The Sedlec Ossuary

More commonly known as the Bone Church is probably the neatest and most unique thing I've ever seen. The cliff's notes version of how it came to be: A 15th century Bohemian king sent his holy man on a holy mission. The holy man brought back sacred soil from Golgotha and sprinkled it on the cemetery near what is now the church. Soon, word of this sacred soil spread and people were dying to get in! The black death and the Hussite wars caused even more death in the region and soon thousands of bodies were buried in the cemetery. Over the years, the original church was destroyed and new one(s) were built. The bones were excavated in this process. Something had to be done with the bones so eventually a famous Italian architect was hired and his creation is what you see here:

This chandelier allegedly has at least one bone from every body that was buried here

The other great thing about visiting the bone church was that it was our first of many train journeys. Successfully negotiating this trip independently greatly empowered us and gave us the needed confidence to continue.

You can read the wikipedia version of the bone church by clicking here.

Prague

Prague is a really beautiful city. The architecture is magnificent and the public transport is extraordinarily easy to navigate, despite the fact that the signs aren't in English.

The astronomical clock

Prague Castle

Inside the museum of communism

And, the best part of Prague was meeting Marsha there. We were kicking off a 5-week tour of Europe, mostly concentrating on eastern Europe, but getting a sampling of other parts as well.

Chamonix

After Norway, I flew to Geneva, Switzerland and rode a bus to the famed French ski village of Chamonix where I stayed and skied for about 2 1/2 weeks. The place is really amazing if not a bit intimidating. Everyone who was skiing from the famed Aiguille Du Midi was outfitted with full ski-mountaineering gear, I opted out since I have no experience with such things and didn't want to spend the money on a guide to show me. Instead, I stuck to skiing on the lower part of Les Grandes Montets. It was decent skiing but the snow conditions were deteriorating. On the up side, there weren't too many people skiing so the queues for the lifts were either short or non-existent.

The Mer de glace (sea of ice)

Aiguille du midi

Aiguille du midi

Aiguille du midi

Norway

There are no two places that contrast each other more than Oslo and Delhi. For all of Delhi's chaos, Oslo had order, for Delhi's trash, Oslo had cleanliness, for Delhi's affordability Oslo was priced out of my range. Just as a comparison, in Oslo, a combo meal at McDonalds will set you back nearly $12.00. I couch-surfed Oslo the first night there. Couch Surfing can be fun, but it's definitely a trade off. You get to stay with someone for free, learn things about the place you're in from a true local, and best of all meet someone new but on the downside is that people who host couch-surfers are usually the lonely type and will make you feel obligated to listen to things you may have no interest in. If, perchance, you couch surf with someone who has common interests, this would be great, but if you don't care to spend your evening hearing about the finer points of feline health, you may be in for a long night. The person who I couch-surfed with was very kind, generous, hospitable and friendly, and I thank her for showing me around and giving me some pointers on what to do in Oslo. One of the highlights was a visit to the Fram museum. The Fram is the ship that Roald Amundsen sailed to the McMurdo sound and launched his historic journey to become the first person to reach the South Pole.

I also went to the Viking Ship museum.

And spent a few days skiing in Lillehammer
All-in-all I enjoyed Norway. I would like to go back someday and get to the northern part to hang out with the Laplanders.

The Taj Mahal

No trip to India would be complete without a visit to the Taj Mahal. But wait, back up a couple of posts: I was sick of being in India. The craziness had taken its toll on me, however, I did feel a little bit good about having learned how to play the game. The cab driver from the airport to my hotel (a few days earlier) received a tip that was larger than the cab fare. This wasn't for his superior service but rather my own celebration of learning how to play the game. India can be fun once you have it figured out. But, I really was tired of it all. On the way to the "special white man train ticket office" I was told all kinds of things about how the ticket office had closed, burnt down, under construction...everything. They do this because they would rather sell you a ticket at a higher price and get the commission. I knew better and didn't fall for it, but it gets tiresome. Anyhow, I got my train ticket for the trip to Agra and the Taj.

A musician at one of the mosques

The next morning, I got up in plenty of time to get a ride to the train station. I have a habit of leaving early for things on the off chance that something goes wrong on the way I won't be late. Today this paid off. The auto-rickshaw that I was riding in got a flat tire and one of the studs was broken off so the driver couldn't get the old tire off. He kept assuring me that it would be "just five minutes", I finally bailed on him and flagged a new ride down and got to the train station just in the nick of time.








The trains in India are just like out of the movies. People hanging out of windows and doors. Pandemonium. On the ride to Agra, I was seated next to an Indian land surveyor. It was as if I had my own personal tour guide.

Nobody can truly call themselves a traveller if they haven't used a toilet on an Indian train

On arrival to Agra, I booked a tour that would take me to the three main attractions near Agra (Fatah Pasikri (sp?), the red fort and the Taj Mahal) and have me back at the train station in time for my return trip to Delhi. It turned out to be a fast paced tour, with very little time at the attractions and a stop at the special tourist restaurant for an extremely (by Indian standards) overpriced lunch.



I'm really not motivated enough to write much more about the Taj Mahal. It's worth seeing if you ever get to that part of the world.

Delhi

There isn't one adjective that can describe Delhi. If there were, it would have to be a word that combined chaos, pandemonium and mayhem. Everything about Delhi is an assault on the senses. People, cars, rickshaws, auto-rickshaws, cows, dogs, monkeys everywhere. Vendors line the trash-filled streets and squawk and holler trying to pedal their wares. Cattle and dogs graze on the trash in the street. Horns, bells, shouts fill the air. Early in the morning, after the vendors and shoppers have gone home for a couple of hours, lip service is paid to cleaning up. The trash is swept to the middle of the street and lit on fire. The lingering odor of burning trash is always present.

Right outside my hotel room window, a Hindu women's prayer group started singing, every night, at about 10:30 and didn't stop until well after 2 in the morning. I wish I could add audio to this post...I have a recording of it.

India is something that I can't describe. One needs to experience it for themselves.

The scene right outside my hotel window

Holy Cow! It's McDonalds
but you won't find a Big Mac here
McChicken is the sandwich of choice