Our itinerary for today was the 'Bone Church in Kutna Hora' and the onto Vienna! I enjoyed sitting back and watching the scenery from the bus. One of my favourite parts of the contiki tour was watching the countryside from the bus. On both the Berlin to Prague and Prague to Vienna roads it was like communism never left. Some of the house still had bullet holes, the fields were bare, patches of snow littered the ground and old cars and shacks were the way of life. I wondered if these locals ever knew the berlin wall had fell. Or that should they choose they were free to go wherever they choose in the world.
Kutna Hora...
Before i knew it we had arrived in Kutna Hora, who survived on the tourism the church brought into town! The Bone Church or as its properly know, The Sedlec Ossuary, houses the skeletons of between 40,000 to 70,000 humans, the bones of which have all been arranged to create chandeliers, a coat of arms, and other 'decorations and furnitures' within the church.
The outside of the church and its cemetary and the signature of FrantiĊĦek Rint, the woodcarver incharge of the interior design...
The history goes that the churches abbot, Henry was sent to the Palestine aka, the Holy Land by King Otakar II of Bohemia in 1278. When he returned, he brought with him a small amount of earth he had removed from Golgotha and sprinkled it over the abbey cemetery. Word soon spread throughout Europe and the cemetery in Sedlec became (excuse the pun) the dead centre of the era! haha. But in all serouisness. People clambered as fast as their deceased bodies could move to get a spot in the cemetery. As you can imagine the small space was soon filled and soon afterwards the older grave sites were exhumated and the skeletons stored in the chapel itself. A lovely man was the hired to clean up the bones and we can see his work still today.
The interior of the church, The coat of arms and the candelabras. As you can see im at a loss of how to pose for the camera infront of the bones. It was truly a macarbe but fascniating place!
After arriving our bus driver did a quick loop of the city to orientate those of us who wanted to head out on the town for the night. I was not one of the party animals and was looking forward to a quiet night in with austrian tv and a cheap dinner when.... I saw it....
Skating infront of the Rathaus- Vienna
Vienna's City Ice Skating Rink. I think the group thought i was derranged when i threw myself against the window and watched the rink go by. In no time at all i had a group of willing participants and as soon as the bus had indicated to pull into a parking spot i was at the door waiting to get off! I have never skated anywhere so beautiful! The way the buildings were all light up as we skated to the classic hits of the late 20th century! It was truly a fantastic night had and after a quick coffee we headed back to the hotel with smiles from ear to ear.
