birthday trip

Happy Birthday To ME!

I woke up to rain this morning, but I put on a happy face anyhow. After all, I’m in PRAGUE and it’s MY BIRTHDAY!! Nothing can Rain on My Parade.

Thanks to Brian P who texted me at 8:00 am this morning just to tell me Happy Birthday (yes, darling, you were the first and that made it all the more special!). I know you stayed up way past your bedtime, and trust me, it was greeted with a smile.

Anyhow, after helping the roomie – I’m staying in a hostel and sharing a 4 bed room with a Spanish guy named Francis Jose or something, a chinese guy named Zhong, and (joining us at midnight last night) a beautiful american hispanic from California named Ruby – with a search on the internet (Jose speaks no english – he’s from San Sebastian Spain) – we went for breakfast. We ate at a cool little restaurant across the street (huevos rancheros – yes, even in Prague they have Mexican) . Then, I popped back in and Ruby and I headed up the hill to see the castle in Prague. I feel a little bad though – because we wound up in the lovely catherdal with about a zillion people packed in – and I lost her in the crowd. After sticking around for about 30 minutes, I wound up going on and exploring the castle myself. (I’ll apologize to her when she gets in tonight – I feel REALLY bad!!) I took a ton of pictures, but as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in and of itself, I realize that I’ll be going back tomorrow – why? Because I didn’t get to explore all of it. My feet were killing me (you try trekking around on steep cobblestone streets for 2 days straight) and my legs and back were cramping. I decided at 18:30 I was tired and hungry and to head back for the night. I’ve seen most of prague now (by night) and figure I’ll have a few hours tomorrow morning to see the couple things I missed.

Otherwise, Happy Birthday to me – this makes Castle NUMBER 3! (Oh and Unesco world heritage site number 4 in 3 days!) Not that I’m counting or anything….

In the meantime, I’m 32 years young, (the spanish Jose guy says I look 25 – so that’s a plus – or he’s great at flattery) and glad to have gypsy feet, wanderlust, and the opportunity to fullfill it because my health has been good. Thank God for that and all the blessings I’ve been given this year. May the next be filled with as many. *AMEN*

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Ashes to Ashes… Dust to Dust….

I went to the Bone Church in Kutna Hora yesterday. I spent the day there, and it was only when I came back that I realized that it is a world heritage site.

If you don’t know what/where this is, more info can be found at the following:

Kostnice Ossuary (Bone Church)
Kutna Hora – Unesco World Heritage Site

I took about a zillion photos in the bone church, most of which I’ll be processing in the next few days.

What struck me the most about the church was the fact that everyone visiting within the two hours that I was there provided an array of colors, cultures and languages. It amazed me to watch them go through and look at the skulls and bones piled way over their heads in bell shapes and ooh and ahh. (With nearly 40,000 bodies dismantled and on display there.. there’s alot to look at.) Anyhow, in the end, for all the prejudice and differences, I found it ironic that once all the outside is eaten away, we all look the same – white bleached bones, some bigger, some smaller… but exactly the same – male, female, black, white, red, orange, purple, yellow, green… we all wind up just the same –

With time turning our bones to dust.

(and trust me – this place hadn’t been cleaned in a while for fear the stacks would collapse and the bones be crushed even more!) It is truly a beautiful memorial to the world and the insignificance of humanity.

So, that’s my thought for the day – headed to the Prague Castle tomorrow – for a birthday treat.

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MADE IT TO PRAGUE!

Just thought I’d post that I’d made it to prague. It’s a lovely city, though I got here too late to see anything during the day. I am, however, pleased that I got to walk around extensively and get a ton of night photos. Now if they just turn out….
Tomorrow, I’m off to the church of bones. Should be quite awesome with time spent taking black and white photos of the cemetery and the bone arrangements. Hopefully it’s not as much walking as today and/or not as much getting lost – but we’ll see.
That’s it for now – limited time on the net since I’m posting from Miss Sophie’s hostel (great room – 4 beds, very spacious and modern – and the shower has a shower head that is bigger than the sun – can’t wait to use it.)
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