Travel

Drinks Last night, Prague today

After I hopped off the computer last night, the Spanish guy that I was staying in the room with at the hostel said he needed to go to the bank to go get some money. We went over for money and on the way over, decided to get a bite to eat.
It was my birthday after all, so I suggested we pop in the Shamrock Irish Pub there in the tourist district. We found a table in a great pub that was packed with irish folks out for the weekend. The table becide us had 3 guys and a girl, kitty corner to us had 5 guys, and another behind us had 6 more. They were well on their way to feelin “happy” by the time that we arrived. Anyhow, a couple pints later (for my new friend from the hostel) and a couple rum and cokes for me (along with an irish stew) the guys at the tables around us were pretty well far along – enough so that they were singing at the top of their lungs, guy on guy dancing and just having a blast. No kidding. I was busting up at their antics, and the poor spanish guy I was hanging out with was completely lost.
Finally, one of the guys sees me busting up and says “Oy! Wayt a min-ut they’res a gal there – hey lass, come out and dance wyth us!” After cracking up laughing and a smart ass “what? you mean you’re tired of dancing with your buddies on the floor?” from me, I went out and had some fun dancing and just cracking up with them. There’s a few pictures from this – and yes, I even (hopefully it’ll turn out) got to blow out a candle for my birthday. Of course… it was the candle that was on the table as opposed to a birthday candle on a cake – but … it counts.
We got back to the Room about midnight – and offered Ruby and Matt (the chinese guy whose name I thought was Zhang but he prefers Matt) to come out for the last drink of the night. Neither of them joined – because after hearing me spout about how great Kutna Hora and the Bone church are and seeing a few pictures – they decided to go themselves on Monday – and then they talked Jose (the spanish guy) into going too. How cool is that? 🙂
Moving along to today – (Happy Saint Pat’s By the way!) this morning I headed back into prague and caught the old town square and more of the charles bridge. I also climbed up the towers at both ends and took some video – hopefully it turns out. Otherwise, It was weird weather wise – while on the bridge, one side of the bridge was clear blue sky and sunny – the other – storm clouds and sprinkling – it made for some amusing photographs between the towers and statues in the area.
After that, I popped into the czech post to send a few postcards and then caught my train home – footsore and fulfilled.
Photos will be posted soon (I hope) and yes, I did keep up with my Project 365 while I was there – Just didn’t have a way to upload them while out of town.
By the By – side note – Zamwal decided that he wanted to buy a flickr account for himself – so the next person to respond that they’re interested in the 365 challenge (see other blog for it) gets the gift of a free flickr account from me!
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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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