The Adventures of Kait : Czech Republic

Bohemia

For our Southern Bohemia trip we took our last group bus ride. On our way we had the option to either visit a World War II memorial or a silver mine in Kutna Hora. We voted and the vote was so split that we decided to do both. The memorial was concerning a town that had played a role in the assassination of Hitler's right-hand, Reinhard Heydrich. Although in reality only a few were involved in the incident, many innocents were killed. Not only did the entire town suffer, but surrounding areas as well as the Nazis did not get it right the first time. Hitler was angered by the assassination and wanted to show everybody that if they rebelled, the punishment would not only be theirs, but also their friends and family.

Next we continued on to Kutna Hora and stopped just outside of town at the Ossuary. The ossuary originally had 6 piles of bones as seen below as a result of the Black Plague. Later on, the community decided to take 2 of these piles and decorate the church with them. They created things like chandeliers, a coat of arms, and even wrote words with the bones.

Here is an example of the words spelled in bones and one of the remaining 4 piles of bones in the Ossuary.

Here is another example of the piles of bones. Additionally, some of the adornments and decorations can be seen above and around the window.

Here is a photo of the large center room. The ossuary was a lot smaller than I imagined it would be, but the intricate decorations were as expected.

This may have been the most impressive, next to the big chandelier in the main room. It is a coat of arms made entirely of the bones, in front of one of the piles.

This photo was taken directly underneath the chandelier looking up at it. This angle may be the most eerie due to the skulls in the background.

This is another example of the decorations.

This photo was taken as I was walking into the ossuary. As you can see, it is a place that draws many tourists.

Once we got to Kutna Hora we quickly grabbed some lunch and then met up at the silver mine. Unfortunately not photos were allowed, but in order to go into the mine we donned white coats and hats similar to what the miners used to wear. The miners had to provide their own coat and white was the least expensive so it was the natural choice. Another advantage to the white coat was that it made it easier to see fellow miners as they worked off of very little light. While we were down in the mine, our guide demonstrated the amount of light that the miners worked off of by having us turn off all of our flashlights and then putting his hand over ours. To our amazement, we could only see each other's white coats and hats. After this, he proceeded to surprise us by showing us how dark the mine is without any lights. He explained to us that miners only had oil enough for 3 hours worth of work, but worked in 8 hours shifts, so if they could not refill their oil in time they had to use the slight flow of air to find the exit.

The next day we visited the cathedral, with an interesting story. Typically a cathedral this grand has an archbishop, but this town did not have one residing there. They simply wanted to flex their muscle and show that they were rich enough to have this nice of a cathedral.

The cathedral from a distance. The flying buttresses were stunning.

The stained glass inside made beautiful reflections on the painted walls.

This is a photo of me on the balcony behind the cathedral.

A photo of me next to the church and all of its spires.

Here is a panoramic photo that captured the beauty of the landscape in and around Kutna Hora.

Since it was our last trip, I decided it would be the best time to take a photo with our fearless leaders, Martin (on the left) and Jan (on the right).

During our trip to Krakow Sarah and I had a conversation with Martin about taking selfies so we thought this was fitting. He took the top one and I took the bottom one. He explained the strange angle that he took the selfie at by saying that, "we must get the spires in the photo so that it's more dramatic."

On our way from Kutna Hora to Cesky Krumlov we stopped by the Budweiser Budvar brewery and learned about the history and the making of this Czech beer that you can find in the US as well. Of course, you have to be careful not to buy the American Budweiser when searching for this one. The two companies have actually had a name dispute over many years. To find the Czech version, make sure that the label says Budvar underneath the Budweiser.

Stacks of beer on pallets waiting to be shipped somewhere.

This room was unbearably hot and smelly, I cannot even imagine what it was like for the worker in the back of the room.

This chilly part of the tour was welcomed after the previous room.

In this photo you can see the bottling process and us with our samples.

Finally we got to our final destination: Cesky Krumlov. The town was a charming mix between Venice and Colorado Springs, but definitely reminded us more of Colorado Springs. While we were there we went rafting with the entire group. This was one of my favorite places and activities because the place was so peaceful, which was a nice break from our crazy, busy schedules.

There were bridges everywhere so there were many chances for great views.

I tried medieval Czech food, some of which included a soup with a daisy in it!

We visited the castle and there were bears in the moat area, a Czech tradition to symbolize their alliance with an Italian family whose symbol was the bear.