Kutná Hora & Cesky Krumlov = Two Beautiful Cities in the Czech Republic

Hooray, another Field Trip!!

Tuesday, May 15, we left at 9 a.m. for Kutná Hora. We arrived around 1 p.m.  and went straight to the Bone Church. The Bone Church, or the Ossuary, is a spectacular church from the 13th century. It has bones decorating the inside from what is believed to be over 40,000 people!  It was amazing. Afterwards, we went to our hostel and checked in.  Abby and I had a room to ourselves which was nice.  We had the rest of the day free.  Abby didn't feel well, but I went with Alyshia, Katie and Lisa to explore Kutná Hora. We found a wine shop and chatted with the Czech owner for awhile. He gave us each a glass of wine and Lisa bought some to take home. We found St. Barbara's church and sat outside and talked for awhile. We went back to get Abby for supper, but she still didn't feel well. We  went to a Czech restaurant a couple blocks off the square and it was very good. (Of course it was! You can't find bad food over here, I'm telling you...) I had salmon and it was delicious. We went home even though it wasn't even 8 yet, but we were all tired. We went to our rooms and after awhile, Katie and I decided to go out.  We went to a bar and I had a smoothie and Katie had hot chocolate. We clearly weren't in the partying mood, but we were still enjoying being out.

Kutna Hora Bone Church

Kutna Hora Bone Church

Wednesday morning we packed up and left. We toured the St. Barbara's Church before leaving Kutná Hora. It was beautiful, of course. We walked to the bus with all our luggage and drove to Budvar to tour the Budweiser factory! It is pronounced Bood-Veets-er. The tour was really cool and we had the sweetest Czech tour guide.  She was so happy, and loved her job. During the tour we were outside by all the crates of beer when we got caught in a huge downpour. We were all dripping wet in about 2 seconds, so that livened things up a bit.  We got to taste the beer that was their lager, and it was pretty good. After doing some souvenir shopping in their gift shop, we drove on to Cesky Krumlov.

St. Barbara's Church in Kutna Hora, Czech Republic

Budweiser or "Czechvar" as it's marketed in the U.S.

Inside the plant

Our tour guide!

After arriving in Cesky Krumlov, we had to carry our luggage quite a ways into town.  We walked around the castle, down several streets, over the bridge, down some side streets and we finally made it to the Traveler's hostel. The town itself was really cute with all of it's windy streets and bridges.  Abby, Lisa, Katie, Alyshia and I went exploring and we had supper. Afterwards, we walked around and shopped. We found a cigar shop and figured... "When in Cesky Krumlov..." so we bought some and found a really neat lookout that was over the castle.  Unfortunately, it was super cold outside, so everyone wanted to go back to the hostel.  Katie and I stayed out and had a couple fancy drinks at a bar near our hostel. We had a lot of fun.

Cesky Krumlov's Castle at night

Katie and my drinks in Cesky Krumlov

Thursday morning was chilly again. We walked and toured the castle.  I was excited to finally see the bears outside the castle. I only saw one though. We had quite a long tour of the castle.  Then we toured the theatre, which was also really interesting. After our tours, Jan, Martin, and Dr. Clark asked who still wanted to go rafting. Only Jed, Evan, Thea and I did.

View of Cesky Krumlov from the castle

Cesky Krumlov and the Bohemian River

Abby Rosenbaum and I :) 

Cesky Krumlov

We went to have lunch at yet another amazing Czech restaurant, and then we ran home to change into warmer clothes for our rafting adventure.  We got on the raft and Jan, Martin and Dr. Clark were there to see us off. The weather actually wasn't too bad under all our layers, and we were having a great time. Eventually, our raft went under a tree and Thea yelled out, "Blackberries!!" Well, Jed thought he could stop us and pick some, so he grabbed onto a branch, but it broke off and he flew off the back of the raft into the Bohemian River. It wasn't very deep though, so he stood up with the branch around his neck. It was hilarious. He was freezing and took his jeans off to wring them out. We were going down the river awhile later when.... JED PUSHED ME IN! I grabbed his arm and pulled him in with me. I was SO mad. Thea and Evan were laughing hysterically. I climbed back in and pulled off my tennishoes and socks since they were soaking wet. A little while later, we pulled over for a pit stop. Jed told us he would hold onto the raft. Well... he accidently let it go and it got about 30 yards away. He ran after it through the water to catch it. Since it was around a bend, Thea and I had to walk through nettles to get there. They stung so bad.  We got back on the boat and my feet and legs were covered in white welts from the nettles. This was turning into a disaster! About 5 minutes later, Evan suddenly tacked Thea off the raft and into the river! She was so mad. It was hilarious though.  Thea and I were not too happy with the boys.  We paddled to the end as fast as we could because we were so cold. We finally got a ride back into town. From the rafting center, we ran home to the hostel. I couldn't put my shoes back on because not only were they soaking wet, but my feet were all swollen and sore from the nettles. So we hobbled home barefoot across the cobblestones to the hostel.
When we got to the hostel, we had to shower fast (and there wasn't any hot water left!) and we all went to the Eggenberg Brewery for a group supper.  I'm sure I would have enjoyed the brewery a lot more but I couldn't get warm and my legs from my knees down, the tops and bottoms of my feet, and my left palm all were burning from the nettles. Unfortunately it kind of kept me from enjoying myself.  We all took pictures together and everyone received an "award". I was given "Captain America" because of Belmondo, and also the "Ciao, Ciao, Ciao, Ciao, Ciao" award. Because you never here someone say "ciao" once...   After supper, I went home to go to bed. So did Thea. We both were feeling pretty miserable.

Thea and I rafting on the Bohemian River

Evan and I rafting on the Bohemian River

After being pushed in... this must have been before the nettles, since I still look happy! 

Group awards at the Eggenberg Brewery... can't you sense my enthusiasm? 

Friday morning we woke up, got breakfast, and carried our luggage all the way back to the bus. We drove to a town that is a fishing village and took a walk through a park and hung out at a lake for awhile. We had lunch in the village and I had carp. Carp is what they are known for and it was actually really good.  We had about a 4 hour trip back to Olomouc. When we made it back, I called my mom and dad. They were rushing to Omaha because their flight (to Europe!) had been moved up two hours. Abby and I went  to the train station and I bought a train ticket to Prague for Saturday morning so I could pick them up there. Then we went to the Reactor Club for the Erasmus Concert. We picked up a Forty's pizza and went home. We were both exhausted from the long week.