Czech Travels

We spent a lot of time in other countries, but towards the end of our trip we finally got the time to visit places in the Czech Republic. We took a day trip out to the Archbishop's Palace in Kroměříž. I was most interested in the pretty flowers around the palace because although the inside was pretty, it was the same as all of the other palaces I'd been to. And like in every other palace, no photos were allowed. But it's ok because the images will be permanently burnt into your memory =)
We also visited the Archbishop's wine cellars which held huge barrels full of old, old wine. It was uncomfortably cold there!

Entrance to Archbishop's Palace

A couple weeks later we took our "Grand Czech Tour" that brought us from Olomouc to Kutná Hora to Český Krumlov. We first stopped at the Sedlec Ossuary in  Kutná Hora or what people might call the "Bone Church". Before entering the building you can see this greeting in the sidewalk:

In Front of the Ossuary

I read it as sort of a label. The church with thousands of peoples' bones. After posting my pictures on Facebook, my mom asked me how I didn't get all "skeeved out". I guess it was really hard for me to process that those were actual bones dug up from the graves of actual dead people. They were all used so beautifully as decoration that it wasn't scary at all, only odd.

The next day we visited the Saint Barbara Church in  Kutná Hora before heading off. What really caught my attention about this church were the paintings on the wall. Everything had a medieval touch to it so you could see how truly old it is. My favorite part of the church was the view you had of it and around it.

A view of Saint Barbara from far

Wall painting in Saint Barbara

That afternoon we headed to Český Krumlov via České Budějovice, home of the original Budwieser beer. Our only purpose there was to visit the brewery. It was interesting to see how beer was made, although I'm not a big fan of the bread-tasting liquid! 

Part of the brewing process. Stinky.

Finally we got to Český Krumlov in nothing other than cold, rainy weather. We had to park across the road from the town because it is still surrounded by its city walls.

Part of the City Wall

I couldn't get over how much the town looked like Duloc from the Shrek movie, or like most normal people would think of, like an old fairytale city. It all looked so fake to me, but it was really pretty. Through the middle of the town there was a river and up on the hill was the castle, overlooking the town. In Český Krumlov we visited the castle and theatre. 

      After seeing more of the Czech Republic on this trip, I was definitely happy to be staying in such a beautiful, historical country =)