Tuesday and Wednesday were our last days of class for Session 1 which were spent performing our final negotation and wrapping-up of the material we had discussed throughout the course of the semester.
Thursday (June 23rd):
Thursday was our "reading day," and we were able slept in before beginning to work on our finals. My finals ended up being "take-home" papers due Friday morning, so I spent a majority of the rest of Thursday writing those.
Friday (June 24th):
Our finals were due at 11:00 a.m. (online), and after staying up late and waking up early to finish them up (and read over them), a nap was in order before the night's activities.
A few of us decided to meet up at "The Pub" to hang out for a bit before our closing dinner which was held at the Cafe Imperial. At Cafe Imperial, we were given our own banquet hall (which was nice because Americans are LOUD) and had a nice catered meal (most of which I don't even think was Czech). After dinner, we went out for a bit to celebrate being done with the first session of the summer class and to say goodbye to a number of people who had only signed up for the first session. It was a sad night to say goodbye to all of our new friends! Hopefully we will be able to keep in touch and possibly visit each other when we get back to the states!
Picture of people in my Dispute and Negotiation class! (Our professor (Professor Weinstein) is located in the middle of the group with the blue shirt!)
Saturday (June 25th): Vyshrad
After a much needed sleep-in, we decided to visit Vysehrad -- the ruins of an old castle on the ourskirts of Prague. While most of the castle has been warn away, the location gives great views of parts of the city and has an amazing old cemetery (where Antonin Dvorak, Alfons Mucha, and Milada Horakova are buried).
Dvorak's headstone.
Mucha's headstone.
Horakova's headstone.
Our way back we decided to go out for another "goodbye dinner" for our friend John (who was leaving Sunday instead of Saturday). The dinner was awesome, especially the Vanilla Balls (ball pastry filled with ice cream and covered in powdered sugar and cream), but once again it was sad to say goodbye to such an awesome friend.
Tasty vanilla balls!
Sunday (June 26th): Kunta Hora
Sunday, we decided to venture out to Kutna Hora, which houses "The Bone Church" (actually named Kostnice Ossuary Beinhaus). The ‘Bone Church’ is actually an “ossuary,” and is no longer used for church services. It was the burial ground for many individuals and is entirely filled with bones. Some time ago, Jan Blazej SANTIM-Aichi, a famous Czech architect, decided to clean-up this ossuary, creating various objects and displays with the bones, allowing entry for the public. Although a bit eerie, it’s interesting to see. The inside is entirely filled with bones. I have never seen so many bones in the same place.
Tons of bones stacked into a pyramid roughly 3x my height!
Bone chandelier.
Ceske (i.e. Czech) spelled out in bones.
Outside the ossuary was a beautiful, little old cemetery. It was very green, quiet, and natural. Some of the headstones in this cemetery were ancient!
Tangled roots taking over this old headstone.
Kutna Hora also houses the Cathedral of Assumption of Our Lady and St. John the Baptist. Because service had just finished when we entered, the grand organ and choir were still in full song. It was a beautiful sound! Instead of a dark interior (made of stone and marble as most of the cathedral and basilicas over here), this cathedral is painted a light yellow with large windows to let in the light. We were also able to climb up into the attic of this church to a balcony that overlooked the pews and alter.
Outside of the Cathedral of Assumption of Our Lady and St. John the Baptist.
Yellow walls inside the cathedral.
Similarly, Kutna Hora also houses another cathedral called Cathedral of St. Barbara. This church was beautiful on both the inside and out. Also I couldn’t believe how much greenery was in this church. There were plants everywhere!
Outside of Cathedral of St. Barbara.
In the town square, a Renaissance Festival as in full swing and we were able to see the plays, hear the music, and walk around to all of the little venders' tents who had goods to sell. We felt lucky to just have happened to visit Kutna Hora on the day they were hosting the Ren Fest!
Ren Fest performance.
Merry-Go-Round at the Ren Fest.
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