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Our ride picked us up in a very nice BMW (Honey, I want one). We arrived at the tour meeting place a little early so did a little shopping - shoe shopping. The boots are to die for - if you are a woman in Europe I swear you live in these. I didn't buy....but we're not gone yet!
When we walked out of the store Quasimoto walks up to us and says "do you speak English?" I kind of ignore him and keep walking but then he's trying to usher us into a car! Then there's another guy talking to him and trying to usher us in too! I'm beginning to get a little frantic wondering what on earth is going on, and then see the tour company representative we bought the tickets from. So ok, I hop into the waiting van in the back seats, and Alex squeezes in next to me. Then Quasi squeezes in next to him! The other man says something in Czech to Quasi, then closes the van door and hops in the driver's seat. I'm still a little concerned, three of us squished into this back row of seats while the middle row and front seats remain open. Finally Quasi introduces himself as Jonathan our tour guide. He of course sat in back with us so we could hear him talk! He became a little less creepy as time went on, but the Quasi in him didn't disappear completely!
Kutna Hora is a medieval town about an hour outside of Prague. In the late 13th century silver was found and the town prospered, it's population equal to London by the end of the 14th century. The building projects and growth rivalled Prague in it's ambition and the country's mint was established here. Of course, when the mines dried up, the city's appeal abruptly came to an end at the end of the 16th century and the town never fully recovered. Now it is a UNESCO site and the tobacco giant Phillip Morris has built an amazingly huge factory here. It is the UNESCO funding, the factory and tourism which keep this gothic little city alive today.
Our first stop was in Sedlec, a defunct monastary with a strange cemetery. Apparently the soil allowed for faster disintegration of bodies, so everyone all over Bohemia wanted to be buried there. Over time there were so many skeletons piling up that in the 1870s an artist was hired to do something creative with them. Now the gothic building is adorned in human bones: bone chandeliers, bone garlands strung about the arches, bone pyramids - very macabre.
The next stop was the Cathedral of sv Barbora. It's great gothic foundations were begun the 1380s but were never finished due to the Hussite wars. Several architects continued work on the cathedral, melding Gothic and Baroque styles and it remains unfinished even today (we witnessed the scaffolding and workers while we were there). It's nave is long and the gothic arches tower over us with beautiful stained glass windows allowing the cold light to filter in.
We walked along a pebbled road with statuary lining it - very much like the Charles Bridge and walked through the little town. On a sunny warm day this would have been remarkable, but today because of the rain and cold, it was frankly just miserable. Where was a hot wine or honey mead stand when I needed it most?!!!
Our final stop was to the original mint. We were given a tour and lecture that was rather fascinating. St. Wenceslaus presided over this area (I can't remember how or why) and used the building himself. There are several very small gothic arched doors in this building....our guide stated that the good Wenceslaus, while depicted as being very tall, was actually quite short. One has to imagine that this small man, with a crown sitting on top of his head, was able to walk through these archways which I, at 5'5" could just barely fit through with my head at the top of the arch. Small man syndrome dear Wenceslaus had!
We finally got back into our heated van and made the drive back to Prague. I was able to snooze (boy is travelling TIRING). We were dropped off in the center of town and felt like having pasta. Found a great pizzeria and pasta place called Donnas. Oh my goodness, this was a wonderful meal. Alex had a mushroom pizza - Quasi had told us long our route that the woods in Czechcountry (say it all in one word like he did) are filled with various funghi and people are quite knowledgeable about them). This meal warmed us up good - and the price an amazing $25 for 2 pivo, minestrone soup, pizza, and spaghetti and bread-all huge portions.
Made it back to the room after taking the metro subway, and I, of course collapsed and was asleep by 8:30 pm. My days are now routine: wake about 4:30 am, help myself to some cappucino, come down to the computer to blog and check mail and facebook; walk around all day nourishing myself with pivo and hearty Czech fare then falling dead asleep early in the evening!
Tomorrow is supposed to be sunny again, we will go back to Prague Castle and tour the church and the rest of the palace then go over to Petrin Hill and in the evening see a concert at the church of sv Mikalaus.
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