Kutna Hora: Bones and more sickness.

So we (Christine, Devon, Jake, Donnie and I) planned to take a day trip to Kutna Hora, about an hour away on Saturday.  The town is famous for the Sedlec Ossuary Chapel,  known more as the Bone Church. 

I woke up not feeling too hot, nothing was sitting right in my stomach, but we got on the train around 10am anyways!

Our first stop was the Bone Church.  It was really creepy and cold, just gave me the chills.  At the time of the thirty years’ war in the 17th century, the number of burials outgrew the space available, the older remains began to be exhumed and stored in the chapel, and it’s estimated that the chapel now contains the bones of up to 40,000 people. 

 So yes, just plain CREEPY.

Across the street was the Church of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary.  It had surprisingly bright and yellow interior and a really cool organ!

After the church we walked into the city center and went to a really great restaurant recommended by our favorite travel guide, Rick Steves.  I could barely eat a few bites of my meal so I decided to take an earlier train back to Prague =( That was a good decision, because I ended up getting sick on the train. It must have been food poisoning or a 12 hour bug... I slept the rest of the day :/

A Bit Behind.

So I guess I need to catch up, the past week has just been a little crazy with recovering from being sick and catching up on work...

Monday.
Well I made it out of the apartment for the first time in awhile!  With no food left in the pantry, I figured a grocery shopping was in need.  Becca and I made a Albert trip and then I just worked on homework for the rest of the day. 

 For dinner I met up with Kirby, Elise and Christine and we went to our favorite, Gopal.  It is the amazing Hindu, vegetarian restaurant!   The food is absolutely delicious and it is all you can eat for about five dollars, it doesn't get much better than this.

Tuesday.

Class in the morning and then a meeting for my sociology group project in the afternoon, but nothing exciting for the day.

Wednesday.

Class ALL day, not fun.

Thursday. 

I had class in the morning again and another group meeting for my project.  Coffee at Gloria Jean's was a plus =)

In the evening Becca and I headed over to the Miller's for a discussion group.  They make everyone dinner which is such a HUGE blessing.  Some delicious curry chicken with the works was soooo good.  The topic for this week was wisdom. 

It was really cool, because we thought it was going to be more of a Bible study, but was actually a pretty interesting debate on wisdom in general.  They presented us with Bible verses, movie clips, songs, quotes and philosophical references and then we basically just talked about what we thought.  The group was great too!  There were a lot of different views and opinions which gave way to some heated disagreements, but no hard feelings. 

We ended the night with some peanut butter cookies, the ones with hershey kisses =) Such an American food, but warmly welcomed.  The Miller's have been such a blessing to me while I have been here.  They are so welcoming and open to sharing their lives with us and it has been so great, I couldn't be more thankful!

Friday. 

With no classes and a beautiful day outside, I decided to catch up on my Prague Art and Architecture class and venture out into the city to see some sites. 

I started at the Church of Our Lady Under the Chain.  Built in the 1300's it is a mix of the Gothic and Romanesque style.

Right around the corner was the famous Lennon Wall.  Covered in graffiti, quote, pictures and names of just about every tourist, the wall is a sign of "Peace and Love."

Next up was the romantic Love Lock Bridge.  If you are in love with someone you are supposed to attach some sort of lock with an inscription onto the bridge.  It was really cool and had a great view down a small canal. 

From here, I walked over to the Lesser Quarter Bridge Tower, the smaller of the two on the Charles Bridge.

Then I walked across the Charles Bridge.  It was such a beautiful day outside, the sun was shining, and the city looked incredible. 

When I made it over to the other side I went to the exhibit in the Old Town Bridge Tower and then climbed up to the top.  AMAZINGGGG.  I had a panoramic view of the entire city, it was fantastic.  

Sadly, I had leave the beautiful view, so I walked to the Bethlehem Chapel, the birthplace of the Bohemian Reformation and the main preaching location of reformer, Jan Hus. 

I took the metro and tram a few stops and found my next destination, St. Clement's Church.  Once mainly Gothic, it now has a baroque facade.  

And then my last stop was St. Peter at Na Poříčí Church. 

It was so fun just walking around the city, I feel as if there is so much I haven't seen.  There is such rich history wherever you go and I want to see it all =)

The boys made BLT's for family dinner with Christine, Becca and I and then I headed over to Becca's for a relaxed night of movies, ice cream and homework!

I Dislike Illness.

Well the title of this post tells all.

HOMEWORK.
SLEEPING.
ILLNESS.
ILLNESS.
ILLNESS.
MOVIES.

So that was my week for you! I got sick Wednesday and was in bed all weekend until I finally emerged from the apartment Monday morning =)

But I'm getting better!

VIenna: A Land of Palaces and Kebabs.

VIENNA! I loved it.

I had an awesome weekend with the best program ever, CEECE. Props to Eric and Natasha for planning everything for us!Donnie. Eric. Devon. Christine. Molly. Liza. Kevin. Me. Jake. Natasha.

Well it all began Friday morning with a 4 hour bus ride to Vienna. We arrived at 12pm on the dot, got on the metro and made it to our hostel with no problems. Our hostel was really nice, we had private rooms with our own bathrooms! We were all hungry, so we had our first kebab of the trip at a small shop at the end of the street.

We started our tour of the city with Eric as our fearless leader =) We saw tons of museums, some "modern" art, the Hofburg Palace, the town hall, a singing-golden Mozart, St. Stephan's Cathedral, and much more. It was all really beautiful!The Museum of Fine Arts.

A modern art installation in the Museum Quarter.

The Hofburg Palace.

Liza being serenaded by the golden Mozart.

One of the many shopping streets in Vienna.

We had the rest of the day off so we spent it window shopping, napping and eating more kebabs =) Our plan was to head over to the Bermuda triangle, a touristy area in the city that was supposedly known for some fun clubs and bars. FAIL. epic failure.Liza, Donnie and I before going out.

After paying for a taxi, walking around trying to find this place, we eventually split into two groups; Jake, Devon, Christine and I decided to just head back to the hostel. From here the night improved! It was really nice out and still relatively early so I wanted to go for a walk, Jake decided to join me. We walked around the streets for a little while before heading over to the Travelshack, a great, little bar the guys had found earlier. We played a few games of pool, met some other travelers from Prague and just had a great night!

Saturday morning came bright and early at 7am; Molly and I had decided to go explore the Wien Nash Market! Best decision EVER. We weren't quite sure where it was, but no problem, we met some great 75 year old men that helped us out! They spoke no English, but we somehow were able to communicate that fact that we were all going to the same place. After them continuously talking to us in German, we made it! Basically, it is this gigantic yard sale full of junk, but really awesome junk. We spent a few hours looking through coats, bags, glassware, pictures, watches, jewelry, diabetic testing equipment, old phones, sweet sunglasses, and loads of other stuff =) We could have spent hours there, but our time was cut short since we had to be back at our hostel by 10. By the end of our searching, I came away with two great vintage bags, some sweet sunglasses and a vintage silver ring. Molly kept in the tradition of a bag lady and bought three for herself! The trip was a success. There were lots of creepy dolls...

Molly rocking a fur.

The Wein Nash Market.

We made it back in time to the hostel and we all set out for The Belvedere Palace Gardens. The palace itself was incredible, so huge! Set before the palace were extensive, lush gardens and fountains.The Belvedere Palace.

CEECE. Love it.

From here we stopped at this great micro-brewery for lunch. I had some weird, but good, Austrian pasta and ham dish!

Our last stop was the Schonbrunn Palace. Once again, another beautiful building. We were able to take a tour through it room by room! They were so ornate and full of such rich history.The Schonbrunn Palace.

Earlier in the day as we were walking around the city, I noticed an advertisement on a telephone pole for a photography exhibit on child soldiers! I quickly snapped a photo of it in hopes of tracking down the museum. After a few maps and a google search I found it! Once all the tours were done we had the rest of the night off, and I had just enough time to make it to the exhibit. I'm so glad I went, it was well worth the trek=)Quotes from the exhibit.

A map of Africa, the dots show the countries in which child abductions are taking place.

After another nap, the girls all went out for sushi, unfortunately it was a bit disappointing. We met up with the guys and all headed back to the same bar from the night before. It was a relaxed night as we were all pretty exhausted by now. Everyone headed out to the club, but Liza, Molly and I decided to stay back. Instead we got more kebabs =)Molly, Liza and I at the Travelshack.

Sunday was another early morning as we all set out on our bus tour of the southern part of the Vienna Woods. First, we passed through the valley of Helenental and stopped at a beautiful commemorative chapel.From here we drove to the Cistercian Abbey of Heiligenkreuz (built in 1133 and still in use!) Everything was beautiful, from the cloister to the chapels! We had to be out by noon because the monks needed the chapel, it was crazy to think that such an old building is still in use.This dog was fantastic.

Our final stop took us to the Seegrotte Gypsum Mine. A underground mine that has now been turned into a tourist attraction. There were a lot of cool relics on display and we got to ride a boat on the largest subterranean lake in Europe! It was created after a blast in 1912 that caused 20 million liters of water to flood the mines.Jake, Devon and I walking through the mine.
Our tour came to an end and we returned to the city center. Another delicious round of kebabs and a short rest at the hostel and we were headed back to the bus station en route to Praha.

I am always surprised at the end of these trips how ready I am to get back to Praha. It feels like home now, at least temporarily, and nothing really measures up =)