Tourists + Bones = Prague and its environs!

So, it's been a while since I wrote, and here it is again, as I'm leaving yet another city. From Leipzig, I took the train down to Prague via Dresden. Prague is an absolutely beautiful place, even despite the hordes of tourists swarming its streets. And I really mean hordes. It's wild, how many tourists there are here....if you think someone is a local? They're not. Tourist. It's funny to get used to hearing English being spoken again, after Germany. Anyway, I've had a great time here.

Oh, and I've had people say that they can't subscribe to the blog via email...I'm sorry, I must have screwed it up somehow, but until I get one of my friends to help me fix it....(Andrew? please?) you'll just have to suffer through checking it on your own. Sorry!! And thanks to all of you who are reading it! I'll try to keep the posting up to make it worthwhile.

After walking in circles for days on end (for any of you that have been here, or seen a city map of the old town, you know what I mean!), I finally got my bearings and have managed to see some pretty cool things. Prague has some pretty cool cellar jazz clubs, so my dorm roommates and I checked out a jazz/blues band last night - it was rad. Also, the other day I went up to the castle, like any good visitor to the city must do, and gawked at the beautiful high gothic cathedral up there, like any good art history major must do. The rest of the castle was very cool, but I didn't realise when I went up there that everything closed in two hours, so it wasn't really a leisurely visit, trying to see as much of it as I could. Most of my days have been much more relaxed, however, with bouts of walking and picture-taking interspersed with lots of hanging out in the park or on the riverside, watching all the fascinating people here.

Yesterday I went to the Kampa Museum, which was showing an exhibit of Mondrian and Krupka, two interesting artists from the 20th century. It turned out that this is an absolutely fabulous contemporary art museum/gallery and I actually enjoyed their permanent collection of central european modern art more than the exhibit I was going to see. Definitely worth the 100Ck I paid for it. Oh, and the other night, I happened upon this outdoor film festival on an island in the river, and ended up drinking good Czech beer, watching a crazy Czech animated film outside, in the middle of the Vltava river. It was a great night. The animation was truly weird. Who knew the Czech were so messed up? And the next night, while sitting on a fountain ledge, weird things were happening to me....a large group of brits was wandering past, with one of them dressed in a fairy princess/sumo suit, and obviously, I had to get in the picture with them....it was very weird. There were other things too, one of them having to do with a ferret, but I'll leave it to the princess/sumo story.

Finally, for the stories this week, anyway, I went to this place about 60 kms from Prague called Kutna Hora. It's this cute medieval town with this crazy ossuary just outside town. Basically, what I'm saying here, is that it's a church that is entirely decorated with human bones (skulls, ribs, femurs....you name it, it was there). Sounds kind of creepy, but I really thought it was beautiful. I mean, for sure it gets you thinking about your own mortality, and apparently some people couldn't take it, and have left in a hurry, but it's just a really interesting place. When I figure out how to post pics, I'll put some up here.

So, heading to a town called Cesky Krumlov, in southern Bohemia (still the Czech republic, for those of you who need to brush up on your geography), and I have no idea what to expect. It's WAY smaller than Prague, so I'm kind of looking forward to it! Until then......