Prague and Poland!

So.. once I had gotten to Prague, we went right to our first place of visit- Kunta Hora... This is an old mining town outside of the main city of Prague and is known most well for its Ossuary.  Before going there, I wasn't too sure what exactly an ossuary was, just that it was recommended by a lot of people that I should go, so of course I listened.  Come to find out, it's a place that stores bones.  So we walk into this church that's beautiful from the outside, and into this place that has bones sculpted all over the place. Craziest thing ever.  We then visited another two churches and had a late lunch of soup with goose meatballs: traditional food in Prague.  It wasn't too bad, but doesn't have anything on Mommom's meatballs.  We then went back to Prague and explored the town by night (it gets dark at 4:45 here too).

Pyramid sculpture of the bones at the Ossuary

Saint Barbara's Church

Facade of the Jesuit College of Kutna Hora

Prague Day 2 consisted of exploring the Old Royal Palace, Prague Castle, St. Charles Bridge, the Lennon Wall, the Golden Lane, St. Vitrus Cathedral, among many others.  We even went into the Chocolate Museum and saw a chocolate demonstration (of course the free samples are what reeled me in)!!  The city is absolutely beautiful, but it's definitely wintertime (cold is not my favorite)!  We just compensated by ducking into some cafes along the way and helping ourselves to soup or tea to warm up!

It's good luck to rub this statue on St. Charles Bridge

The Lock Bridge near the Lennon Wall

Part of the Lennon Wall!!

Late that night, we took an overnight train to Krakow, Poland, and immediately hopped on a short bus trip to Auschwitz-Birkenau.  It's not a tourist location that is on everyone's list, but I must say that I am glad that I did it, for the sole reason os it causing me to really appreciate everything I have,  and it really made me realize the potential for human atrocities and the need to prevent things like that from happening.  It absolutely astounded me however, that we have witnessed these terrible crimes, yet we stand idly by while so many other genocides happen around the world.  Sometimes I just don't get it.

"Work makes you free" -- entrance to Auschwitz

The "Death Wall"

The remains of the crematorium the SS blew up when they were retreating from the Allies

The tracks they brought "prisoners" in on 

This morning I was supposed to fly back to Copenhagen at 6 am because my mom will be arriving at 12:30, but of course my flight got cancelled.  I'm so ridiculously upset, because the only other flight they could put me on was one that gets me in at 7:40 tonight.  Apparently the fog is so bad, all the flights are cancelled until the afternoon sun can clear it out.  So now I'm here and I'll be uploading all my pictures into my past blogs, so if interested, go back to check my posts from November 10 on.

Til imorgen!