Europe:Beautiful Prague, Part 2

Some random pictures from Prague:

Looking across the river at Prague

I really liked the depiction of halos on the statues of saints in Europe. Typically, they were these rings with stars or

these sunburst-type halos.

While in Prague, we found the Lennon Wall. People began painting on it in the 1980s to honor John Lennon. Even when the government painted over it, by the second day it was filled with new paintings. The wall is continually being painted, and has several layers of paint.

We saw this a few times around Europe: locked locks with the names or initials of couples. We were told couples locked these locks on gates,

then throw the key into the river beyond, symbolizing their unbreakable love.

We saw just a few beggars in Eastern Europe, and this is the way the all begged: on their knees, face down, with a hat held out. Only after I threw a few coins into his hat did he glance up.

 Prague had an incredible amount of Vegetarian restaurants. Bob was following a Vegan diet while in Europe, and we were amazed at the number and variety of meat-free food in this part of Europe.

 The plethora of bakery shops made breakfast a particularly enjoyable meal.

Sedlee Ossuary

Cemeteries in Europe are in exceptionally well-kept. Apparently, if you neglect a grave, the powers that be will dig up the plot and allow someone else to use it. This is the cemetery at Sedlee Ossuary, or Bone Chapel.

The Bone Chapel is Roman Catholic, and decorated with the bones of somewhere between 40,000 to 70,000 people.

The site became a desirable place to be buried after the King sprinkled soil from Golgotha there.

Bones and Bob

 Thousands of people who died of Black Death were buried here during the 14th century

and many more thousands who died in the 15th century wars. A chapel was built around 1400, and in 1870 a man was hired to put the bones into some kind of order, resulting in the interesting decor seen today. I'm going to hire him next time we redo our house.

Stan and Bob discussing how to fit this skull tower into a suitcase to bring home.

 Here are some skulls which were "the skulls of warriors from the Hussite wars of 1412-1424. Injuries caused by swords, flails, maces, and arrows. Scientific studies have proven survival of some injuries" as you can see evidence of healing in some of the skulls.

 

Our tour guide for the day was an extremely brilliant and observant man- after we left the chapel, he asked Judy and I how we knew each other. We replied that we were sisters and he immediately turned to Judy and said "And you're the evil one." I made sure we gave him an extra generous tip for his insightful commentary.

Next: Prague, the final chapter