Czech Republic - Prague and Kutna Hora

 AUCKLAND  -  DUBAI  -  PRAGUE

In the middle of nowhere flying above the clouds

Flying into sandy Dubai

Beautiful Prague

We arrived in beautiful Prague to a slightly overcast day, but the view from the plane was good and we could see that it looked like an interesting landscape.  Caught the bus into the city centre, then asked around and got a train then a bus and a walk in the rain and we had found our accommodation.  A great little pub like place.  Nick and Dee arrived the next morning and we had lunch and then headed into the city to see some sights.  The Charles Bridge, made of stone, was renown for being over crowded at all times, wasn't and we manged to walk across it with no problem at all. It was built by Charles IV in 1357.  It is in a Gothic style, 516m long, 9.5m wide and supported by 16 massive piers.  Both ends have fort like towers at them and there is 30 odd statues along the sides. The bridge was the only bridge in Prague up to the 19th century.   Explored both sides of it, found a nice place for lunch.  Watched a bit of the tour de France on telly.  Visited a French market.  After looking around a bit we headed towards the massive square for a look at the Astronomical clock.   We had some dinner and a few beers and headed to the tram to head back to our beds.

Murray, Nick, Dee and Delwyn catching the train into Prague

Gorgeous buildings and cars everywhere

Absinth shops everywhere

Looking towards the fort at the beginning
of Charles Bridge

By the river Vltava.

About half way across the bridge

On the other side.

The next morning we were off again - visiting the square again and saw a couple of Czech weddings.  We jumped on a tram again and headed across a bridge and up the hill to Wallenstein Palace and Garden - constructed for one of the most wealthiest and noble Czech gentleman General Albrecht Vaclav Eusebuis of Wallenstein.  We were lucky enough to time our visit with the changing of the guards. A very formal and official procedure.The garden was in a formal design with paths and manicured lawns and gardens and was very green and well looked after.  We found a Chinese restaurant which we satisfied our tummies with yummy food then headed back taking a quick peak at the famous dancing house - which really wasn't worth the effort!

At Wenceslas Square

There's nothing like sitting on display in a shop window
getting a real live foot pedicure!

Just look at these suckers!

St Nicholas Church (1730) (I think)

The Astronomical clock at the old town hall.

We got back to the hotel, got our bags and then Nick and Dee dropped us off at the train station to go into Prague to catch a connecting train to Kutna Hora.  After arriving at 9pm, a very helpful taxi driver who couldn't speak english, whom we conversed through sign language took us to a hotel which had just one room left - yeah right we thought this is going to cost us but no....... A beauty little place we would definitely recommend.  (Hotel Kreta).  The next morning we headed off for a walk before breakfast.  Walking past the local supermarket there was a huge que outside so we thought we'd hang around and see what the go was.  The doors opened and we joined the stampede only to find there was a special on milk - boring could have been chocolate!  We did see a giant sized watermelon and topped up a few supplies before heading off to our helpx the following day.  Went back to Hotel Kreta for a delicious breakfast and then walked into the village centre.  A beautiful village with neat roads, loads of silver shops of course.   Murray brought a good chain and I tried to find a bracelet I liked but didn't.  We did the Silver mine tour which was really interesting and worth the time and $$'s.  After exploring the village some more we back and got out bags and headed to the Church of Bones. Yes bones, an urban myth has it that a monk went mad and made things from the bones, and there are stories to suggest that partially blind monks entrusted with the car of the chapel were the first to begin piling the bones into geometric shapes.  The decorations and sculptures were created though by a woodcarver named Frantisek Rint.  In 1870 he was commissioned by the landowners at the time, the Schwarzenberg family to decorate the chapel with the bones and create a reminder of the impermanence of human life and inescapable death.  There a four huge piled of skull and bones, about 4m square on the ground and about 3m high.  A chandelier hung from the ceiling - apparently with at least one of each bone in the human body.  Weirdly interesting.  Sometime in the thirteenth century someone visited Palestine and returned with some soil, that was then sprinkled on the ground around the chapel, which then in turn became the most popular place to be buried.  At the time of the 30 year war in the 17th century they ran out of room and the remains had to be exhumed and stored in the chapel.  It is estimated that the chapel now has the bones from around 40,000 people.  Yuk - but cool !