Praha, Czechia. Wednesday, 18th May, 2022
Remembered that my thread ceremony had taken place at Mumbai on this day, sometime in the mid-seventies!
The proposed trip to Olomouc was cancelled because I saw - in the nick of time - this morning that an E-Mail had arrived from the person we were going to meet, stating that she would not be available. We cancelled the return tickets to Olomouc online, for a full refund. Toyed with the idea of travelling to Kutna Hora, a small town approximately 75 kilometres from the capital, just an hour's journey by train. The purpose of visiting Kutna Hora was to visit the Sedlec Ossuary, a Roman catholic Chapel located beneath the cemetery church of All Saints, in Sedlec, a suburb of Kutna Hora. In case you are wondering what an ossuary is, well, it is just a room in which the bones of dead people are kept! Finally, decided in favour of visiting.
Finishing breakfast by 08:30, we strolled leisurely under a bright, cloudless firmament (This is the day which the Lord has made; let us be glad and rejoice!) towards Praha Hlavni Nadrazi. The ambience was colourful, with many crowds and groups, especially of school and college going children, jabbering excitedly and moving here and there. Thought of buying tickets at the counter so went to the office of Cesky Drahy - the Czech national rail operator - but backed out seeing the queue of tourists! Booked the tickets online, without fuss. The train to Kutna Hora was scheduled for 09:59. As there was almost an hour left, we spent the time entering and exiting the many supermarkets housed in the huge station complex. Then spent an impatient fifteen minutes or so before the indicator in the concourse, waiting to know the Nastupiste (platform) for our train. It was put up only at 09:45, just 14 minutes before the scheduled departure! We hurried to platform no. 6S and waited.
The train arrived in five minutes and the crowd (yes, there was a crowd!) converged on the bogies. We were lucky to find two seats, facing each other, the middle seats in a six-seater cabin. The journey was short and afforded wonderful views of the raw Czech countryside. The dark green meadows punctuated by yellow carpets were a treat for the eyes! Arrived at Kutna Hora, a tiny station with three platforms (the Czechs consider it two platforms, because an island platform with tracks on either side is considered a single platform!) and a cute, red brick building.
Exited the station premises using the subway and found bus no. 801 waiting just outside platform no. 1. Purchased tickets in the bus for the two stop journey to Sedlec. It was a short walk from the Sedlec stop to the Ossuary or 'Bone Church', as it is popularly known. The area was neat and clean, typical small-town Europe. Walked through the cemetery to enter the bizzare church but were told at the reception that we had to buy entrance tickets at the information centre, 150metres away. Urmila waited outside the church premises (safely away from the cemetery!) while I went back the way we had just come, to the information centre. Returned with the tickets, in a jiffy. The chapel was decorated with skulls and bones!
There was a chandelier, of skulls and bones! All around, one could see different arrangements of skulls and bones, even surrounding the statue of Christ! However, it was quite small. I had expected a larger church. The funny rule here was that photography was prohibited! The girl at the reception 'explained' that as the skulls and bones belonged to humans, it was considered disrespectful to click photos! See the irony - it was not considered disrespectful to display human skulls and bones and make money out of it; but taking pictures was disrespectful! Then again, it was not considered disrespectful till three years ago, when visitors were allowed to click pictures! (The pictures above were clicked by my cousin during her visit here in the pre-Covid November, 2019; and I have used them here with her permission). Covid seems to have affected logical thinking, in addition to throat and lungs, it seems! Exited the strange place and strolled around the town a bit.
Back to the bus stop. Waited long for bus no. 802, to take us back to the railway station. When we finally were alighting at the station, the time was just 12:25! The train back to Prague was scheduled for 13:00. Went to platform no 3 (no. 2 for the Czechs!) and waited, observing the surroundings and people, particularly a group of school kids on platform no 1. We were soon joined there by the young Indian couple we had met on the train to Kutna Hora this morning; and again at the Bone Church. We naturally struck up a conversation. They informed us that both were in the nursing profession at a town near Hamburg, in Germany. At the moment they were on a 7-day vacation. The wait for the train, which was delayed by ten minutes, was tolerable because of the young couple. The train arrived and once again we were lucky to find two vacant seats in a six-seater cabin. Spoke to fellow passengers, among them an elderly couple from Brno. They were travelling to Prague to be with their son for a few days.
Alighted at Praha Hlavni Nadrazi by 14:00. Purchased the 24-hours local transportation tickets and punched them at 14:16. Travelled by the metro to I.P. Pavlova, bringing back memories of baby Violet (2014!) Exited the underground station and came to the surface on the Sokolska road side, just as we had done on our very first visit to Prague, on that beautiful summer afternoon of May 2014! Lunched at our old favourite, U Graffu. The chicken wings were largely good but were a bit more salty than we would have liked. The Pilsner Urquell draft beer with plenty of foam, served in a fat mug, was superb!
Strolled towards Wenceslas Square, enjoying every inch of my favourite European capital. A big crowd was spotted at the national museum; a queue of people waiting to enter. School kids were also spotted. Wenceslas Square was lively as usual, with colourful shops, restaurants; and people. Went back to our hotel and rested. Had coffee at 17:00; left again at 17:50 or so. Destination: Petrin Hill, which had eluded us on both the previous visits.
Tram no. 9 from Wenceslas, to Ujzed, across the Vltava. The setting at Ujzed was beautiful, with a row of majestic buildings rubbing shoulders with one another, lining one side of the narrow road; and a garden at an elevation, lining the other. The sun was shining brightly and the climate pleasant; a complete contrast to what we had experienced when in the same area to visit the John Lennon Wall, in 2019. Climbed the stairs to the garden after which a very brief ascent along a narrow path through the greenery brought us to the funicular station. The ride up to Petrin Hill was thrilling, affording magnificent views of this majestic city, as we gained altitude. However, Petrin Hill was itself bitterly disappointing as, though we searched high and low, we could not find a single spot that offered unobtrusive views of this lovely capital of Czechia!
Returned to Ujzed after a while; then being unable to locate the tram stop for no. 9 going towards Wenceslas, we walked. Halted to purchase beer, fruit juice and Magnum ice cream at a Mini Mart at Ujzed. Enjoyed the walk, that took us along Legil Bridge across the Vltava, to the bus stop of Narodni Divadlo, whose magnificent building with its golden 'dome' was captured by us on camera from Legil Bridge, even as we were furiously licking the Magnum stick to prevent the ice-cream from falling on to the pavement, a short while ago.
Tram no. 9 duly arrived and we rode comfortably till Vacklavsky Namestie (Wenceslas Square). Back to our room. On the way up, asked reception for tea bags, sugar and creamer. The person at the counter said that he would carry the stuff to our room, later. He did so, but without the creamer! It seemed that the hotel had run out of creamer! What a shame!
Drank a 'Staropramen' in the room, with Haldiram's snacks for company. Urmila enjoyed her pineapple juice. This was at 21:00. It is 21:53 now and I am ending today's notes. Have an important appointment at 08:30 tomorrow!