Lots of News

Hi All,

I have a big post for you today with lots of news. First, I went to a second performance by my friend a two weekends ago. She sings with a beautiful Irish voice and is accompanied by her friend who is truly a great acoustic guitar player. I have some good pictures of the performance. I took some video, but neither the video nor the audio was good enough to share, but here are the pictures.

Second, I went to Prague Castle last weekend. It was quite impressive, and one of my last remaining major sights to see in Prague. Pictures here.

Third, I took an impromptu trip to Bratislava on Tuesday! My work permit came in yesterday, which you need to get your short-term visa, so I took the 12:40am train (there aren’t many options) to Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia, that night. You have to apply for your visa at a Czech embassy in a foreign country and Bratislava is one of the closest ones. The trip was nearly a great trip. The trip normally takes five hours, but there was a delay and it took six hours. This was actually a good thing for me. 5:40am is a little too early to be in Bratislava, at 6:40am the sun is out and it’s a little warmer. It was a beautiful day there, the sun was out, and it hasn’t been sunny for a while in Prague. Bratislava also has a lot of trees and it is the time of year when they were starting to change colors. It was truly beautiful, and Bratislava has a bit of a small town feel to it, which was very nice. I applied for my visa and then spent a little bit of time seeing some of the sights of Bratislava. Pictures are linked to below. I got back to the train station at 11:00am for a train that left at noon. The train was delayed for two hours and I didn’t get to leave till two. However, on the way back, I got a car nearly to myself, a window seat, and a great view for the ride home. The Moravian countryside is beautiful. Here are the pictures.

Fourth, I with with some friends to a town nearby called Kutna Hora. We saw two churches, one was the St. Barbara church, which is one of the most famous Gothic Churches in central Europe. The other was the Sedlec Ossuary, which has the bones of over 40,000 people artistically arranged for decoration. It was cool but very creepy. Here are the pics.

Finally, today (Thursday) I took another trip back out to Bratislava to pick up my visa. It was very last minute and I didn't spend any time there or take any pictures, unfortunately. However, having my short term visa is great news since my tourist visa expires on Saturday. I hope everyone is doing well, keep in touch!