Para- Para- Paradise {Czech Trip}

The "Czech Paradise" trip was a trip around several towns in Bohemia (eastern Czech Republic).  Our first stop was a small town with the name of Litomyšl (sounds kind of like "Little Michelle ha!).  Here we toured the Renaissance Chateau which is a UNESCO site.  We were able to walk around the town and explore a little bit as well as eat lunch.

Litomyšl

Renaissance Chateau 

Next, we headed to my favorite part of the trip: the open-air museum in Piletice!  I didn't really know what to expect here, but I was pleasantly surprised.  We were greeted by an older Czech couple in traditional Czech clothing.  They did not speak English, so they greeted us by action and not by words.  They greeted us in typical Czech manor by offering us a piece of bread dipped in salt upon entering the museum.  

The open-air museum showed us how the Czech people lived years ago as well as a few traditions that are still practiced today.  The best part was that we had the opportunity of practicing some of their traditions.  I had the privilege of learning (by watching- no English spoken) how to paint eggs with wax paint as well as how to braid the willow branches to create the stick that the guys hit girls with on Easter!

A little apprehensive because I wasn't sure what she was saying or if I was allowed to keep the egg lol!

Adding the final touches to the willow branches- the ribbons!

After this quaint little place, we went to the home of the Czech equivalent to Mickey Mouse: Rumcajs!

"Shoemaker Rumcajs" 

The man himself- Rumcajs! (& his crew)

The town that is home to Rumcajs (Jičín) is also home to some beautiful sights!  The best views almost always require walking up many steep, old, rickety stairs.   Jičín was no different.  The stairs are always worth it though to see the beautiful views! 

 Here are some views from the top of a tower in Jičín: 

After all that hard work of climbing those stairs, we all decided to get ice cream cones in which mine promptly jumped to the ground.  It was one of the sadder moments in my life although I think it was probably God's way of telling me that I did not need any more sugar that day.  

Losing one's ice cream is emotionally draining, so it was a good thing we were headed to our cabins for the night next!  We stayed in these super cute cabins which was definitely a nice change from the ever so popular European hostel.  The cabins were in the middle of nowhere, but they also had a restaurant there that we hung out in for the remainder of the night. 

Saturday, we set out towards the town of Kutná Hora which is home to the famous "Church of Bones".  You can see that it is appropriately named.

As interesting as this was, I much preferred the other famous church in this town, St. Barbara's Cathedral.

Sidenote: It was also unexpectedly cold (not sure why we weren't expecting it by this point), so most of us did not have appropriate clothing for the weather.  Cold was a pretty common occurrence during the extent of my stay in Europe.  I learned many things from this experience, but I think the most important is that hot chocolate is indeed a means of survival at times.  

Thankfully the next day held significantly improved weather!  This worked out perfectly because we went hiking in the Prachov rock formations!  This was also probably tied for my favorite part of the trip.  It was a pretty decent hike with some great views once again!

The remainder of the trip looked something like this: 

• We saw another cool castle!

• Michelle barely escaped with her head! (& we also toured a torture museum inside) 

• ...& I took a shameless selfie on castle grounds!

All in all, a fantastic trip seeing and learning even more about my paradise-like country of residence for 5 months. :)