Prague

OK, picking up where I left off... apparently, train tickets booked through SNCF have to be printed out in France because other European countries don't recognize their receipts. I ended up having to buy a new ticket for two legs of the trip, which was frustrating, but at least we didn't lose any time, I guess. Sunday night Elyse and I were supposed to be in a sleeper car overnight, but then we ended up with regular tickets. There was hardly anyone on the train though, so we were excited about having this car to ourselves and both stretched out on a seat.

Right before we left the station, a Finnish guy burst into our compartment and begged us to let him sit with us ("Girls, please, I am so sorry to disturb you") because he'd been all over the train trying to find someone who spoke English and had had no luck. He was really furious about that...even though we were in Vienna...this guy was a complete nutcase, although harmless, I think. He kept trying to convince me to learn Finnish/visit Finland. I have his business card so he can show me around when I go. I finally told him that'd be my next trip because he just wouldn't let it go, and he wanted to give me his newspaper so that I'd have something to read once I learned Finnish. He also assured me at least 20 times that he was not a bad man, and I could go to sleep because I didn't need to worry...so naturally, the last thing I wanted to do then was sleep. He did a million other crazy things like standing outside the compartment once for 15 minutes with the door closed so that I could "rest." Elyse was asleep for most of this ordeal because she glared at him a few times when he came in and then he left her alone. She said I am too nice. Maybe so...

We were supposed to arrive at 7 or 8 in the morning, but since we had to switch trains, we got in at 3:30 am and took a cab to the hostel where we paid for a room even though we'd only have it for a few hours. It was worth it.
Savannah, Claire, and Matt were already there, so the next morning we moved into a room all together and set out.
On the way to Petrin Tower
If anyone who did the Maymester still reads this, don't these statues remind you of the figures onstage at the beginning of Death and the King's Horseman?
There's a tram up to Petrin Tower, but the walk is really pretty. Looking back toward the city.
Petrin Tower. You can climb steps up to the upper landing
View of the city. Charles Bridge over the Vltava
We saw so many churches here...too many to blog about really, even for me. Here's an awesome organ that I think is somewhere near Prague Castle
Stained glass by Mucha in St. Vitus Cathedral, which is a part of the Prague Castle. The castle was closed just for the three days we were there, of course, but the Cathedral was very cool. It had the most ridiculously long audio-guide I have ever used. I ended up having to fast-forward through a lot of it because we just didn't have time to hear it all, but one bizarre fact I caught is that when the Czechs were invading Milan, they roasted dough in the shape of babies in order to intimidate the enemy. Very effective scare tactic.
We also checked out St. George's Basilica and then Golden Lane, which is lined with tiny houses formerly belonging to alchemists that have now been turned into stores. Franz Kafka lived in the blue one, No. 22.
Afterward, we cut through Old Town Square at night. Claire forbade us to look at anything since we were coming back the next day, but these pictures are better than my daytime ones, I think.
Astronomical clock that springs to life when the hour changes. There was quite a crowd of tourists lined up to see it. I think this was the night I fell asleep by 9:00 because I've got nothing in my journal after the Square.
The next morning we walked around Josefov, the Jewish Quarter, before going back to Old Town Square to see Tyn Church and the changing of the clock.
Another shot of the river. We made sure this was the real Vltava
National Theater. It wasn't open and neither was the Opera, but there were lots of churches that were of course
Dancing Building, also known as the Fred and Ginger Building, since it's supposed to reflect Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers dancing. very cool, I think
Yet another Gothic church
Flying Nun?
Wenceslas Square. There is a statue to the saint here, but it's mainly a commercial street
Late in the afternoon, we took a really cheap hour-long train ride out of the city to Kutna Hora to see the ossuary. This graveyard was such a popular place to be buried that a chapel was built to hold more corpses...and then someone started decorating the church with bones...
Chandelier. This part of the trip was really funny because Kutna Hora is a very small village, and walking from the tiny station to the ossuary as it was starting to get dark was kind of creepy anyway, and then we also had a strange Ukrainian named Yevgen in tow since he wanted to see the place made "from skulls" too.
There he is actually. His English was pretty limited, so we had some trouble conversing with him, but he took a picture of us, his "new friends" and asked for our skype names so that he can practice his English and teach us Russian...Someone, Claire, I think, said he looked like a Ukrainian version of Keanu Reeves, if you want a mental image

The church was closing as we got there, but then a French tour group arrived too, so we got to have a little more time inside, and join their tour. Yevgen really wanted to see the other churches in the town and couldn't understand why we were going back after having just seen one, but we were finally able to explain that we had to catch a train and everything else would be closed anyway. After the ossuary, it was back to the hostel so Savannah, Matt, and I could get our bags, and we left Claire and Elyse in Prague for another day.