reasons not to see the museum of torture

our last day in prague was phenomenal. we visited the schloss (no, this does not refer to a part of the male anatomy) rather it is the german word for castle. we meandered through the city, making a 40 minute stop for coffee.....getting the check in czech is not easy. And finally ended up stopping at the museum of torture. this 'museum', is to say the least, disturbing and specifically designed for tourists. The three floor building houses replicas of some of the most widely used torture devises used in europe, with corresponding drawings and written descriptions in about 12 languages.

i wanted to vomit, dan on the other hand took pictures :)

not to say the museum is all bad.... you leave with certain hope that at least humanity has somewhat progressed since the middle ages. however, i don't think it is possible to leave without a certain feeling of revulsion of the thought of what people are capable of doing to one another.

anyway...back to the schloss. so we climbed up to the palace, which is still a working palace for the government, so much of it is not available to tourists. the church from the 13th century is, in my opinion, one of the most beautiful in europe. it was breathtaking. it was only off-putting by the Japanese tour group in front of us and the german tour occurring behind us. tours can be a fantastic way to learn about the history of a location, but it is hard to feel the sanctuary of a church with chatty people in all directions. not to mention, japanese tourists really enjoying taking pictures. i kept seeing flashes every time i turned around!

after the church dan and I sat in the courtyard on a bench for a while, to simply digest the day. It was beautiful to sit in the shadow of this famous church as the sun went down behind us. moments like this one always seem to give me reverence for how wonderful europe is. there is no place in the world like it. i felt lucky to be able to share such a powerful moment with daniel. sorry.... reminiscing is making me somewhat cheesy.

on our way down, we took some goofy pictures and just had a great time. dan jumped up on the rampart wall ...I was convinced, with all his grace, he was going to fall over the other side. good thing he did not, because the fall was considerable and when my friends sarah's bf fell off a wall, well..... it did nothing good for their relationship! we also met a really funny guy from iceland. he was wearing a t-shirt in 40 degree weather and looked like he could bench a volkswagen bus.

that night we had our last dinner in europe (except the one in the munich airport, which frankly does not count). it was the perfect end to our trip.