Kutna Hora, Czech

July 2, 2022

Today we made a day trip out of the city to explore more of the Czech Republic. We went to a small historical town - Kutna Hora, about an hour by train from Prague. It was a silver mining town and was very rich during the medieval. But the life of miners was full of uncertainty and danger, so many churches were built there to ask for God's blessing. The Historical Town Center with the Church of St. Barbara, the Cathedral of Assumption of Our Lady and St. John the Baptist at Sedlec, the Sedlec Abbey and its Ossuary (Church of the Bone) was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

We first visited the Cathedral of Assumption of Our Lady and St. John the Baptist and then went to the more popular and touristy Church of the Bone. It sounded scary, a church with nothing but bones. At first, we hesitated to go. But curiosity overcame the fear, and we went inside. The ossuary church was extraordinary. Here does the story go. The abbey cemetery was a desirable burial site throughout Central Europe before the mid-14th century, with many thousands being buried. Around 1400, a Gothic church was built in the center of the cemetery, and a chapel was used as an ossuary for the mass graves unearthed during construction or simply making room for new burials. After 1511, a half-blind monk was tasked with exhuming skeletons and stacking their bones in the chapel. Later in the 19th century, a woodcarver put bone heaps into the art form of church decoration. It was an entirely different way to deal with the overcrowded burial site than Jewish did. Taking pictures inside was not allowed; if interested, you can check them on the Internet.

After seeing the Ossuary, we took the bus to St. Barbara's Cathedral. Before heading inside the cathedral, we needed to find a place for lunch since all of us were hungry. We picked a restaurant in the town nearby the cathedral and sat outside with a nice view. Here came a little story about our lunch at the restaurant. Everyone placed orders inside, and the server would find you and bring the food to the table. We ordered sausages, Falafel, and pickle cheese, a famous Czech snack. As we sat at a table in the courtyard waiting for our food, two young guys found a table next to us. As we waited and waited, a waiter brought three dishes just like ours to their table. We thought those might be our food since those two guys came to the restaurant later than us, so we asked the waiter if he might deliver the order to the wrong table. He was agitated a little and asked us to wait. In the meantime, two guys took pictures of the food and enjoyed it. We wondered what the chance was of two guys ordering the same three dishes as ours. After another 15 minutes, our food still didn't show up. We went inside and inquired about our order. A manager-like lady checked our order receipt, then asked the cooker in the kitchen and the waiter who delivered the food to the table. They then realized a mistake had been made and expedited our order. All three dishes were excellent. Interestingly, as we were enjoying our delicious food, the same waiter brought two more dishes to the next table, totally different from the first three dishes. Our guess was those were actually what the guys ordered in the first place. The two guys looked confused. The guys and the waiter did not speak much English, so some effort was needed to explain the situation. In the end, these two guys happily enjoyed all five dishes.

The gothic style Cathedral of St. Barbara was stunning and magnificent from the outside. It was gorgeous, with many frescoes and sculptures inside, which were from the medieval.

After seeing the church, we visited a few minor tourist attractions in the town, and we loved this place. Before taking the train back to Prague, we found a lovely cafe for a break, having a cup of coffee, beer, and lemon tea, freshly roasted almond and fried potato chips were particularly delicious. Today's outing was very relaxing and enjoyable.

We learned from our tour guide the other day that two percent of the general population in the Czech Republic was Vietnamese, the third largest ethnic minority. We decided to try Vietnamese food tonight after we returned to Prague. We found a top-rated restaurant on Google Maps, which offered excellent food but didn't seem like the traditional Vietnamese food we were used to.

After dinner, we slowly walked back to the flat. On the streets and buildings of Prague, it was common to see sculptures hanging in the air and on the walls. But if you were in a hurry and did not look up, it was easy to miss them. We saw quite a few of them. On our way back, we were attracted by a shop specializing in Czech desserts, just like our glutinous rice balls, which can be filled with various fillings, salty or sweet. We had one salty and one sweet. Both were delicious, and what a perfect ending to our Czech tour.

欧洲游第四十三天：今天去了捷克的一个小镇-Kutna Hora，从布拉格过去大约一个多小时的火车。这小镇中世纪时是白银矿，很有钱，但矿工的人生充满不确定的危险，所以在那里造了不少教堂以求神的保佑。其中圣芭芭拉大教堂，圣母和圣约翰洗者大教堂和人骨教堂是入选世界遗产名录的。先去了圣母和圣约翰洗者大教堂和人骨教堂，人骨教堂很特殊，教堂里装饰全是用人骨做成的，听上去很可怕，真去了也没什么。不让照相，感兴趣可以上网查一下。

看完人骨教堂后就坐公交车去圣芭芭拉大教堂，先在大教堂所在的镇上找了个餐厅吃午饭，我们点了香肠，泡菜奶酪和中东素菜球。哥德式的圣芭芭拉大教堂是非常美丽壮观，里面的壁画和雕塑都是中世纪的。看完教堂后，又去镇上几个小景点扫了一遍，很喜欢这个小镇。离回去的火车还有一个多小时，找了个地方休息休息喝上一杯咖啡啤酒柠檬茶，他们现炸的土豆片特别好吃。今天的郊外游很轻松很开心。

昨天听说在捷克有百分之二的越南人，是第三大少数民族，今天决定去尝试一下这里越南美食，找一家网上排名前列的店，味道不错但好像不是我们想象中的传统的越南菜。饭后又慢慢地走回住所，在路上被一家专卖捷克甜点的店给吸引住了，就像我们的糯米团一样，里面可放有各种各样的馅，说是甜点，但也有咸味的，甜咸各要了一个，真好吃，算是给捷克游画上了一个完整的句号。