Kutna Hora Excursion
June 10 — Today We-Roam had a Kutna Hora day trip planned and we were to meet at 10 am nearby Intercontinental Hotel. After the potluck dinner last night, stayed up late to finish up some work till maybe ~7 am. I went to bed without setting an alarm and thought that if I woke up, then I’ll go, if not then so be it. I woke up around ~8 am, packed my day pack, got ready and walked to the bus stop. A few roamers made just in time for the 9.31am bus.
Side note: A few days ago (can’t exactly remember when) I somehow fucked up my sleeping schedule again and have been sleeping around ~7–8am and waking up around noon.
Arrived at the hotel ~15 minutes early. Saw a Rolls Royce dealership by the hotel and wanted to go in to have a look but they were closed for the weekend. They did have some flyers with model specs and prices on the window so that’ll have to do for the time being. Prices were surprisingly not out of reach. Counting the days I’ll have one of my own.
So the WR-Staff showed up a few minutes later and they got into a white nondescript bus, naturally, I and other Roamers hopped in as well. Took my seat and decided to take a nap since I’ve only had around ~1 hour of nap earlier. Turns out we were on the wrong bus! There were a couple of other buses parked but WR-Staff boarded the wrong one. Strike. Half-asleep, went back outside and waited for other Roamers, our tour guide and the right bus to come.
David was our tour guide and he’s from Colorado. Former Navy and moved to Prague for his partner, a former Czech National Figure Skater. He’s Mexican and pretty funny. David tested the waters with the Roamers by cracking a joke but the group vibes just weren’t feeling it, so for the rest of the tour, he didn’t really crack any more jokes.
We’re now on the bus and I took the seat next to the emergency exit door because you never know right? Also, it was quieter at the back which meant I could actually snooze for a while. I believe the bus ride took about 2 hours with morning city traffic (even on a Saturday!?). On the way, David was talking about some cool guy that had something to do with a war back in the day. I was half-asleep and wasn’t really paying attention. I’m pretty sure I also missed quite a few decent scenery but I was just too tired to do anything.
First stop was “Chram Nnanebevzeti Panny Marie”. David told us that in 2011 Czechs listed their religion as “Knights of the Jedi” in protest of a national census requiring citizens to write down their religion. I’m loving this place even more now! In 2015 72% of the population of Czechia declared itself religiously unaffiliated. Personally, I have no problems with religions or lack thereof whatsoever. Everyone is born innately knowing what is right and wrong. David also mentioned that’s why Churches are not popular here and in order to get funds for maintenance most churches are turned into museums for tourists!
Side note: I couldn’t really remember the names of the places, so I just looked back to my Google Maps Timeline and just copy pasted it here.
Next stop was the Sedlec Ossuary or better known as the Bone Church. David has been a tour guide for quite a while and remembered one time that someone from his tour group actually licked one of the skulls there. So before going in, he advised us against touching anything and throwing any coins. A kinda cool place but was not sure if it was appropriate for selfies with dead people, and decided not to take one. I did think it was cool if they allowed for overnight camping, but no they don’t have that (yet?).
Then on to the bus again for a short ride to St Barbara’s Church. Some cool spots where you can have a view of the city from above and there’s a vineyard. Hung around there for about 20mins and then we walked through some small streets to lunch. I skipped the group lunch to wander around the streets on my own for about an hour. Found a small little square with a few benches and saw 2 people spliffing in the open (Awesome!). After that, a short walk to the Italian Court and right outside was another nice view of the city and stayed there for a couple more minutes.
Around ~4 pm, we hopped back on the bus to go back to Prague. Slept the entire way! It’s ~5 pm and we’re back to the front of Intercontinental Hotel and I quickly disappeared back to my apartment.
Originally published at asadzulfahri.com on June 12, 2017.
