Nice Night

For a change it decided to be a nice and balmy 65 degrees tonight.  I was walking around for my architecture class and the sky was displaying a whole range of blues that were really beautiful.  So I took a picture to share.

Medovina

While in Olomouc (yet another Czech town) we went to a local wine bar.  Olomouc is in Moravia so there is a strong pride in wine and wine bars.  We ordered a massive cheese platter that had particularly good blue cheese and young feta among many others.  I ordered medovina, or honey wine, to drink.  To make honey wine, they add honey to the wine before the fermentation process begins.  The result is a slightly sweet wine with a really flavorful kick.  Usually it is served warm, and many times there are different flavors that they infuse into the medovina.  Since they were out of cinnamon I was given the house flavor, monastery.  It was perfect for a cold night, the nice kick of the fermented honey sends a warming wave right through you.

The Bone Church at Kutna Hora

One of the main attractions of Kutna Hora (a city about an hour outside of Prague) was the bone church.  Some crazy monk decided to use the remains of 40,000 people to decorate the space.  Each and every bone was cleaned and bleached.  The picture above is the crest of the Schwarzenberg Family, the family that ruled the surrounding area.  The skull on the bottom right with a bone stuck in its eye represents the Turks who were defeated in this territory by the forces of the Schwarzenberg family.

All arch ways and many parts of the walls were decorated by patterns of bones hung on strings, almost like the popcorn strings that go around Christmas trees.

This was the grand chandelier in the center of the bone church.  It contains at least one of every single bone in the human body.

Originally the church was filled with six of these "bone pyramids", today there are only four.  There are layers of what looks like leg and arm bones, skulls are used almost as a decorative piping and as the roof.  These pyramids were constructed by stacking only, they are not bound in any way.

You can look through the arches in the pyramids, its just a tad scary.

The ones that are not lit from the inside are even scarier.  This one almost looked like the skulls were riding a conveyer belt out from the depths of the darkness.

On one side of the main chapel, there was this figure of jesus looking down on you.  It looks like it was made in the same style of the claymation figures in Pee-Wee's Playhouse.

On either side of the entrance there is a massive bone chalice.  While it was appropriate timing to go visit, this bone church is not a Halloween ploy, its open all year round!

Mad Men

I have recently discovered the greatness that is Mad Men.  The show is consuming and great to watch.  The style is one of my favorites.  I love the slim suits, skinny ties, and super cool chairs and couches, not to mention that a five bedroom apartment in the city cost thirty-two thousand (I have to start working on a time machine).  This graphic designer Dyna Moe put together these swank desktop backgrounds in the style of the Mad Men era.

I love this one, it looks like a restaurant place mat but it has Sally serving the drinks.  The worlds youngest bar tender.

One day, I too will have an office and not allow anyone to wear shoes!

This was the designed that kicked them all off, it was originally an idea for a Christmas card.

Main Prague Train Station

Its funny, this is exactly how I would picture an eastern European train station.  It has the beautiful european arched glass structure.  But since it is eastern Europe it is tinged in the history of communism.  The glass panels were either tinted brown or a slight blue and there was an overall greyish ora to the place.  No matter what the european train station prevailed.  It felt exotic to be under that grand canopy and to be traveling by train.

Banksy's Pet Shop and Charcoal Grill

This is one of the things I really wish I was in New York for.  Banksy the famous street artist has set up a twisted installation piece in Greenwich  Village.  He put together this hilarious take on a pet store/restaurant that has some unusual inhabitants.  A few things of note, (I have scene in pictures) the panther coat in the front window, the self dipping chicken nuggets (above), the severely aged Tweety Bird, the "getting ready to go out" rabbit, the fish sticks in their natural habitat (the fish tank), and the wall of caged sausages of all different varieties.  I'm pretty sure that this installation is only around until the end of the month, so go check it out if you are in the city!  Hopefully this is the first of many Banksy installations in the city, I think that this one in particular was a grand fantastical and whimsical feat and I look forward to what ever he is going to do next.

Budweiser Budvar

So which came first?  This looks like a Czechization of Budweiser beer.  In fact the story is the other way around.  Of the three main Czech beers Budweiser Budvar is the only brewery that is still completely run by the Czechs (Pilsner Urquell is owned by SAB Miller, and Staropramen is owned in part by other another European brewery).  The founder of  American Budweiser toured the Czech area and basically stole the Budweiser brand from the Czechs.  Subsequently they have been in lawsuits ever since.  So as not to get confused, the Czech brand is called Czech Budvar in the U.S..  It's a nice beer, more hoppy then the Pilsner or the Staropramen, so the flavor has a nice little kick to it.