From Medieval to Modern, Olomouc, Czechia

September 16, 2026Czechia, TravelMuseum of Modern Art, Olomouc, Olomouc Castle, Our Lady of the Snowskarenfranza

Sep 10 – For our last day in Olomouc, we went back to the historic square.

Part of the castle walls that once surrounded the city

We ducked into Our Lady of the Snows, which was closed the other day.

You don’t often see angels giving communion

A docent let us into the sacristy behind the sanctuary

From there we moved on to Olomouc Castle, where we saw ruins of the original foundation

I like this one the best – very peaceful and natural looking

A marvelously embellished rococo carriage

…and the ornate outfit of the horse who pulled it

Outside the Modern Art Museum hangs (literally) another work by David Cerny, this one depicting a thief making off with an artwork hanging out of his backpack. The robber inches along the balcony, trying to escape.

The featured artist was Maria Bartuszova, who worked mainly in white

…and a collection of photographs by Jindřich Streit that reminded me of the American Appalachian photos from the 1930s, although these are of Czechs in the 1980s

Thank you Olomouc – we had a great time!

Basilica of the Visitation, Olomouc Czechia

September 14, 2026Czechia, TravelBasilica of the Visitation of the Virgin Mary, Olomouc, wall art, Way of St Jameskarenfranza

Sep 9 – Today we traveled an hour by bus out of the city and up to the top of a hill. We are visiting the Basilica of the Visitation of the Virgin Mary, a pilgrimage site and Czech beginning of the Way of St James that goes to Santiago. We’re not hiking this time, just paying a visit.

Here’s the story. In the early 1600s, Jan Andrýsek, a wine merchant, vowed that if he ever became wealthy, he would build a chapel to the Virgin Mary near Olomouc.

When he inherited a fortune, and didn’t follow through on his promise, the Virgin Mary appeared to him twice in dreams, reminding him of the vow. The dreams showed a radiant forest and the Virgin Mary holding the Christ Child.

In 1629, Jan was riding east of Olomouc in a blizzard. He suddenly saw a brilliant light, in exactly the place he had seen in his dreams. Thus reminded, he built a chapel, which was enlarged several times as more pilgrims visited each year.

The bus let us off a short walk from the basilica

The altarpiece contains some bones of St Pauline, the patron saint of Olomouc. The small stone relief of Mary in the silver frame survived a fire in the original chapel in the 1600s and is considered miraculous.

An angel holding dice – not sure what this refers to

This one reminds me of Our Lady of Guadalupe

Whoa! Isn’t this the best reaction of St Thomas that you’ve ever seen?

The basilica is also part of the Camino Santiago, and we looked at several pics of locals walking the Way of St James. I don’t think this bunch is going all the way to Spain.

Horni Namesti, Olomouc, Czechia

September 12, 2026Czechia, Travelastronomical clock, fountains, Holy Trinity Column, Marian Column, Mozart, Olomouc, St Maurice Cathedralkarenfranza

Sep 7 – Olomouc advertises itself as the place that has everything that Prague has, except the crowds. It has a huge historical central square. The Czech word for square is Namesti, so wherever we go, we are reminded that the light in me honors the light in you (this is a yoga joke).

There are so many things to see here!

The Holy Trinity Column is the tallest monument in Czechia and the biggest group of statues in Central Europe

The top depicts the Holy Trinity, accompanied by the Archangel Gabriel and the Assumption of the Virgin Mary. Looks pretty crowded up there

Like Prague, there is also an astronomical clock! Instead of apostles, this one shows working people.

Unlike the clock in Prague, these figures aren’t rotating, ( I think it is in need of repair?) but we can see musicians, miners, athletes…

Not only can you see the time, but also the current astrological sign

…and the current constellations in the night sky

There are also many fountains – here is the fountain of Caesar

The fountain of Hercules, holding his cudgel and smiting the hydra

There is the Marian column, erected in the 1700s to thank the Virgin Mary for saving the city from the plague

There is a (temporary) sculpture of Mozart here, made of sand. When Mozart was performing in Europe as a 5 year old prodigy, his father brought him here to Olomouc to escape the plague.

Unfortunately, Mozart contracted the plague anyway, but he recovered right here in this palace

A modern artist with something to say to the pope

St Maurice Cathedral – too big to see in one photo

Inside, we heard the most beautiful organ music. There was a concert that evening, and we got to hear the world famous organist Jean Baptiste Robin practicing! A fine day.

Olomouc, Czechia

September 9, 2026Czechia, Travelnice people of Czechia, Olomouckarenfranza

Sep 5 – Time for a Nice Person story. Today is a travel day as we set out for the city of Olomouc (OH lo mootz) about three hours away. Google Maps has been giving us fits, telling us to walk 5 minutes to the bus stop, then changing it to 15 minutes. As Jim and I sat side by side this morning, it gave us totally different routes!

Following one of Google’s suggestions, we walked not to a bus stop, but to an old train station we didn’t even know was there. We bought tickets to the next town, where we could get a train to Olomouc. Waiting with us in the nearly deserted station was a young woman named Klara, who was going to Olomouc as well. What luck! We rode with her to the main station at Kolin.

Klara showed us where to buy tickets at the big station, then told us she’d be waiting up on Track 2. The ticket seller had no English, but wrote on a piece of paper 2 – 11:32. We thanked her and went up the stairs to sit with Klara at Track 2. A minute later the ticket seller rushed up the stairs, waving another piece of paper on which she had written 2 – 11:38. It turns out that the 11:32 train was going to Poland, and she was afraid we’d get on the wrong train! Two Nice People of Czechia in one day!

We rode in fine style in our half-price-for-old-people seats and enjoyed the spicy chicken sandwiches we had purchased for our lunch. When we got off the train in Olomouc, Klara found us again, handing us a piece of paper containing the trolley number and the name of the stop closest to our hotel. Thank you Klara and train lady!

So now we are in Olomouc, staying at the historic Lafayette Hotel (yes, our Lafayette, from the Revolutionary War, and, of course, Hamilton!)

It turns out that after Lafayette returned to France, he was captured by the Prussians and imprisoned right here in Olomouc from 1794 – 1797. He is a hero of this place.

We are staying in the room called Virginie, Lafayette’s youngest daughter. His wife and two young daughters were imprisoned with him here for two years.

George Washington presides over our breakfast buffet

Lafayette’s pretty wife Adrienne in the courtyard. They fell in love when he was 14 and she was 12.

Weddings are held in the courtyard, and the happy couples exchange vows under the likenesses of Lafayette and Adrienne. What a love story!

The Church of the Bones, Kutna Hora, Czechia

September 8, 2026Czechia, TravelSt. James, wall art, Kutna Hora, Sedlec Ossuary, Church of the Bones, Legoskarenfranza

Sep 3 – Today we bade farewell to our modern apartment in Prague, and set out to see more of Czechia.

About an hour’s train ride east of Prague is the lovely village of Kutna Hora. We are only here for a short time, and we are here to see one thing: the Sedlec Ossuary, otherwise known as the Church of the Bones.

Legend says that in the 1100s, a monk brought back some soil from Golgotha in the Holy Land, and spread the soil in the church cemetery. That made this cemetery a very desirable place to be buried, and people brought their family corpses from all over Europe to be buried here.

During the Black Death and the Hussite Wars of the 1400s, the church was overwhelmed with bodies, and devised an ossuary system of temporarily burying, then exhuming and stacking up the bones. It is estimated that between 40,000 to 70,000 bodies were interred here.

In the 1600s a monk was tasked with finding creative uses for the bones. Hence, the Church of All Saints became the Church of the Bones.

Down we go into the ossuary, beneath the church

The space is not large, and you get to spend no more than 30 minutes

Jim managed to sneak a few photos, but most of the pix below are courtesy of the Internet. The church decided a few years ago that people were not being sufficiently respectful of the bones, and banned photo-taking.

This chandelier is said to contain every bone in the human body

The coat of arms of the Schwartzenbergs, the rich family in the region

The ossuary theme carried over to the Lego Museum next door with this Lego skeleton

We also visited the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception

It was pretty empty inside, but filled with light

For lunch Jim had a meat sandwich (shredded beef covered with cheddar, and I had the veggie sandwich (little tomatoes and white cheese). Very yummy. Cheese is a big thing here!

In the afternoon we spotted the Church of Saint James,, and went in to visit our favorite apostle

Over the altar was a painting of the slaying of the Moors, which we thought was an odd choice. See the shells over the heads of St Peter on the left and St Paul on the right?

We all have our burdens to carry. A fine day.

Botanicka Zahrada, Prague, Czechia

September 7, 2026Czechia, TravelBotanicka Zahrada, Praguekarenfranza

Sep 2 – For our last day in Prague, we treated ourselves to a quiet day at the botanical gardens, the Botanicka Zahrada Praha.

The tropical plants in the greenhouse were lush

Jim chased down this bird that made much more noise than its size would indicate

Did you know that the oldest land plant, Cooksonia, was discovered right here in Czechia? Wow!

Dancing House, Fortress and Basilica, Prague, Czechia

September 6, 2026Czechia, TravelBasilica of St Peter and St Paul, Dancing House, Prague, Vysehrad Fortresskarenfranza

Sep 1 – No trip to Prague is complete without a visit to the Dancing House, a modern construct erected in 1996 on the site of a building destroyed by US bombing in 1945.

The building has a hotel and a restaurant on top. The ball on top is called Medusa.

We paid dearly for a cup of coffee so we could enjoy the view

Here’s the building from the other side. See how the windows are not in straight rows?

What is this? A sign attached explained that this statue was used as a battering ram during a protest in the Soviet era.

What’s this? You know how Jim likes to climb!

So we went up and up some more until we reached …

…the Vysehrad Fortress! Instead of finding armaments and cannon inside, we found…

…the Basilica of St Peter and St Paul. For a non-religious country, there sure are lots of churches here.

A particularly sweet painting of baby Jesus in the loving arms of Joseph

Adjoining the basilica was a cemetary that featured busts of the deceased

You know I kept looking until I found a woman. Thanks for representing, Milada!

More Czech food today – I just had pasta and chicken, while Jim stepped up and ordered fried meat ball with sweet pickles and mashed potatoes. A fine repast!

Kafka, Freud and a Library, Prague, Czechia

September 4, 2026Czechia, TravelDavid Cerny, Franz Kafka, Freud, Prague, Strahov Monastery and Librarykarenfranza

Aug 31 – When Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from troubled dreams, he found himself changed into an monstrous cockroach in his bed.

I start today with the opening line from Kafka’s Metamorphosis, as today we will see the head of Franz Kafka. Spinning. Slowly.

On a downtown cul-de-sac is a big shiny head of Franz Kafka, a work by Czech artist David Cerny in 2014.

At the top of every hour, it rotates slowly, in horizontal slices

Some say Kafka should not be portrayed as a bright, shiny figure. Others say he was multidimensional, so this work is apt.

Finally, all the slices come back together, and the head is restored until the next hour.

Here is another Kafka statue by Jaroslav Rona, depicting Kafka sitting atop an empty suit. I hope you appreciate all the art education you’re getting today!

Down the street is another work by David Cerny, installed in 1996 high up over the street, dangling from a flagpole. Do you see it? When this work was on tour, people sometimes called the police to report a possible suicide.

This is Sigmund Freud, hanging nonchalantly by one hand with his other hand in his pocket, as if contemplating whether one should hang on for the new millennium.

Now for something completely different, we took a trolley across town to the Strahov Monastery and Library

A beautiful space to gaze into, although we weren’t allowed inside

…and natural specimens in cases that look like books

The Church of Our Lady, attached to the monastery, was equally ornate.

Once again, we couldn’t go in, so made use of our zoom lens to see the altar.

On our way home, we stopped to see one more work by David Cerny; King Wenceslaus astride his upside down dead horse, that mocks the statue of him astride his horse in the square. A day of contrasts!

National Museum, Prague Czechia

September 2, 2026Czechia, TravelMadonnas, National Museum, Praguekarenfranza

Aug 30 – Today we walked over to check out the Prague National Museum, just down the road from our apartment.

The skylight in the lobby, with murals all around

It is a natural history museum with rooms dedicated to all manner of creatures

…as well as an extensive anthropology and evolutionary area that Jim really liked

…and St. Wenceslaus with St. Vitus. There were seriously too many kings named Wenceslaus – I haven’t been able to get that Christmas carol out of my head all week!

There were also lots of Madonnas, my personal favorite

A sad Madonna with a very crabby-old-man-looking Jesus

…and a very old wooden Madonna who lost her head

We treated ourselves to a Sunday meal at our favorite Turkish restaurant, where the entrees change every day. Today they offered roasted aubergine (eggplant) which reminded us of our time in Istanbul. Heavenly!

St. Vitus Cathedral and Prague Castle, Prague, Czechia

September 1, 2026Czechia, TravelPrague, Prague Castle, St. Vitas Cathedralkarenfranza

Aug 29 – Another beautiful morning. The weather so far has been lovely, with highs in the 70s – perfect for walking.

Today we will journey to Prague Castle to see the actual window where the Defenestration of Prague took place in 1618, leading to the 30 Years War.

In case you don’t recall the details, the Catholics and the Protestants were sparring over which religion should rule the people. When the argument got heated, the Protestants threw two Catholic regents and a secretary out the window, presuming they would fall to their deaths. (Defenestration means getting thrown out the window.)

All three survived the fall, with the Catholics saying the regents had been caught up by angels, and the Protestants maintaining that their fall had been softened by their landing in the dung heap. Divine intervention? You decide!