czech republic: kutna hora

mom and i visited kutna hora on another day trip from prague...we left the flat at 0715, to get to the train station on time for our 0800 train...sitting across from us on the train was a chick from san francisco, who was traveling europe for a couple weeks...after arriving in kutna hora we figured out we had to take another, tiny little regional train to get to where we wanted to be...thank goodness for information offices in small towns...(and thank goodness mom was able to figure it out without taking time to wait in a queue)...this tiny little train took us to a place called sedlec...

we hopped off, and walked...we first passed a church with an open door, so we ducked in...we weren't the only people looking around, since the open door made everyone think it was open for visitors...an employee (or maybe volunteer?) came to tell everyone that the church wasn't yet open, and pointed to a board showing opening times...the board did indeed show the opening time to be an hour later, but the time the guy said was half an hour after that...we all left, and i wonder if anyone went back...i also wonder what time the church actually opened...
mom and i were among the first visitors to arrive at the ossuary...the ossuary is well known, and is probably the biggest reason people make this day trip...it was a lot smaller than i expected, but still pretty stunning...the entire room is decorated with bones...i've forgotten how many people's bones are used, but the number is big...decorations on the wall, a chandelier, and a shield of sorts...(a coat of arms)...plus a couple giant piles of bones in the general shape of pyramids...

i'm glad mom and i were some of the first to arrive, otherwise we never would've been able to take any photos without people in them...
we just missed the next tiny little train, so we had to wait a while at the tiny little train stop...it was a very sunny day, i was sweating like crazy, but oh well...the following train came along and took us to the city centre of kutna hora...(i think the ossuary is technically located in a suburb called sedlec, but most people call the entire area kutna hora)...

mom had read that we could take tours of a former royal mint, so that was where we went first...this is when i learned that the english word dollar originally came from this area, when they called a certain coin a thaler...give it a few years, then a different language and soon enough the word becomes dollar...i like the museum display of coins/money that had been produced and used in the area...another part of this tour took us through a residence area of the castle...it was small, but i loved the way the rooms were decorated...i wasn't a big fan of the personal chapel, it wasn't my style...

all the streets in the city centre were uneven cobblestone...it was tough enough for us in the middle of summer, i bet the roads are treacherous in winter with snow and ice...kutna hora is small though, i doubt there is a huge amount of traffic in winter...
we visited the former jesuit college, it is now an art gallery...a big art gallery...one room remained as it used to be, when it was an apotheke...we could see the ceiling painting, but that was the only bit of note...the gallery was huge...we kept thinking we'd seen everything, but in the end we ended up skipping the top floor, we were both tired of art...

i can see it as a good place to come for a specific exhibit, but not to see the entire thing at once...apparently a lot of people come to the gallery and try to sneak in without entry tickets, because our tickets were checked no less than four different times during our visit!
we also visited st barbara's cathedral...it was never finished, but you would never know that, as it is huge, and doesn't look or feel unfinished...when you enter they give you information sheets with specific aspects of the church...i read a bit, but all the information was really detailed, and it got to be a bit overwhelming...i think audioguides were also available...behind the main altar there were quite a few smaller chapels/altars...

after the cathedral we stopped for tea/coffee and chocolate mousse cake...a nice break, and tasty :)
from there it was easy to get back to the mini train station, then the main station in kutna hora, then back to prague..