Welcome to Bohemia! And hands down the absolutely most beautiful city we’ve ever been to!
Home Sweet Home
Classified as an “Alpha” city, I can see why! It’s cultural, educated, economically strong, beautiful in its architecture, and warm and inviting from its citizens. The streets are pristine, everyone speaks English, and the restaurants are phenomenal.
We loved it so much that on our second day here we decided to extend our 4 day stay to two weeks! It didn’t hurt that our apartment happened to be neighbors with Hermes, Prada, and Louis Vuitton!
We spent days walking the streets with Niya, and dining with her – because in Prague, dogs are allowed in restaurants. So as you can imagine, if we ever decide to move internationally, Prague is at the top of my list!!
Astronomical Clock
The clock was first installed in 1410, making it the third-oldest in the world and the oldest one still operating. The clock has three main components:
1. The astronomical dial representing the position of the Sun and Moon in the sky and displaying various astronomical details
2. “The Walk of the Apostles”, an hourly show of moving Apostle figures and other sculptures, notably a figure of a skeleton that represents Death, striking the time
3. A calendar dial with medallions representing the months
It draws a hug crowd every hour on the hour and I can see why – it’s mesmerizing! Just fantastic in size and complexity, you could sit there and watch it for hours 🙂 Get it? “Hours” because it’s a clock? Ugh, I crack myself up sometimes!
Hall of Minerals
Dave and I love museums, and I have to say this was one of the most fascinating exhibits I’ve ever seen. At the Prague National Museum there were rows and rows of cases filled with every color, shape, and size you can imagine. If you can even believe this, only 4,000 of the 100,000 collection was displayed. Don’t even try to play the game” which mineral is your favorite” because it’s impossible to choose just one.
Is that a giant chandelier of bones?
Why yes, yes it is! And it contains at least one of every bone in the human body.
We took a day trip outside of the city to the Sedlec Ossuary, commonly know as the “Church of Bones”, to see the 40,000 human skeletons that were used to decorate the interior. So how did all these bones end up in a tiny chapel located in the Czech Republic? It all goes back to 1278 when the King of Bohemia sent the abbot of the Sedlec Cistercian Monastery to Jerusalem. When he returned he brought a jar of “Holy Soil” with him. Soon people from all over wanted to be buried in Sedlec, thus the cemetery there had to be expanded.
Note: We also saw black cats sitting on grave stones – no joke. I think we need to find some four leaf clovers stat!
From Abroad With Love – AG
