Back on Track

I think I am back to normal now, a couple of good tours around Prague and I got over my homesickness. I was very happy to be an apartment so I could just kind of hang out.

I took a tour to Kutna Hora, which has an Ossuary, which basically means a church with bones in it. It reminded me of the place in Rome, where Theresa and I bought slides of the bones. It is also famous because there was silver mining there and they also made coins. The tour itself was in English, French and Russian. I did not have a hope understanding the Russian but some of the French I did, at least, I think I did. Maybe I was just remembering what the guide said in English and catching the odd French word. There used to be a Jesuit College there, but with the Soviets and Communism, that pretty much went by the wayside. The St. Barbara church is also there, she is the patron saint of miners, in the Czech Republic, I think the patron saint of miners in Poland is St, Kinga, wonder if they are the same people? It is a really beautiful town, and with the fall colours, very striking. I found a little chocolate shop there, with had made chocolate from CZ.The area around Kutna Hora is in a valley, and fruit is grown there, so kind of like Kelowna,

The next day I went to Czesky Krumlov, very beautiful. It was the first time on this trip that I saw a LOT of Japanese tourists, they were everywhere. The streets are very narrow and seems like it should be a walking only place, but there were lots of cars driving around. Our guide on this tour was great!! She spoke English and Spanish. There were only 7 people on the tour, me a couple from Saskatchewan, a couple from Argentina and a couple from Spain. It took a couple of hours, to get there so I got to see quite a bit of countryside. We toured a palace, which had basically 3 different families that owned it, and the Czech government. Again quite a lovely place, and this was a good time of the year to see it, not that crowded. I can imagine in the summertime you would not be able to move.

I tried to go to the Prague Castle yesterday but there some kind of a thing happening there, so could not get in. I did watch the changing of the guards and there was also a parade of military, so kind of interesting. I went to the St. Nicholas church, very ornate. The last few days it has rained in the morning but the afternoon has been very nice. Since I could not go in the castle, I took the virtual tour online.

I am writing this on the train to Budapest It takes 7 hours to between Prague and Budapest, and I will pass through Bratislava on the way.  Looking forward to Budapest and the hot baths.