Day 8: BrnoTechnical Museum

On this day, we went on two separate trips in Brno. My parents, in order to actually accomplish something (what?) decided that my dad would take us to the Brno Technical Museum while my mom stayed home to work and then they'd switch. I don't think my dad was too sad about this trip. I got the definite impression he really likes this place.

The museum isn't something I'd call strictly Czech in nature - one can enjoy this kind of stuff in technology museums all over the world I think. But, that doesn't make it any less cool. There were a lot of fun and interesting exhibits:

Old cars (which Vince liked)


Old clocks (which I liked, obviously) - that last one is really quite large


Old dental supplies and equipment (and you thought it was scary now?)

Beauty hurt back then too (seriously? my head hurts just looking at that - those are made of metal!)




Old book binding stuff (surprisingly one of my favorites :)


the Salon of Mechanical Music had all these really awesome music cabinets. I had to get a video of this one playing:



I'm probably admitting to extreme nerd-dom here (too late), but I love old technology:


Doesn't this look like a character from a Pixar movie?

astronomical, what do you expect?


Some seriously cool sewing machines (and old toys too, but no photos of those)

Just plain cool. Especially if you are a little boy.

They had a working model of a steam engine - the demo was very cool, even if I didn't quite understand what the man was saying...

My dad got a HUGE kick out of this. Any guesses what it is?

And, a highly appropriate photo of my dad with his nose to the grindstone.

Stay tuned for my mom's part of this day - touring beautiful churches and cathedrals!

Day 7: Castle on the Hill

After my parents took the long trip back to Prague to drop TT off, we got to visit one of the most beautiful places I've ever been. I don't think I've seen anything quite like this place before. I welcome you to Castle Pernštejn:

Not sure if these are "ruins," but they made me think of King Arthur, for some reason :)

My fetish for doorways continues, this time in stone (and with my dad)

More doorway fun, with my mom

View of the castle from the outer gate (couldn't decide which was better)

Just so cool! Makes me want to live here.

Loved the little bridge connecting buildings.

Walls overgrown with vegetation

Still can't believe this stuff is real - seriously like out of a book

Shot of a window - I guess this helps you aim your bow?

Vince with a tree growing right out of the rock wall!

Amazing.

More amazing.

I really liked it here, can you tell?

It was especially beautiful in the misty afternoon sunshine

Another doorway

I've never been to England (though I'd really love to), but this made me feel like I was there, visiting centuries old places (this castle was established around 1285). Definitely makes America look like a newborn nation! It's funny how the more I think about my trip, the more I realize it was really once-in-a-lifetime and I should have lived it up more! Ah, well. At least I have the memories (and the photos).

Day 6: Church in Czech

Sunday rolled around and we had our first experience with the gospel in Czech. Fortunately, the branch in Brno has a system set up where we could have headphones and one of the missionaries (or an English speaking member) would translate. I was really impressed with the abilities of the missionaries to translate on the spot. I imagine it is very difficult (especially in Czech). Sometimes they wouldn't be able to keep up, or the speakers talked too quickly. But, in general, they were fabulous. And if they hadn't been there, we would have gotten nothing. Unless they were talking about friend cheese. Or saying 'good day' over and over again.

I was really impressed with all of the people we met - members and investigators alike. It is very difficult to be in a place where your religion is so obscure and members are so few. My parents helped coordinate a conference for young adults in Europe. I imagine those are so important for the young people - getting to associate with so many people with your same beliefs. If I learned anything from these people (and I did) it was to appreciate what I have here at home. And stop whining.

They had an English-speaking Sunday school class, which was helpful. We met in a room the size of a large closet and with about seven others. One of my favorites was an extremely happy recent convert. He always had a huge smile on his face and he had an amazing knowledge of the scriptures. I wish I had such a dedication to the scriptures and could remember so much from them.

Relief society was all in Czech, but it was nice to be in a huge circle of LDS women all learning about the gospel. Feelings were more important than words.

After church, my mom, TT, and I all went for a nice walk to the local castle and cathedral.

I never get tired of streets like these (except when I walk up them).

Here we are at the Brno castle

I love a good doorway shot.


Hanging with the cannons - obviously no longer in working order :)


Showing how grown-up I am


Castle building itself


Loved these doorways - think I could bring one home for a souvenir?


The bells I never actually heard - though my mom heard them playing the Beatles one time. Not exactly cultural.


View of the red church from the castle walls (we didn't visit this one until later)


Just a little green sanctuary in the middle of the city - wish we had more places like this in our city!


We strolled past the Cathedral, but didn't stop in (watch for our other trip later in the week)


Old town hall building - that spire is what happens when you fire your artist before the work is finished :)

Tour of the town hall wouldn't be complete without this little guy:

the dragon of Brno - terrorizing citizens centuries ago

Oh, and it's my birthday today. Yipee!

Day 5: Renaissance Days

Telč is a Renaissance town plucked straight from the 16th century and plopped down in our century for our viewing pleasure. It was surrounded by rivers and lakes, almost making it an island. Perfect place for a picnic:

We entered the town and saw folks viewing the town from the tower (back one)

And so decided to climb up there:

It was pretty clouded when we climbed up - imagine trying to fit past someone on those stairs! I tried to take photos of the giant bells on the way, but didn't want to hold up the hordes.

View from the top: worth the climb


TT and I - my facial expression is where the word "guffaw" has its origins.


View of the town square from above

The town square - my favorite part! The streets were lined with little shops selling Czech souvenirs and other stuff. All of us loved it (except my dad, who thinks shopping is of the devil).

The house fronts have remained the same since the 16th century - and they are simply beautiful! Here are two of my favorites:


View from the other side of the street - most of the fronts have cute little shops in them too!


The typical "we survived the plague" column in nearly every city - called the column of apostasy by the missionaries.


This makes me all kinds of happy. Must. eat. more. ice cream.


On the way back to Brno, we stopped at the Kralice Bible Museum, which doesn't look like much from the outside, but manages to house some seriously old religious books. The first complete translation of the Bible into Czech was printed here. I blogged about its awesomeness with pictures and everything on my book blog.

Doesn't this look like something from a palace garden? Actually, it was my parent's back yard. They didn't maintain it, but got to enjoy its beauty through their windows. That's the best way to enjoy yards, I've decided.

Day 4: We Skip the Country

So, it's only been two weeks since my last post, right? And what a two weeks it has been. I really have to finish posting all these photos from our journey before I go into all that. But, as a preview here are the things we've done:

• moved to an apartment
• cleaned my parent's house (ugh)
  
• another trip to Rexburg
• welcomed my parents home (YEAH!)
• and nothing else exciting...

Anywho, let's talk about our country-hopping adventure. Since Brno was only a 1 to 2 hour train ride from Vienna, we snatched the opportunity to visit.

First stop (after the delightful train ride, that is - trying to explain your tickets to someone who doesn't speak your language is fun, isn't it?): Belvedere Palace home to lots of famous people over the centuries (you know, Maria Theresa of Austria and the Archduke Franz Ferdinand) and filled with lots of important museum stuff. (We actually only walked through the gardens and viewed the upper and lower Belvederes from the outside.) However, it was worth just that short stroll:

A welcoming gate, don't you think?

Gorgeous gardens in front of the Upper Belvedere

the hubby and I looking very tiny on the stairs

Seriously, I only posted a few of the many shots I took at this place - beautiful, beautiful!

Not too many obscene water fountains either :)

Facing the other direction, a view of the Lower Belvedere

TT with the fish-head fountain. You can't see it too well, but the top center waterspout is a very excellent fish sculpture - click to enlarge, you won't be sorry :)


Random gold-roofed building. Looked cooler in person.

Just outside the Belvedere is a really big water fountain. I know nothing about it. Except it spews a lot of water up really high.

Our next stop was the Vienna State Opera House (aka Wiener Staatsoper)

I started taking photos and we hadn't even gotten inside yet!
We timed it just right to get a tour in English of the inside - so worth it.


We got our photos taken with some excellent outfits - only mine didn't turn out so well. The wig was a bit frightening.


The view up the marble staircase to the first floor


Trust me, it looked a lot better than my poor photos show.

Here are some random inside shots - apparently I like archways (the tour guide was so fun - I love people with accents).


I'd look up info about these, but I prefer to call the one on the left "the room of musical busts" and the one on the right "really old tapestry" - I remember it depicts scenes from La Flute Magique and I had to pick and choose my photo so it didn't have unclothed people

This is a pretty famous room - called the tea room. Rich and important people would take tea here between acts - I guess not a lot of people have seen it (you have to be invited by the richies or go on a tour apparently) so I thought I'd post my fuzzy picture anyway

The opera house was hit by bombs during WWII, and the only parts that were ruined were (of course) the stage and auditorium. They were my favorite part, though! (Stage was under construction and didn't look that awesome, so no photos for you.)

View from the center box

view of the center box (from the floor seats)

Building on a street in Vienna (I think an art museum)

One of the buildings in the Hofburg Palace complex, which housed our next stop

The state treasuries housed in the Hofburg complex were so cool! They had crown jewels (literally) and other gold relics. It was really hard to take good photos, since they were using very low lighting to preserve this stuff. Trust me, it was cool.

Imperial regalia (aka, their fancy clothes) and their fancy cribs

Their fancy baby clothes (for a boy, of course) and crazy grown-up clothes

Some of the decorations they had were pretty awesome - these are a few of my faves

We finally made it to the Stephansdom quarter, which houses Stephansdom or St. Stephen's Cathedral which apparently has some interesting outer decor

Always very beautiful inside!

the pilgrim's pulpit where impromptu testimony meetings took place (loved the carvings on the stairs)

More gorgeous architecture

After getting ourselves some fabulous ice cream (sigh) and delicious strudel (double sigh) we made our way to the last stop - perhaps a little off the beaten path (certainly less crowded)

The clock museum (Uhrenmuseum) which houses (you guessed it) clocks!

I really loved looking at all of the different clocks (though, really it doesn't sound that thrilling)

These were my favorites - astronomical clocks!

Ornate, gorgeous, but probably impracticle

Not enough cuckoo clocks for my taste. We were really disappointed when there were NO clocks that rang out on the bell. (Lots of the clocks aren't in working order.)

And that was the end of our tourist adventures in Austria. Well, sort of.

You see, we had a really hard time actually finding the train station entrance. We took a tram back to the general area and wandered the streets, searching while our train departure time crept nearer and nearer. Being the stubborn, hard headed person I was, I kept sticking to my map and wandering. My husband asked for directions. Go figure. We made it (though we also managed to put ourselves in first class without realizing it). Who knew that coach class actually looked like the Hogwart's Express with compartments and everything?

I promise will try to get more photos up in the next few days.

Day 3: My Visit to Pemberly

Think England's the only place with the Austen feel? Think again!

Our first stop on the Austen-ian Czech Tour was the palace at Lednice - a gorgeous Neo-Gothic structure held by the Liechtenstein family for generations. It also has an extensive English garden, which gave it the distinctly Austen feel.

And, of course, what place would be complete without the birds of prey?

Makes me feel rather buzzardly

Here are the gorgeous gardens

Posing with a, fortunately, clothed statue

Would you take a turn with me in the gardens?

I loved the outer decor on the greenhouse - everything was beautifully designed.

And, of course, they had a lake (but no Mr. Darcy dipping in it)

Yours truly posing with this fierce monster

A seriously gnarly tree

I finally got a shot with my dad in it - and the grounds were delightful!

I love the intricate designs on everything!

Seriously. A palace.

Another view of said palace.

We took a tour inside the palace, but they don't let you take photos, which is a shame because the woodwork inside was so gorgeous, I about died. You can get a little bit of a feel for it in these photos.

Our next stop was the village of Mikulov, complete with a slightly smaller castle. This one was under the care of the Dietrichstein family for many years. It really seemed like it was tucked away in the center of the village.

I love the foliage growing on the castle.

And I seem to have a thing for doorways - I love to take photos of them.

See?

And another one! But, they were pretty cool...

More castle-y stuff

This was the old tower we climbed up.

The stairways were quite narrow

The top of the lookout.

View of the surrounding hills (and cool buildings on top)

I love the "onion" towers that are everywhere (and always green...)

Super cool ruin on the hill

A bit of a fortification wall there - doesn't quite match the decor, don't you think?

And this is the famous Dietrichstein tomb full of the mummified bodies of several members of that family. We did not go in to view the bodies. Sorry to disappoint.

Random Czechsky Thought: Continuing the discussion on food, here are a few of the TO DIE FOR delights we did enjoy:

Smazeny Syr (aka fried cheese - oh, how I love cheese)
Bread of any kind - the Europeans sure know how to make bread - and they always seem to have like 20 varieties at every store!
Ice Cream - there are lots of little stores selling ice cream (in too tiny scoops) on every street - I don't know what they do different, but they have all kinds of flavors and they almost taste fizzy! SO GOOD!

Ah, Czech food, I miss you (well, some of you).

We Interrupt Your Irregularly Scheduled Travelogue...

As I am sure you all remembered (ha), Vince and I celebrated our third anniversary on Tuesday. I have been rather busy with fruit and packing (hey, we're moving!) and other stuff that I didn't post then.

We managed to celebrate by going to:

(which we didn't cook)

and a:

(ok technically a DVD)

And I also celebrated by not doing any:

(which, with the mounds of peaches we have, is a miracle in and of itself)

I thought I'd end this post with some original poetry (for the weak of stomach, you may want to stop reading now):

We've been married for three years
We never argue
Or even disagree
Oh, wait...yes we do...
But we sure love each other
And are happy as can be.

I know, I definitely won't quit my day job.

I'm intending to post about my adventures in the thrilling Rexburg area, but at the rate I'm going, it may not be until next year! Hopefully, it won't be too long...

Day 2: It's a New Day!

Hooray, we made it to the next day! On this day, we visited a few last minute sites in Prague before driving back to Brno, where my parents live.

The first place was, you guessed it, another library. Well, it is a monastery, but what we went there for was the library. What can I say, my family humors me. I already blogged about this gorgeous library (which allows non-flash photography, so I went all out) on my book review site here. However, here is a photo of part of the Strahov Monastery (non-library section):

Did you read about the Strahov Monastery Library on my other blog yet? Good.

We paused in our trek to take our photos by a statue of some of my favorite historical astronomers:

Brahe became the imperial astronomer in Prague in 1597 and Kepler (who I know you all have heard of) used Brahe's measurements to make his famous laws of planetary motion

I also snapped a random photo of this horse statue:

If you look closely at the inscription, you might notice the reason for my snapping this otherwise random photo

Our next stop, on the drive from Prague to Brno was at this rather simple-looking church:


Do not be fooled by its plain outward appearance, for inside we find the Kostnice Ossuary:


Need a new decorating style? This ought to liven things up (pun totally intended)

Anyway, apparently, this church was a really popular place for rich people who wanted to be buried. Also, during the plague in the 14th century, they had a huge influx of bodies and not as much room to house them (approximately 40,000 people now!). Someone finally had the brilliant idea to artfully arrange those bones:

this is the excellent chandelier!


Pretty decor, no? Definitely perfect for Halloween!

There were four huge piles (bell-shaped apparently) in the four corners of the church in addition to all the exciting arrangements.

Coat of arms (literally)

And of course, the artist signed is name in, that's right, bones:

Random Czechsky thought: let's elaborate on my brief mention of driving. Europeans are plain scary. Let's be honest, drivers in America are nuts. I've been in multiple infamously horrendous driving areas (my home state included) - particularly New York. But, I have also experienced some terrifying escapes during my trip to Paris in high school. Fearing for one's life is the best way to describe it. The cars may be tiny, but boy the drivers sure make up for it! The swerving, the speeding, the terribly confusing road signs (some things are not as universal as you would think). Being wedged into the back of a tiny little skoda car (a Czech company) did not make the drive any better. But, it beats walking (well, at least over long distances). I'll talk more about other transport systems later, but driving - well, I guess you just have to experience it to fully understand what I mean.

Day 1: Am I Still Awake?

Yes, this day still goes on. It was amazing to be in this totally new place seeing all these beautiful sites, but I was really tired (been awake for probably near 20 hours at this point).

However, we still managed to walk along the beautiful Charles Bridge that spans the Vltava River. This bridge has been around since the 15th century, so you can imagine what it feels like to cross something that old (and no, I wasn't afraid it would fall apart :). The walk reminded me of Monte Martre in Paris, because it was lined with artists drawing portraits or selling paintings of Prague, as well as other street merchants selling souvenirs.

The bridge itself has towers on both ends.


TT, me, and Vince on the bridge in front of one of the several statues lining the walk.


View of the Vltava River from the Charles Bridge


Buildings lining the waterfront

I think one of the best things about visiting such an interesting city is just walking the streets and taking in everything around you. I love the old cobblestone streets and the historic buildings that can house just about anything from museums to fast food joints.

Plenty of street performers (can you imagine making your living this way?)

After our walk across the bridge, we headed to the Klementinum complex that has several place you can visit. I was especially excited about the Baroque Hall Library they have there. Unfortunately, they do not allow photographs to be taken. I blogged about this library on my book blog already, so go there for a photo (worth a peek, I assure you) and more info about the collection.

In addition to the library, we took a tour through the mirror chapel and the astronomical tower (which I also adored). And, no photographs allowed there either. If you go to the Klementinum website, you can see some of what it was like. The astronomical tower, which had quite a number of staircases for climbing, was fascinating. They had some old instruments - mostly sextants - that lined the halls on the way up. Finally, at the top, we were able to snap photos of the view, which was spectacular:

Most of the city has these delightful red roofs, mingled with the interesting green of various towers


Vince and I outside the viewing tower - you may comment on my excellent expression, but just remember how jet-lagged I was at this point :)


A closer look at that cathedral (Tyn cathedral) which we didn't go inside but has been around since the 14th and 15th century. So much to see, so little time!

Next up we have:

All the folks standing by the Jan Hus statue. Read more about him there - really influential in the religious sphere. I assume the statue was not always that delightful green shade.

And because this square was just busting with awesome sights:

the Astronomical clock - which I adored, though wish I had been more awake to enjoy (there was an unfortunate photo of my head with the clock - it did not make it past my censors).

Our final trek involved going up a slight hill (though it sure felt like a mountain) past these beautifully shaped bushes:


to the fairly busy (in terms of historical events) Wenceslas square:

the man on the horse is Good King Wenceslas (ie Saint Wenceslas) the man in the UVU shirt is my spouse :)

Mostly what I learned of this place (and you can read up on those links to Wikipedia) is that a student lit himself on fire here - in protest against the invasion from the Soviet Union. (That is definitely one way to protest - I prefer methods involving less pain!) It also was the site of many demonstrations where the Czechs expressed their protests against communism. A very busy square indeed.

By this time, I was a walking zombie, but we still had to eat dinner. Which took forever. The meat apparently had to be slaughtered or plucked or both before preparation. I attempted to nap on the table. It was not comfortable (though at that point, I think it was pretty nice). We finally made our way to this charming little Pension:

where my parents have stayed in the past

it was really quite charming

though I don't think I properly enjoyed it that evening, since I simply fell into bed exhausted

Random Czechsky thought: let's talk a bit about food. The good: fried anything was pretty delicious - schnitzel, which is pretty much fried meat items, was quite good. Fattening, but who worries about that? My first food experience was not pleasant. One issue is that I can't read a lick of Czech (hello, difficult language). My parents were able to tell us essentially what things were. I went for dumplings, which in Czesky are knedliky. Dumplings were not what I thought they were. Boiled bread. Here I was picturing some kind of delicious potato with spices. Why this image? No idea. Boiled bread is not tasty. I made a valient effort to stomach at least one piece (there were several), but it did not happen. Fortunately, my dad, a living garbage disposal (no offense) was able to polish them off. Ugh. That's one traditional food I could do without. Bread in general, though...that's a topic for another random thought!

Day 1: Wow, that's really big!

Day one continued when we entered the heart of Prague. We headed straight for the Prague Castle complex, which is probably the most famous area in the city. Anyway, the castle has a huge number of interesting buildings, churches, and museums, only a tiny part of which we were able to see. Here we are wandering in the gardens:

I loved this gnarly old tree - probably been around longer than the castle (though parts of it date back to the 10th century!)

I never figured out what exactly this building was, but the facade was simply gorgeous - if you click the photo and look carefully, you will see beautiful white reliefs carved all over.

My first glimpse of St. Vitus' Cathedral - pretty much the trademark of Prague

It is enormous (as I am sure you guessed) - much bigger than these photos suggest

Here we are at the entrance - that woman behind us was probably taking photos of the details on the door - absolutely everything was covered in decoration and carving

Gotta love the gargoyles - reminded me of Notre Dame in Paris

This door is just the right size!

Positively breathtaking! The size is so hard to convey.

Too bad we had to mar the beauty of this photo :)

Dozens of stained glass windows lined the nave - I found them so intriguing I forgot to actually look at much else (apparently, there is a little side chapel where St. Wenceslas is buried. And a mausoleum with a bunch of royal dead guys (such as Charles IV, if you care to know)

View from the other end - the rose window (from the 20th century)

Are you shocked this is the same cathedral? The other end has a bell tower. Obviously they got several different styles going on here.

Castle gate - note the guards in their baby blues (summer uniform, apparently)

TT with something that looks like a mannequin - seriously, he doesn't look real

The Prague Castle is up on a hill, so the view of Prague is amazing - I loved the red roofs of the city

Everybody's still smiling - just wait, day 1 isn't over yet!

Random Czechsky thought: One thing that I adore about the Czech Republic (and pretty much anywhere in Europe) is that everything is old. All the buildings have been around longer than the United States. I love the historic feeling even the most mundane buildings can radiate - even a McDonalds.