like last time, I quickly scanned the place, took the necessary touristy pictures and waited by the door, where I felt the hair at the back of my neck calm down. An American tourist came in and told the receptionist his story of coming to Europe. Apparently this attractive mid-20s traveller saw a picture of the Ossuary and was determined to come here and take a picture of it in person. He went on about how thankful he was to be there, accomplishing his dream and how in order to fund this journey, he even sold his car. That really got me thinking...this guy gave up so much in order to fulfil his dream, what about myself? What out of the box thing have I done to achieve something I wanted? I definitely exhibited the saying "one man's trash is another man's treasure". If it weren't for his story, I don't think I would have appreciated Kutna Hora as much as I did. So thank you stranger for making me see the city in a new light.
There was a big church at the centre of the town 2 miles away from the Ossuary, and since the buses were useless, I reluctantly trotted along to town. An unknown period of time later, we made it! Look how busy this place is on a Saturday afternoon, business is booming! The town looked almost deserted, and none of the shops were opened.
We went into a little bakery shop because I was starving and badly needed to use their bathroom. We hit the jackpot because this place was AHMAZING! The pastries were crazy cheap 50 cents - 1 Euro for giant cookies and cakes. We all stuffed our faces full with sweets and ice cream. This was definitely the most peculiar afternoon tea experience I've ever had. Sitting with 3 guys inside a local bakery shop in a small town in Czech where no one speaks English and all communication is done by playing charades.
Cathedral of St. Barbara, one of the most well known Gothic churches in Central Europe. After an hour and a half of walking, we found you! It stands on the highest point of the small town, and probably the only place where you can find another tourist.
Inside the church. I've learned to always look up everytime I walk into a church because the most impressive piece of work is usually on the ceiling. Instead of the usual criss cross Gothic styled rib-vaults, this one is placed in flower designs.
Before going into the church, we had stepped into a stationary store where the shopkeeper was an over friendly local girl that answered all of our annoying questions and even recommended a local restaurant to us. It reminded me of Lokal from the night before, with its traditional pub styled decorations and long wooden tables. Since Czech is well known for its beer, (country where they drink the most amount of beer, 144L a year per capita and that's including babies) we decided to order a beer sampler to try a bit of everything.
And we shared a meat platter, which is pretty much a pig platter. Potato pancakes, rice, sausages, ribs, cured ham and salad. The portion may not look big in this picture but trust me, it was massive. This whole dish was 16 Euros and after stuffing our faces full of the delicious meats, we still had leftovers. Best 4 Euros ever spent. I would highly recommend this place if you go to Kutna Hora. It's called Dacicky and it's a 2 minute walk from the church.
We really took our time with dinner, and may have enjoyed things a little too much because by the time we made it out of the restaurant, it was getting dark outside. We wanted to take the local train station in the town and save ourselves the 3 mile walk back to the bigger station. Problem was, we had no idea where the local one was and neither did any of the locals we asked because they simply couldn't understand what we were talking about. For the first time in Europe, I felt helpless due to incapabilities in communication. Half an hour later, we found our train station, possibly the smallest and sketchiest train station I've ever seen in my life. The sign is almost as big as the station! Sadly by the time we got there, the train had already left (we think) and with the choice of either sleeping at the train station or walking the 3 miles back, we decided to get some exercise. Four lost tourists walking in the cold and dark evening, having a karaoke session along the way, it was pure perfection. If I could do it again, I would not change a thing.
Eventually at 9pm, we made it on the train and shortly after this picture was taken, we passed out from exhaustion. Remember Hogwarts express? These trains reminded me of them because you get 6 seats in the cubicle that can be accessed by a sliding door. This is exactly what a train should look like. Childhood dream come true!
When we got back to Prague, we first went to the apartment to freshen up and then headed out to experience Prague's night life. I've heard from numerous people how there's this multi-floor club that's pure awesomeness so needless to say, we headed straight there. Since the line was outrageously long, we decided to go predrink at a bar first. An hour later, I'm tip toeing on my heels because downtown consists of cobblestone flooring and we're still trying to find an open bar. I think the only reason the club is so packed and popular is because it's the only damn thing open! The rest of the centre is essentially dead I crippled my way around. Eventually we found a sports bar and by the time the drinks came, we just wanted to go home. Needless to say, the whole day of walking and touring around wore us out and alcohol only made us that much more sleepy. No longer able to feel my feet, I was half carried to the bus stop. By the time we got back at 4 AM, everyone just passed out.
Sunday
Originally I was planning on going to the shooting range in the morning but when I woke up, it was already 10:30 AM and since I booked an early afternoon flight, that plan went down the drain. After some breakfast, I unwillingly left for the airport first, leaving the 3 guys. One more day in the city would've been magical but I guess this just means that I have to visit Prague again someday.
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