I’ve never been in a country where there is such a palpable presence that not many people talk about it. However, some people are openly discussing Communism and how much of an impact it had on the Czech Republic. From last night’s ghost tour, I learned that the Czech people do not call it “communism”, they prefer the more simplistic “Russian Occupation.” One of my roommates told me about Kofola which is the Eastern European version of Coke Cola because back in the day, it was incredibly difficult to import anything from the Western world (books, music, soda, jeans, etc). So when demand is high and supply is nearly impossible, you create your own version of Coke. And when you’re a Westerner visiting, you absolutely need to try Kofola. So we did. And it was gross. It has a black licorice flavoring and was incredibly sweet but in a bad way. This was my roommates and I before my first sip.
Today’s tour to Kunta Hora included a tour guide who is Czech. We first got into a mini van but I was thankful it had air conditioning – there is also a heat wave in Europe but there are also very little places that have a/c. They don’t typically need it, so for my readers back in the US, at least you have central a/c. I don’t even know what that is at the moment. We drove for about an hour to Sedlec Ossuary which is a Roman Catholic chapel that contains the skeletons of 40,000-70,000 people that have been arranged to form decorations for the chapel. It is very strange to be standing admiring artwork made of human bones but as tourists, that’s what you do. I still haven’t figured out why this was done in the first place but maybe it’s better to not question this, of all things.
Ugh, I’m so gross with all the humidity. I’m still not used to it so every time I’m in a picture, you get me all sweaty. At least I hope the bones are distracting you. 
After the Ossuary, we went to Saint Barbara’s Church which is very reminiscent of MOST churches in Europe. At least those that I’ve encountered.
Then we walked through the medieval town of Kutna Hora and had lunch at an Italian restaurant that was cheap, but not very good. The highlight of my lunch was sitting with my tour guide Julie. She was willing to answer any question I had of her about growing up during communism. She did a really good job of giving me the history by decades (starting in the 1950s) and even shared some personal experiences she had – for example, everyone had to learn Russian and she was a horrible student. Bottom of her class. However, she excelled in French and English. Wonder if learning Russian was truly harder for her or came with such a large spoonful of oppression that she unconsciously stymied her own learning of it.
Then we came back to Prague. Tomorrow is my last full day in Prague and then I’m off to Cesky Krumlov (3 hours by bus). After Cesky Krumlov, I’ll be leaving the Czech Republic but heading to a country I’ve already been to before (Germany). But the city I’m going to in Germany is supposedly really artistic and not something I would ever have seen before. I’m looking forward to being back on the euro. I’m almost to my half-way point on my North of the Equator world tour, aka World Tour Part 1. It’s going by fast but it will be nice to be home for 3 weeks in September and be amongst my people for a bit. I miss everyone.
There She Goes... 