Sunday, February 14, 2010

It's not a Wishing Well


A few weeks ago Kept Man and I took a day trip out to Kutna Hora. Mostly we went because I had heard years and years ago about a bone church (otherwise known as Sedlec Ossuary) with a chandelier made out of every bone in the human body and I wanted to take a look.

So what did I think of said bone church? Artistic displays of human remains? Pretty creepy. And dirty. No one dusts the bones. Ever. I mean they're on display shouldn't they be cleaned. Wouldn't that be a nice gesture towards those whose remains have been used? Another nice gesture might have been to not make them look like party streamers. But maybe that's just me.



Maybe I'm just being harsh. Maybe I just don't like being confronted with my own mortality. Maybe I'm just creeped out.

Despite my reaction to this church I still have to confess that it is fascinating to see in person. So if you're every in Czech Republic it's worth a look and the graveyard I found to be particularly interesting and pretty even in the winter. There is a also a beautiful church (St. Barbara) and a castle in the town that is worth taking a look at if you happen to be in that neck of the woods.

But I do recommend Spring...or Summer...or even Autumn....or really just not the dead of winter. The town was pretty much D-E-D as my Granda would say when we were there and it happened to be a particularly cold day. By the time we made it back to the train station we were like two human popsicles. But still we got out of Prague for the day! Yeah us.

So on that note, Happy Valentine's Day. And for those of you wondering, Kept Man surprised me with a watercolor of the Charles Bridge as a present this morning. It's to match my watercolor of the Bridge of Sighs in Venice which after 10 years I have yet to get framed. I'm hoping with a matching watercolor from another city I might make a better attempt. Kept Man does ok when we wants to. He just likes to set the expectations particularly low.

Kept Man and Me at St. Barbara's Church in Kutna Hora. See how cold it is?

Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Alive in Prague


Kept Man took me to the Opera last night. There was lots of pageantry, women with big boobs and obviously singing of the opera variety with subtitles for those of us who don't know what the hell they're singing about. All and all a good time.

No elephant, just tusks but some people shouldn't provide unrealistic expectations. I'm looking at you girls.

My favorite part of the evening was during the overture. We were up in the first gallery right over the pit and could see all the musicians. Watching them begin to play was like watching a wave. First a few on the right start, then some on the left join in then the brass section all pick up their instruments at the same time. It's mesmerizing. Or I'm just easily amused.