Dem Bones

We absolutely had to go to the Sedlec Ossuary at Kutna Hora, as it sounded too weird and too good to miss. And it was.

The story was in that during the black death when people were dying in droves, they all wanted to be buried in the church graveyard which quickly filled, so they exhumed the older inhabitants to make space for the new, and had to do something with the bones from four thousand dead.

So they decorated the church.

Looks as though people like to rub this guy's head, as it's shiny with skin oils.

Almost the best part of this day trip was thrown of Kutna Hora, where we ate at a restaurant recommended in passing which was pretty good, even though the service was ragged. The town is on a hillside, with narrow cobbled streets barely wide enough for tiny European cars. I shudder at the thought of moving vans - I can just see a family hand-carrying beds and sofas to their new home because the van couldn't get close enough.

The streets, the beautifully detailed buildings are straight out of fairy-tale books, so charming they pass beyond twee.

I happened on a yarn and fabric store and had to stop in, just to see. I also thought I might be able to replace the size two double-pointed needles that I bought for the trip that have turned up missing.

The proprietor spoke no English, but eventually understood what I needed, but all she had were a few fat circular needles and even fewer single-points. In terms of inventory, it was pretty much the worst yarn store I've ever seen: mostly acrylics (though in fairness some of the were quite nice) and a couple of blends. I'd estimate fewer than a dozen different yarns, none in more than one color.

I haven't seen any bead stores at all.

I was rather taken with the interior design of some of the Metro stations.

I actually have more pictures and will probably take even more.

We wandered around Old Town briefly before dinner. This is the Prague of legend: beautiful, grand, charming, all at the same time.

Crowded too, unfortunately.

These people were watching some sort of sporting even on a huge monitor. World Cup Something? They were all pretty psyched anyway.

The weather is still running colder than forecast, and I'm getting mightily tired of the few slightly warmer items I packed. Budapest promises to be warm though!