After an entire weekend off grid, I can officially say I have made it back. Prague is a fun weekend trip, but Olomouc is more my speed, and Olomouc, really, is still too big for me, with the population topping out around 100,000. For one, my room in Olomouc has working internet, while the hostel in Prague did not. If you could get on it, it would be at such a slow speed, virtually nothing could be accomplished. Another thing is that my room in Olomouc has a functioning refrigerator, while the Hostel in Prague did not have anything. Drinking a cool beverage in the room was, practically, impossible. Olomouc has everything that Prague has, basically, at a cheaper price. Prague is a giant tourist trap; they will put outlandish prices on almost everything. Olomouc has reasonable prices, and the quality is good. Today, before we boarded our train to return to Olomouc, we took a trip to the old Jewish quarter of Prague to get a feel of what life was like back then. We entered a building with walls covered in text. The text was the names of the Jewish residents who lost their lives during the Shoah, or the Holocaust. 80,000 names were inscribed upon those walls. It was quite unsettling to be, quite literally, surrounded by the dead. We then took a look into Jewish life by examining some basic artifacts found in Jewish religious practices, such as candles, glasses, vases, books, clothing apparel, etc. It really was fascinating, but, being raised a Catholic, I find it hard to imagine myself practicing any other religion but my own. You see, wherever I go, I always try to imagine myself doing what I am seeing, or witnessing. If I go see a movie, I place myself within the context of the movie. If I go to a sporting event, I imagine myself out on that field, or court. In this case, I imagined myself standing along side of those people practicing that specific religion. Like I said, it didn't work out so well. After the museums, we paid our respects to the Jewish cemetery. That was, by far, the hardest scene I have ever had to look at. The ground of the cemetery rose about 4 feet above the sidewalk that we were standing on. The reason being that the Jews were just buried on top of each other--a mass grave. The number of tombstones was unreal. You couldn't have fit another one in there. The ground was as saturated with tombstones as it was with the blood of the innocent. Throughout today, pictures were prohibited, but, of course, I chose to be the rebel, and I snuck a few in again. I am going to get busted one of these times, but, so long as there is a story to seize, I will continue to break those rules to capture it. That was all we did today, for, after that, we met at the train station and set off for home on a two hour train ride. I didn't get much sleep on the bus; it was too loud in my stall, but I am sure I will sleep soundly tonight. We went through another time change last night. So now, instead of being six hours ahead of you, I am now seven hours ahead. It sucks that I had to go through that twice, but it's whatever. I will have to regain contact with some people within the next few days. This weekend was a killer in that regard. Anyway, I hope that you have a great rest of your day. "May The Odds Be Ever In Your Favor!"
                                                                            -Anthony-