Kutna Hora - Bones and Churches

Kutna Hora was a great place to head.

We met up at the main train station and then headed out in the morning around 11 pm. All of us, except for me who forgot, with an extra bag of stuff for the picnic like thing that we were going to have later on. The train was uneventful and then we were there.

The walk to the church was easy enough and then the experience of heading in was amazing, you haven’t even paid and you can still see bones everywhere. Really it is smaller than I or the other people in the group were expecting for 40000 persons worth of bones but it was still cool to see never the less.


After spending some time there we headed out and then moved into the town in an effort to find somewhere for lunch, and a supermarket so I could contribute my part. We eventually found a park near a church that was undergoing massive repairs. The picnic was good and me randomly finding my pocket knife in my bag was a bonus.

The time after lunch we wandered aimlessly for a while and headed up the hill a little, eventually finding the main square and then the cathedral on the hill.

All in all it was a relaxed afternoon before we headed back to Prague and a good change of pace from the drinking and everything else.

Prague, the city of a thousand spires

Prague was a different feel to the small place I had been the previous couple of nights, got there mid afternoon, got the bed, stored the stuff and then sorted dinner, then got my directions to the Pub Crawl, the main reason I had wanted to get into Prague on the Friday night. The crowd was massive and it looked to be a ton of fun.

The first Bar was from Euro trip, the English bar that the guys meet the football hooligans in, which made it cool, then was a couple of other places including one that had like 4 levels and an awesome Czech scar band playing in the basement, great for something different. The last place was a club, also in the movie Eurotrip, the one where the twins hook up, had an awesome time and with a little chemical help, danced like an idiot till 4 in the morning before pulling the pin and leaving. I discovered walking back that it was quite far from the hostel and that the buildings in Prague look amazing as the sun comes up at 4 am.

The next day was essentially a write off and not a whole lot was done at all.
The day after, the Sunday I was determined to do something more productive and I dragged my ass up so I could make the walking tour. It was good and like all of the free tours almost all of the good sights that you want to see you do.

On the tour I got talking to a couple of girls, an Aussie and an American and we all had the idea of meeting up the next day so we could sort out going to Kutna Hora and the Bone church which is there. The next day we met up near the castle and ended up spending a good chunk of the day hanging out and exploring around the castle and then some more of the old town, finally organizing the next day over coffee at Bohemian Bagel.
And the next day was Kutna Hora and the Bone Church…

I, the walker, move unto thee

So after a hiatus of far, far too long I am finally going to put a little bit of information on this wonderful blog of mine, probably with about 1 blog per city that I have been too so far.

Leaving the YOHO was an interesting time, I had many a drink with Phil on the Monday night and then spent my time with Gail on Tuesday, saying good bye was not an easy thing for either one of us I think, and I hope she took it well considering I think I was acting rather cold near the end, the future can only hold that answer and I am sure we will meet again. The Tuesday night I think some of the people at the hostel may have been around in an attempt to say goodbye but I wasn’t there, I headed out to O’Malley’s to have a couple of beers and say my farewells to the staff there that I had gotten to know to a certain degree. Getting back late I packed the very last of my things and crashed out so I could be up for my early train. I was up at half five, late believe it or not, had a quick shower and was out of the YOHO before 6 without more than a quick goodbye to the night porter, who was someone new and didn’t even know the significance of it. That wonderful overused T.S. Elliot quote came to mind as I walked to the train station.

[So] This is the way the world ends
Not with a bang but a whimper.

I missed the train I was aiming to get, but managed to get one not 10 minutes after to the same initial destination. What I did not realize was that those 10 minutes would result in a 2 hour wait in Linz train station waiting for the next train to Summerau where I would get my connection into the Czech republic before getting a third train to Cesky Kromlov.
In a way the trip was great going out to Summerau, it was empty grain fields in a sea of green on a beautiful clear day and just gave that great feeling that things were headed for change. The stop itself was in the middle of nowhere, not even platforms to wait on really. The wait was short lived as I boarded the third, train of the morning and it rattled its way to České Budějovice where after waiting a short time I made my way on the final train for my trip through Eastern Europe to the town of Cesky Kromlov.

The town was great and the stop was exactly what I needed to get myself out of work mode after being at the YOHO and working myself into the ground. There was a free keg on the Wednesday when I got there and it was a great treat to have. The night was an enjoyable one with the crowd that was at the hostel, one of the best I have ever been to when it comes to atmosphere and fun, Hostel99.

The next day was a search for a memory card to take its place in the camera that Gail had given me as a go between before I got my new one. After much searching I finally got a chip for it and played tourist for a little while. Then I heading back to the hostel I ran into a group of people from the hostel that were going to the local brewery for a tour…. Great idea.
The tour was a bunch of fun and for 180 Krone you got the tour, 2 draught beers and a “gift pack” of 4 more.

Straight after the tour there was more fun to be had, the “Rafting tour”. This was a 6 hour leisurely tour down the river on inflatable rafts on a wonderful clear and warm day with 4 stops at places to buy beer along the way, not to mention the beer you had already had before getting on the raft and then the stuff you drank on the rafts as well…. It was a great and thoroughly enjoyable day.
The night was a comparatively early one but the rest was well earned and Prague was on the horizon for the weekend. The next day was a slow pack up and then I made my way to get the bus to Prague; it was faster and cheaper to get the bus than it was to get a train.
And then I was in Prague by day’s end…

Update....

Oh my... has it been a while or what?

where to begin on the life of me since the last little blurb of crap I informed everyone about...

After the weekend of snowboarding and excessive drinking I got myself back to working and was promptly brought into the office my my wondrous idiot of a boss and was told that I could have been fired for taking the weekend off... even though I had organized it with Phil, the good boss, almost a month in advance... then in a rather round about was Gottfried said that he wanted the kitchen open every night... which is nice and all except for the fact that I am the only person who works night kitchen... fun... no days off...

Exactly what I came to Europe for....NOT!

To say that this has played a major theme in my mind set for the rest of the month is an understatement.

I'm a traveler who happens to be working, not a worker who travels.

The one thing that has most likely been keeping me from quitting out right and just leaving is Gail, keeping me sane can be a challenge at times and she certainly helps to say the least.

But on the subject of leaving... I am.

Come the end of this month... 8 days away now... it will be my last shift. I have told Phil this and I am assuming that he has told his wondrous father that I am leaving. I have a birthday to go to in Munich on the night of the second and then on the third I want to be in my first destination in the Czech Republic. The exact list for my intended travel is, in order, the list of places I am going to go, in order, is

Cesky Kromlov
Prague
Brno
Bratislava
Budapest
Kiev
Odessa
Constanta
Bucharest
Belgrade
Sarajevo
Dubrovnik

Most places for 2 nights, some for 3 or 4 and one, Constanta, just one.

It should be a ton of fun and my money should in theory last a little bit longer over there.

On other subjects... I could have been going on a boat trip from Amsterdam to England, Portugal, Spain and a good chunk of the Mediterranean but alas... the wonders of people back home lumping me with bills because they don't get the concept of paying for the internet service that they are given, drained my funds by a couple of hundred dollars and forced me to reconsider that awesome opportunity.

The other opportunity that came up was from a guest who stayed here for about 2 weeks, a chef, who had got a job in a hotel and told me that if I wasn't happy with the YOHO he could talk to the head chef at his place and try to get me a job where he was as a proper cook - double the pay room and food included fixed roster. But at the moment I just want to travel some more and get some more awesome memories and photos.

So there is the little spiel that I can be bothered doing for now and with more travels on the way there should be a lot more for me to say in the weeks and months to come.

Interesting nights....

Back to the wonders of the text form for this post...

So after the last update I haven't been doing too much, come Saturday I had to pack all of my stuff up and store it at the lifts for the day, boarded the entire day away and would have liked to have managed to get one more run in but the Bastards on the lift said it was close.... you know, as they let some of their friends go straight past...

WANKERS!!

So after dragging myself back to the lift where my bag was I returned the rentals and headed to the Felsentherme, the hot springs that Bad Gastein is famous for. Chilled there and had a swim for the first time since I left Oz, the wonders of things that get you remembering home... it was fun.

Got a fucking awesome dinner at a random restaurant, had a steak for the first time in Europe... with pepper sauce.... it was untold levels of awesome. Upon finishing up all of my food I looked at the time and realised that I had a bit over an hour to kill before the last train for the night that was heading back to fair old Salzburg.
Headed to a bar, couldn't go to the Silver Bullet, they had closed for the season the night before so I followed the sound of music to another random bar, had a couple of beers and then was given shots by the barman which was pretty good, then got chatting with them and one of them offered me a place to stay for the night... and this is where the story branches a little bit...

What I said to work... I had missed the train for some unseen reason and there wasn't another until the morning, which I was going to be on.

What actually happened was that the person offered me a place to stay and I thought about it for a little bit and then took the offer, called the YoHo and told my lie, proceeded to drink at that bar for a bit, then dropped off my bags and stuff and then headed to Haegblooms as it was their end of season thing, then drank very large doubles of vodka and lime for 5 Euros each. After a few of those I was given a couple of Captain Morgan and Coke's as the other people had bought a bottle from the bar...

that is one great thing about being over here they let you buy entire bottles in one hit and then give you unlimited mixer to put with it

and then somewhere in the mix my memory ends... which is unusual, normally I at least remember leaving the bar... but it all worked out as I woke up in the bed I was given and I still had all of the things I left with minus the last of the money I have until the end of the month.

I got myself onto a train around noon and got back to the hostel at around 2.30 and spun another lie.

I was on the early train, I fell asleep and woke up just outside Münich, Which is 2 hours by train past Salzburg

I do my best and I'm still pretty good at spinning shit like that... and I don't do it much at all these days so its not too bad.

Now I am probably going to retire for the evening and then contemplate the wonders of working breakfast tomorrow morning... or do my washing... either or.

A short update this time...

The world must be coming to an end, two videos in two days.... enjoy.



Video of the day... Greener Grass by Millencolin

A small update... in person...