Our last field trip already?! No way, you gotta be joking. Somehow nearly 3 months flew by in the blink of an eye! I am so grateful for each member of this program for making it spectacular. On our last night before the field trip, the majority of us got together to play games and reminisce and laugh about all the things we’ve experienced together, and it will always be one of my favorite memories of the trip.
On our first day, we left Olomouc and bussed to Litomyšl. We toured a baroque church and a chateau. While we were in the church, we were able to climb up the stairs to a lookout of the cute Bohemian town. The chateau (Litomyšl Castle), was beautifully and ornately decorated inside and out. I’ve never seen an exterior of a building quite like it, as it was covered in unique hand made elements. The inside was equally as extravagant. Ever room had a different color scheme. The little details like the curtains and flowers painted on the wall were especially interesting to me. This trip has showed me I want a colorful house, inside and out! We had dinner in Kutná Hora, where we stayed in a hotel for 2 nights.
Castle Exterior 
Castle Exterior 
Monkeying around 
The Theatre 
One room inside the Castle
The next day, we took the tour everyone was waiting for, the cathedral decorated in human bones. But first, we walked around the Cathedral of the Assumption of Our Lady and St. John the Baptist. The Cathedral was a mix of both the Baroque and Gothic styles. The long windows and exterior in the Gothic style, with the spacious interior and ceiling fresco in the Baroque style. Next, the cathedral decorated with human bones was truly a sight to see. The bones came from the remains of mass grave sights. There were 6 massive pyramids of skulls and bones.
Ceiling Fresco 
Loved the openness 
Bone Cathedral Deco 
All of this is made out of real human bones 
The human bones came from unmarked mass graves 
Unlike anything I’ve ever seen for sure
After the bone cathedral we checked out our third cathedral of the day, St. Barbara’s. St. Barbara’s was a large gothic style cathedral with beautiful stain glass windows and paintings in the interior. Next, we took a break for lunch. I am trying to soak in all the traditional Czech cuisine I can before I leave the country on Wednesday! I had goulash soup in a bread bowl!
Gothic style exterior 
My new found love of stained glass windows 
The ceiling of the cathedral was decorated with coat of arms of local families 
Yummmmmm
After the lunch break, we toured Kutna Hora’s silver mine. They gave us hard hats and white coats to wear, coats similar to the ones wore by the traditional minors. Climbing through the mine was quite the experience because at some points the ceilings would get really low and we would need to crouch, while other times the pathway would get really narrow. The passage ways were so small that obese people were not allowed to tour the mine. That evening I tried an incredible Bohemian desert, hot raspberries with ice cream!
Silver Mines 
With my roomie for 3 more nights! 
Hot raspberries and vanilla ice cream! (Vanilkova Zmrzlina)
The next day was one that I’ve been highly anticipating, touring the Budvar Budweiser factory! First, we stopped in a small village named Trebon. Trebon was one of my favorite stops in southern Bohemia because of the large park and beautiful lake! There was a trail that wrapped around the lake that we walked on for a bit, and we saw some ducks and ducklings! The Budweiser factory was a blast, I am definitely a beer lover. This Budweiser was not to be confused with Anheuser Busch’s Budweiser, my dad’s favorite beer. In the United States, Budvar Budweiser is sold as Czechvar. I’m going to have to get my dad some Czechvar for father’s day so that he can compare the two!
Just a bird strutting its stuff 
Ducklings! 
The lake trail 
Our tour guide for the brewery was the cutest woman 
A lot of beer! 
Loved these copper tanks and the plants! The room was super warm!
That night, we arrived at our final destination, Cesky Krumlov. Our final day consisted of touring the royal chateau and theatre. The chateau had a bear exhibit, as is tradition for the chateau for the past 500 years! For our last main event of the trip, we went rafting! I shared a raft with Griffin, Cody, Tiffany, Mary, and Ria! It was our first sunny day that we’ve had in a long time, which was perfect for the festivities. We rafted 12 kilometers, it was supposed to be 14 but we were taking too long on our stops so they picked us up a little bit early. One of the stops was a bar that had a bonfire, it was a really cool last thing for the whole group to get to do together!
These are my best buddies and I’m gonna miss hanging out with them every day so much I could cry
These past 3 months have taught me a lot about the world and by myself. Of course, I will continue to travel. For the past 3 years, I haven’t returned home from a trip without having booked my next one. Keeping to tradition, I will be going to Mexico for 2.5 weeks in July! This is the way I fight the travel blues that often hit people after they return to regular life from a long trip. As for now, I have 2 weeks left to travel with my best friend, Lexi Liebig, who will meet me in Croatia on Wednesday! Thank you so much to everyone who has been following along my pictures on Facebook and posts on here! Also shout out to our professor, Matt Mims, a.k.a. Pops, for making this such an amazing experience!
Traveling Rays 