Czech Republic Week One:

Stayed in Ostorvicice for basically all of week on. It is a small town outside of Brno, the second largest city in Czech Rep. All 10 of us were in one apartment, with one, yes ONE, bathroom. To say the least, there were a few issues. European toilets are not perpared for the onslaut of 10 americans.

Visited with lots of family, drank lots of beer and ate lots of good food. Unfortunately, the camera was lost in the process. It was left behind in a restaurant and by the time we realized it, was long gone. So, no pics this time. I may be able to post some for the next week off of the camera we are borrowing from Stephen's sister. For now, links will have to do.

Brno consisted of beer at Hotel Pegas. It is a pivobar, aka a beer bar. They brew their own beer there and it is quite good. They also have quite good food. I had smazeny syr for lunch there one day. Smazeny syr is fried cheese. Fan-freaking-tastic. This is where we lost the camera. Bummer.

We visited Spilberk, the castle of Brno. Toured the jail below the castle, not the castle. Crazy stuff. There are cells where men were sent "for life" and the expected time frame was less than a month. Amazingly creepy.

Also saw Pernstejn castle. Used a lot for movie filming. Beautiful setting. You could see fantastic mountains and forests all around. Incredible architecture with vaulted ceilings. Amazing to think of how they did all that work so long ago.

Visited the crypts in Brno where bodies have been preserved for hundreds of years with no embalming of any sort. It was a little creepy to see how well intact some of these bodies were. Most still had skin and many still had teeth and fingernails, after 350 years. Weird.

Along the same lines was our visit to the "Bone Church" outside Kutna Hora. You wanna talk creepy. Contains the bones of 40,000 people which are either stacked into huge pyramids of skulls or made into artwork such as chandeliers and chalices. Its supposed to make you consider your own mortality. Reminded me of something out of Indiana Jones.

Anyway, now we're in Prague. Staying at the Bethlem Hotel, which is pretty awesome. Not only do I have a huge bed and my own bathroom, but as you can see, I've got internetu!! Yay!! Hopefull I'll get to post some more before we leave here. Who knows when else we'll get internet access.