prague - diminishing returns

this week, in prague. started with checking into our hostel, hostel marrakesh (one of the worst hostels i have stayed at). 

we roamed around the area, before walking towards Dejvicka to meet Mingxuan, Jacky and Rongrong for dinner, and Jinsheng's birthday celebration. 

Prague Metronome, once a monument to Stalin

Description of the church shown above.

this random dog walked past while i was getting my picture taken

On the second day, we went to Kutna Hora, and the Bone Chapel. Kutna Hora was once a silver mine, but became abandoned once all the silver was gone. Now it is just a ghost town, a specter of its former fame and glory.

The smithing workshop

Church

View of St Barbara's Church from far

Jesus in Gold, a symbol of the wealth this town once had

This disused well, once constructed purely for vanity because the water had to pumped from somewhere else, into the middle of the town.

At the crossroads

I think this is a brewery.

Towards St Barbara's Church

St Barbara's Church, which is the 2nd best church/cathedral in my opinion.

Inside St Barbara's Church, you can see the affluence and wealth of the silver miners that once lived here. Everything is so ostentatiously built and covered in gold or rich hues. The Last Supper here is covered by either gold or deep striking hues, and this trend continues for the entire church.

The quality of the tainted glass is truly astonishing

Artworks that are fading, and almost impossible to preserve.

Look at the vibrancy of that colour, almost 500 years old.

Me and the Last Supper

St Barbara's Church from the front

 Took a minibus to Bone Chapel.

Full of graves, a cemetary sited just beside the Bone Chapel.

So someone decided to use skeletons to decorate their chapel..

Spectacular yet bizarre

The Coat of Arms of the family who owned this place.

I don't remember the name of this church, it was just beside the Bone Chapel. Church of the Assumption of our Lady?

At night, we went to Wenceslas Square, also known as Prague Square, because it was their "Struggle for Freedom and Democracy Day" (I found this on Wikipedia). It was the day that the Velvet Revolution started, and consequently returned power to the Czechs. So there were some demonstrations and protests held at the Square.

The next day we went for the Prague Free Walking Tour. We began with the Astronomical Clock. Legend has it that the city council blinded the maker of the clock so that this clock would be unique to only Prague. The maker went to break parts of the clock, and it would not work until someone repaired it a hundred years later.

Astronomical Clock

Church of Our Lady before Tyn

Prague Opera House

 The Nazis arrived in Czech in 1938, and most of the Jewish artifacts here were preserved, because Hitler had this idea of making the "Museum of the Extinct Race" here.

Jewish Quarter

Old Jewish Cemetary

More of Josefov (Jewish Quarter)

A building designed with Cubist elements!

Spanish Synagogue. The Ten Commandments are on the wall.

After a depressing walk through the Jewish Quarter, we went to a little coffee house for hot coffee and food.

Powder Tower

More Jewish Quarter

Even more Jewish Quarter

Jewish Cemetary

 At the end of the tour, we headed to walk through Charles Bridge.

Charles Bridge

At this point, everything else got deleted while transferring to my laptop thanks to a screwy camera. So we walked on Charles Bridge, I took many nice photos of the statues on the bridge.

Then we walked towards Flora (really far), and met the trio for dinner again. Afterwards we took a train towards Karlovo Namesti to see the Dancing House. We also took a group photo together, however, they are now lost to oblivion.

Anyway, Prague does not feel as majestic or impressive as it is reputed to be, perhaps because it is winter. The returns from travelling in the winter are diminishing, because the sun sets so early, and every day the weather is so cloudy and gloomy. Snow soon please.