Waking up in a city I have never been to was a strange feeling, cuz typically you know what you are getting yourself into when you wake up in the one you are accustomed to. My first night sleep at Hostel Orange went uneventful, and very peaceful considering I was sharing a room with 12 other strangers.
Walking around Prague is like a modern city stuck in a time bubble from centuries ago. Of course, aside from the little surprises here and there, I managed to stumble upon a bottle of vodka I wanted to buy, but couldn't due to a promise I made to a member of a royal family from Bulgaria (Inside joke for those of you on the outside, hi Marina =D ). Plus space inside my camping backpack was becoming limited due to the shopping I did in Wacken Open Air.
This train took me to a town called Kutna Hora, which is about a 1 hour train ride away from Prague. The purpose for visiting this town in this fine country? To visit one of the most Metal churches in the world, Kostnice Sedlec, also known as the Church of Bones.
The church isn't big, but what it lacks in size more than makes up for in what it offers, which are real bones decorating the place. Keep in mind, this is not some Party City/Dollar Store fake bones, but rather bones that at one time belonged to a living human being, which made for an interesting retrospect of what it took to build this place.
At the expense of seeming lazy, I will provide 2 links that will give you detailed information about this church. First, the Offical Page so you know how it came to be. Second, a direct link to my Photobucket section of all the pictures I took of the church. Here's a couple of sample pics.
This was the train I thought was going to take me back to Prague, but as I found out during the ride, I was going in the wrong direction, the complete opposite to Prague. The train conductor came up to me and asked for my ticket, and when she saw the ticket, she indicated to me I was on the wrong train going in the wrong direction. She only spoke Czech and I English/Broken Spanish. When I realized her gestures and body language, that told me everything I needed to know about my mistake. Thankfully, she got me another ticket and told me to get off at the next station and take the next train going in the opposite direction. Even with a language barrier, that didn't stop us from communicating, and I thanked her for helping me in that bind.
One word all spoken languages understand is freedom, and as seen in the graffiti, the locals appreciate what it is all about.
The view from the train getting into Prague.
Walking back to my hostel from the train station, I managed to soak in some more of the city with it's statues and the people walking all over the place.
The city has a love affair with KFC. I have eaten KFC since I was a tike going to kindergarten, and being the adventurous individual I am, decided to give a Czech-style KFC a run.
I ordered a chicken sandwich as well as a Twix milkshake and some fries. Now, I ask those of you who eat KFC in the USA, notice anything different about the fries? They are regular fries instead of the potato wedges we have.
When I got back to my hostel, I decided to get some sleep since the whole getting lost in the Czech Republic and trip drained me. When I woke up, I went to Rock Pub Error, and that was another misadventure that makes for a good story. When I got on the tram near the hostel, I took the tram in the wrong direction, and I didn't realize this at the time until the conductor told me and a elderly Swedish couple to get off, with a surprised look on our face. When I showed the conductor where I needed to go, he told me to take the same tram going the opposite direction, leaving me on the outskirts of Prague in a neighborhood I didn't know to freeze my ass off for a good 15 minutes before the tram came. I was only wearing my Iron Maiden Live After Death Allover Shirt, black jeans, and my Converse All Stars, and the temperature was very cold.
Going to Rock Pub Error was another story of getting lost, as I got off at the correct tram station, and managed to get myself lost in another part of Prague that looked just like the last one I got dropped off in, except it was on the complete opposite side of the city. After walking around this section of Prague and with the help of one of the local bar tenders pointing me at the right direction, I found the place, which was on the side of a building basement. From the looks of it, it seemed "unfriendly" on the outside, and when the door opened, there was a caged door locked which needed the barkeep to open and close to let people in and out. I only stayed 40 minutes in the place, and the atmosphere was the complete opposite to Hells Bells from last night, meaning, very dull, and lacking in the friendly atmosphere.
The best way to end this night was to share the tram stop with a huge ass spider.
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