Poland Roundup

I was really nervous about going to Poland.  I think it has to do with growing up during the Cold War.  My anxiety was totally unfounded.  I loved Poland; I loved Krakow.  I don't think I'd recommend taking the night train if you are a woman by herself, though.

I reserved a couchette (a bed in a car with 6 bunks, 2 row, 3 levels) because I didn't want to pay for a sleeper car, and I wasn't cheap enough to just buy a seat where I'd have to sit up all night.  The train didn't leave until about 10:30 or 11:00 and when I finally got to my assigned bunk I found out I was sharing the compartment with two guys.  One was a late-20-something from Canada - he was delightful, knew people in the TEFL world, we chatted for a bit.  The other was a creepy older guy from, maybe Poland - maybe Czech - maybe Russia.  I don't know, but after the conductor came in and gave a lengthy explanation about things (in Czech, of course) the COG translated it as we have to keep the compartment locked all night because we stop for awhile and sometimes Gypsies try and rob the train.  I chalked this creepiness up to him wanting to explain, but lacking the necessary English to come across as non-creepy.

Then, he asked if the Canadian guy and I were together.  I immediately nodded my head and gave a thumbs up because I already thought he was a little creepy.  The Canadian just smiled and nodded...THANK YOU CANADIAN GUY! Because all during the night I'd wake up randomly to see the COG just standing in the aisle staring - and the aisle is about as wide as an airplane aisle so he was RIGHT THERE!  I was so grateful to get to Krakow without being murdered by COG or Gypsies.

But, once there.  Krakow was great.  Most of my adventures are detailed over on 1000 Places to See, but here are a couple of random pictures from other places.

Prague Roundup

Prague:

I love Prague.  Being able to "live" in Prague for those weeks was a blessing.  One I hope to be able to experience again some time.  It was fascinating, exciting, and frustrating all at the same time, and I wouldn't trade the experience for anything.


National Theater - not so very long ago all the theaters in Czech had German as their official language (they used to be German, after all, part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire).  The Czech people grew tired of this and decided to build a new theater.  Every family put up a little bit of money and the National Theater (Narodni Divaldo) was built, Czech only, please.


The first day I bought this water having no idea what perliva meant.  It literally means yeasty, but it made the water was carbonated.  This is a question you will almost always be asked when attempting to purchase water... gas or no gas?  Choose no gas (neperliva).


I saw more luxury cars in Prague than anywhere, ever in my life.  There were maseratis, lamborghinins, porsches, etc.


Another translation fail.  I thought this would be a (highly illegal in the States) Kinder Egg, but alas, it was not.  It was delicious, though, and did come with a weird little toy.



Kolaches!


Sean, "oh he is sooo niiice", Maria's favorite tutor!


I went into the little cafe hoping for a something with chicken because the Czechs LOVE ham, pork, pig product big time.  The woman at the counter told me they have ham and cheese, ham, and cheese.  "Nothing with chicken," I asked.  She replied no, and so I ordered a ceasar salad.  When she brought it out what was on it...chicken!


So many not-quite-right translations.  I don't know for sure what inappropriet is, but I bet it's a lot like inappropriate.  A lot of times the translations on signs, menus, etc. are perfectly understandable, but they've chosen odd words.

For example - I used Student Agency to get around quite a bit (Budapest to Prague, RT to both Cesky Krumlov and Karlovy Vary) and I love them.  I cannot say enough nice things about them.  The newer buses all have screens in the back of the seats so you can watch TV, a movie, listen to music, play games, etc. They also have electrical outlets to charge phones, iPods, etc., and they offer free "hot drinks", newspapers, magazines... you get the idea.  Even the older buses have a couple of screens playing one movie throughout the trip...they even have a "steward(ess)" for every bus.  When you board the stewardess gives a little welcome spiel outlining all their free stuff, but they end the spiel by wishing you a "pleasure journey".  It makes me laugh every time.  I know they mean pleasant journey, but the connotation of a pleasure journey is just not quite the same.  Anyway,  LOVE Student Agency. (Oh, also they are cheap!)


FYI in Europe the ground floor (what Americans would call the 1st floor) is called either ground floor or 0 floor.  This means the 1st floor is actually the American 2nd floor.  And instead of sublevels, the numbers just go negative.


Is he really MR. BS? or is he trying for Mr. Bus?  I will never know.


Ha!  BTW, not the cheapest restaurant, and their goulash was marginal.

Kutna Hora

Also known as:  Sedlec Ossuary, aka The Bone Church

The Bone Church had been on my list (not The List, but my list) of places I wanted to see while I was in Czech, so a small group of Oxford TEFLers made the train trip out to Kutna Hora.


There is a "normal" cemetery outside the church, but I'm not sure why Helen, Daf, and Jill are doing capering through around the graves.



I was actually a little disappointed in the ossuary.  I expected it to be a huge church, but it is really just one room filled with bones.  It's history is interesting, though.


The Sedlec Ossuary is filled with more than 40,000 skeletons.  It was an incredibly popular place to be interred because in 1278 the King of Bohemia sent the abbot of the Sedlec Cistercian Monastery to visit Jerusalem.   The abbot brought back a jar of soil from Golgotha and spread it around the cemetery.  This consecrated the church as the most holy and people clamored to have their eternal rest there.


In the 15th century a small Gothic church was built and the basement became an ossuary.  The bones stayed there until 1870 when a woodcarver named Frantisek Rint was commissioned to organize the bones.


The result shocked the community, but put Sedlec Ossuary on the map as a must see for tourists.


One of the most fascinating pieces is the chandelier.  It contains at least one of every bone in the human body.










There is also a recreation of the coat of arms of the Schwarzenberg family entirely made of bone.  The Schwarzenbergs were the rulers of southern Bohemia with their castle in ... you guessed it... Cesky Krumlov.


It includes a raven pecking at the severed head of a Turk.




After the Bone Church we wandered around town for a little while before settling on a place for lunch.

I love that a)another restaurant in this tiny town is trying to "imitate" the true Italian cuisine of this little place, and b) that it feels it has established itself by existing since 1992 (recall that the "Bone Church" was created in 1870 after existing at least since 1278 when the abbot went to Jerusalem).

Seriously, it is a requirement in every town.



Some sort of well or fountain...it is really old so Jill and Helen posed for a picture next to the dragon spout.


Helen wanted an "artsy" picture of her walking down this picturesque street.  So Daf, Harley, and I obliged.



Ha!  Not really walking down that street!

We decided to find St. Barbara's Cathedral (it was on a sign in town and looked cool), but we couldn't find it.  Finally, we ran into this building with a weird mirror installation outside.


It distracted us for quite a while.








When we were done with the shiny object.  We walked around the corner and ...

Boom!  St. Barabara's Cathedral.








Vineyards


It's a really cute little town.  Definitely worth a day trip from Prague if you have time in your schedule (after visiting Cesky Krumlov, of course).





There was a pink house.  It made me think of Nikita, so I took a picture for her.




Broke-down train station.  We really did catch a train here.  As we all had our phones out snapping pics of this sad little station Jill joked that we were "such first world tourists", but we had to have the picture!