A Bohemian in Bohemia

Bohemia: a region of the Czech Republic, which includes the lovely city I will be writing about.

Bohemian: One who practices an unconventional lifestyle, often in the company of like-minded people, with few permanent ties, involving musical, artistic, or literary pursuits; considered to be wanderers, adventurers, or vagabonds. OR someone who lives in the region of Czech Republic.

Prague! What a great place to be for unconventional souls like mine and Camden.We had planned for four days here in Prague and it was the perfect amount of time to make sure we got to see and do everything we wanted!Of course, we made our little to do list of the city so we could "stay on track". We later found out, there is no such thing as a track while in Prague..Our days were filled with getting incredibly lost. INCREDIBLY LOST. We eventually did get a feel for the city...on the last day of course, but getting lost and exploring is part of the fun!As I have mentioned in my previous blog, I fell ill while on the road which hindered my blogging efficiency.. Sooo I'll take you day by day to make sure I didn't miss anything! (I am currently in Germany writing this!).So let's go to Prague, shall we ?Day OneWe woke up so excited for the day! We got in quite late from Budapest so we had no idea what to expect from this city. Everyone we had talked to prior to our arrival, raved about how amazing this city was so we had rather high hopes! We, of course, asked about the free walking tour and headed off to the meeting point.We found ourselves terribly lost, in the middle of a carnival in a foreign town square. We inevitably missed our tour, but we weren't complaining! We were at a carnival, with mulled wine, Shetland ponies and candy! There were more tours throughout the day so we planned for one later in the day! We were so excited to wander around the little shops and see what the city had to offer. It seemed pretty obvious that this carnival was not a run-of-the-mill operation, so we asked a few locals what the deal was. Little did we know, we were celebrating the beginning of Spring! And Easter! There were hand pained eggs around every corner, ribbons tied on tree branches, hundreds of local artists and craftsmen showing off their latest creations and last but not least, the ever abundant food huts! We had stumbled across a gold mine and we were pretty pleased with ourselves. The fair only lasted two weeks, so we were pretty fortunate to be here during this time! We walked around, but knew a few hours wouldn't suffice. We would be walking these isles until the day we left, little by little. And that is exactly what we did!

These are just a few of the hand painted eggs that were on display around the city.

WARNING: if you are hungry or fighting a sweet tooth, just know...you have been warned.After some time wandering the carnival, we decided to go to a shop called Good Food.My sister had told us about a new sweet that was only made at that shop, the donut ice cream cone. We could not think of a better way to pass the time, so we got in line and had the most amazing treat on earth. God it was heavenly. I had the better one of the two hahah. at least in my opinion. Let's just picture this for a second...a sugary "donut-like" roll filled with strawberries, Nutella and ice cream. Even writing this I want another...Once our sugar levels were at an all time high, we decided to take a walk around before coming back to the meeting point. We of course, got lost and made it just in time for the next tour!!We learned so much on the walking tour (as always). We had a way better idea of the city and what we wanted to do here! The day was coming to an end quickly and we still hadn't checked out our "new home". We always like to get a feel for where we are staying and meet the people who are staying there as well!! It's part of the fun, staying at hostels and meeting other travelers. Never know who you'll meet!We ended up meeting some pretty awesome people! As well as the following nights to come! We all found ourselves congregating in the lounge, which was a huge cave under the hostel. We joined each other to drink, eat and to talk about life, travel and anything else that came to mind.Day TwoI am just going to call this day John Lennon day. The day itself was pretty frustrating, and from an outsider's perspective it may seem like a waste of a day. But it was our day, and here is how it went.We woke up and decided that today we were going to spray paint the infamous John Lennon wall.For those of you whom aren't familiar with the wall and what it stands for, here is a brief history lesson ans summary of what the wall stands for today.

Lennon was a hero to the pacifist youth of Central and Eastern Europe when communism ruled. Many songs, especially Lennon's were banned by Communist authorities because it was praising freedom that didn’t exist there.When John Lennon was murdered in 1980 he became a hero to some and his picture was painted on this wall. Back then the Czech people had few opportunities to express their feelings with their lack of freedom. So this was a risky act done by many. Despite the consequences, people flooded the wall with Beatles lyrics and odes to Lennon. As time went on, they came to paint their own feelings and dreams on the wall.Countless efforts were made to keep the wall clean, but none worked. Each morning the entire wall would be covered with poems, odes, and inspirational messages. The Lennon Wall represented not only a memorial to John Lennon and his ideas for peace, but also a monument to free speech and the non-violent rebellion of Czech youth against the regime.Today the wall is covered with global messages of peace, love, unity and freedom. Thousands of people visit each day to revel in the positive energy that lies in these walls. And if you're one of the "die-hard" ones, you will bring your own spray paint to add your own positive energy and inspiration as well.

Adding my own voice to this wall has always been on my bucket list. A promise I made to myself, to one day get there and join the thousands. Today was that day, and nothing was going to stop me.Or so I thought..Anyways, we woke up, googled some spray paint stores (which were at least 4 miles away), put on our shoes and began the trek to the store. We could have taken a subway, but we love to explore cities on foot, and it was early, we are young, the sun was shining...why not?So we got to the store, and no one would answer. We knocked, waited, asked locals for help, no one could help us. Annoying but okay. That ordeal took about 2 hours so we decided to head back to town and figure out plan B.We walked by the wall to see if anyone had spray paint, and no one did. We were out of luck. By this time, we had walked over eight miles in three hours; it was obvious we needed to refuel.Lo and behold the John Lennon Pub! What a great place for some inspiration!We went back to the hostel where there was some decent wi-fi to look up more places and ask the staff if they knew of any places. No one knew anything. So we just started asking every single person we passed on the street. Most people looked like we were crazy. We probably looked a little crazy too haha. FINALLY someone had an answer. And guess who it was.. a guy on a Segway. He pointed us in the direction of a hardware store, not even 15 minutes away from our hostel.We walked in and saw the paint!! I honestly, had never been as happy as I was to be in a hardware store!We got our paint and headed on out to the wall to catch the last bit of sunlight!All day long, I had thought about what I wanted to paint. But, when I got there I drew a blank. I eventually got my inspiration. Once I started I couldn't stop going!I began with the simple word, "INSPIRE". It was huge, yellow and amazing. People all around stopped what they were doing to watch me paint. Photographers and news casters began snapping and filming. and no, I am not joking...this really happened. I was amazed how many people were so interested. Then I added a small peace sign. As soon as I finished people were asking me about myself and my travels. They thought it was amazing that I wanted to add to this. The thought had never crossed my mind, that this moment wasn't on everyone's bucket list.I began my next piece after seconds of consideration. Something that I love and find forever beauty in. Flowers. I drew one huge, white and yellow daisy. Again, everything stopped as I painted. It was surreal.

Me and my paintings on the John Lennon Wall!

I finally finished my art. I stepped back and took in everything that had happened. Yes i had spray painted a wall, and tats really all that happened. But it felt SO MUCH MORE than just that. And it was. I checked off yet another dream off my list. I showed others that self-expression isn't scary or wrong, it's genuine and fulfilling. I inspired. And that to me, is what was most important. I handed off my spray cans to strangers and told them to add their voice to the wall as well. By the looks on their faces, you might have thought I offered them 1 million dollars.People were constantly thanking me for giving them this opportunity, and inside, I was thanking them. I was thanking them for showing me the power of inspiration. The power that genuine kindness has. The power of creativity. The power of unity. The power of peace. The power of perseverance. The power of us. The power inside myself.Yes this day may have been frustrating to the start, but it all faded away. Not one ounce of anger, frustration, annoyance was left, or has remained from that search for the paint. In the end, it made the experience even stronger.And for this day, and this moment. I am forever grateful.Day Three After the eventual day we had yesterday, we had our sights set on a particular attraction that was an hour away, in Kunta Hora. So we hopped on the next train and away we went. Today was all about the Sedlec Ossuary. Or as more commonly known as, the Bone Church.Here is some history of the Church that I found on the official website of the Ossuary...

The history of Sedlec Ossuary is quite unusual as you may have expected. It all started when Henry, the Cistercian abbot was sent to the Holy Land, in Palestina.He brought back a jar of earth from the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, the place where Jesus was crucified at Golgotha.When he arrived back, he put the earth over the cemetery. The rumor about his act soon spread out all over the place, and thus Sedlec became a desired place to be buried.Some people even brought their dead relatives to be buried in the Holy Soil of Sedlec.Soon, in Europe the plague caused the death of many people, and many people went to Sedlec before their death.In a little amount of time a lot of people were buried in Sedlec, and thus came the idea of creating an ossuary. The task of creating the ossuary was given to a half blind monk who arranged the bones. But only more than 300 years later, the bones were arranged artistically as they are today.In 1870, a local woodcarver, Frantisek Rindt was given the task to decorate the chapel with the bones. And the amazing result speak for itself. 40.000 human bodies are now arranged and the place is now popularly known as the Church of Bones.

I didn't know any of this history before going to Kunta Hora. This was a place Camden wanted to see for quite some time, and I am glad he did! It's astounding! The church itself is quite small, but we took our time admiring the perfection and intricacy that went into the structures. It was a bit eerie, but I never felt any negative energy or heebie jeebies. So that was nice.It was incredible to be in a place that was so ancient, yet so intact and well-preserved. I could almost feel myself going back into history walking through the Ossuary. It was amazing. Once we felt like we had fully absorbed the church, we left so others could get their shots and experience Sedlec. We were planning on walking down to the city centre and spending the day in Kunta Hora , but it began to sleet and neither Camden nor I were up to a forty-minute, sleet filled, windy walk to see more churches. So we called it quits and headed back into Prague.

Kunta Hora, Sedlec Ossuary

Day Four

Today was our last day in Prague. So sad. We felt like we needed to explore the city, and get lost on our own terms! So we used this day to walk around and be free.

We explored the carnival once more, ate some local dishes, watched the build up and let down of the Astronomical Clock, walked over Charles Bridge and people watched, rubbed all the statues for good luck, walked around Prague Castle and Petrin Park (which was amazing and lined by cherry blossoms!!!! I DIED!!)...

Petrin Park (upper left), Astronomical Clock (upper right), St. Giles / Prague Castle (bottom)

.....and then we got incredibly and accidentally drunk. This was because of two major factors.

One, we stumbled upon an Absinthe bar.

Two, beer is cheaper than water. And that is a fact.

The Absinthe bar was awesome! The whole place had eclectic murals painted on the walls, and each room has some sort of Absinthe theme. It was my first time trying absinthe, and I had no idea what I was getting myself into. Camden had tried it once before and was so excited to try it again! I ordered the French style and Camden ordered the Czech style. His was on fire, mine was with dry ice. It was amazing to watch and even better to drink! I loved the taste! I did not think it was working until i stood up and realized, oh yes, it was definitely taking its toll.

French Absinthe (left) Czech Absinthe (Right)

After wandering around the streets, with our liquid coats, we finally found a pub we were looking for, ironically called the pub. This place is where you could pour your own beer, which could be a good or bad thing. Each table was placed on a "board" so to speak; and each table was in an international competition with other bars like this to see who could drink the most. A challenge we were not looking to get into. But when in Czech, drink the beer! We ended up being in the lead as we left..again, could be a good or bad thing.

Needless to say, that ended the night for us! We had experienced Prague in the fullest and we were so happy with the decision to come to this awesome place! I know I will be frequenting, as does most when they get a taste of Bohemia.

To four incredible days, and to seven more incredible months!