Hooray For Backtracking!

So I've been in Prague for almost four weeks now.

*chirp*
*chirp*
*chirp*

FOUR WEEKS?! That's like... like... one fourth of the program! AHH QUARTER-LIFE CRISIS!

So as someone who's been here for a whole honkin' month, by now I'm what you might call a Prague expert. That's right. I have completely assimilated into Prague society. Why, just the other day while I was riding across the street on a Segway Tour I nearly got hit by a car, and the driver yelled at me... in Czech!* Surely this was because he had mistaken me for a local and thus assumed I spoke the language. The fool! But then again, his mistake is understandable. I mean, I just scream native-born Czech citizen:

On the mining tour in Kutná Hora. The mines are where ALL the locals hang out.

Pulling up this cheeseball photo reminds me that I never talked about Kutná Hora. What the what?! It's only one of the coolest places I've gone to since I've been here! So let me tell ya 'bout it, stud.

Kutná Hora is a historic town about 45 minutes from Nové Město. Our FS group took a bus there with students from other study abroad programs. The first place we visited was the ossuary.

"What the poop is an ossuary?" you might be asking yourself.**

Well, imagine a quaint little church. Now imagine that quaint little church is adorned WITH THOUSANDS OF ACTUAL HUMAN BONES.

Ooga Booga Booga!

It was pretty crazy. I have to say that I had mixed feelings about it, though. There's something vaguely upsetting about standing in the middle of a holy place filled with peoples' bones, and seeing it overrun with tourists. There were people all over the place taking pictures and posing with the skulls. It seemed a little insensitive. And as I was just as much a tourist-taking-pictures as the rest, I was at odds with myself. In any case, the ossuary was a very fascinating place and definitely worth visiting, despite this predicament.

The other really cool place we went to in Kutná Hora was the mines. It was a tour through the old silver mines-- POZOR (warning): Not recommended for the claustrophobic! I didn't understand the full force of this until we were six stories underground in an impossibly narrow tunnel. There were some pretty tight squeezes traveling through the mines and it was unnvering for some... i.e. only me. But it was a very unique tour, and beautiful (however terrifying). Oh yeah, and the best part is we had to wear robes and helmets to protect us from dripping water and low-hanging ceilings. Needless to say, we all looked like the bees knees.

Ugh... here we go...

Freaking out?! Who's freaking out? I'M NOT FREAKING OUT!!!

In addition to the ossuary and the silver mines, we saw the St. Barbara cathedral. The word "purdy" comes to mind.

And that's Kutná Hora! Welp, I'd better sign off and change into something that doesn't look like a hobo costume. We've got two birthdays in the FS program this week. That means one huge night of partying, right? Wrong. It means TWO huge nights of partying!


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*None of this actually happened. But I really want to do one of those Segway Tours.

**You might be asking yourself something much more explicit, but as my travel blog was recently selected to be used by CIEE, there's gonna be a few changes around here-- namely, the layout's going to be a little less dreary and the language is going to be a little nicer. And "poop" is just about the nicest word I can think of.