Got up early to go and see the Charles Bridge in an uncrowded state this morning. It worked, you don't need to be there at dawn, just 7:00 to 7:30 worked for me. No doubt my children would miss out on this stunning Prague experience if they came here, unless they stayed up!!!
It is a stunning bridge, built under the auspices of the ubiquitous Charles the lVth, a Hapsburg Holy Roman Emperor with a fondness for Prague. There are 28 statues along the length of the bridge, 14 on each side, opposite each other. There are also pretty impressive towers at each end.
Came back to hotel for a cuppa then off to Kutna Hora (don't run that through your spellchecker). This is a pretty, relatively unspoilt medieval town about an hour from Prague. The main claim to fame there is the Kostnice Ossuary. This is an old chapel with lots of pyramids (well 6) and statues etc made out of human bones. There is not the expected story of slaughter and prejudice behind it either. It was an overcrowded and popular place to be buried apparently, because an Abbot of the associated monastery brought some earth back from Golgotha in the Holy Land and sprinkled it over the graveyard. So, plenty of spare bones. One display is especially gory though, it is the skulls of Hussite rebels and you can see serious wounds to many of them.
And a special photo for Josh too, my Czech cuisine dinner. Three kinds of meat, two kinds of sausage and three kinds of dumplings, with gravy, fried onion and cabbage. I didn't even get half way through and still my inside stomach is way too big to fit in my outside.
Off to Berlin tomorrow to see what is left of the wall and then the overnight train to Krakow in Poland.
This is stunning. Haven't been to Prague, and I'm feeling quite jealous. We discussed your trip over morning tea today - Jeanette's retirement tea. No doubt she will fill you in on the details. You chose the right time to be o/s - it's been the coldest autumn here in 60 years. Shit, that's older than me (just)! Keep up the blog - it's great.
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