WARNING! The art of Egon Schiele, and his disciples, is not for the faint of heart, conservative…read moreminded, or the prudish. You're going see nudity, in a creepy, not beautiful way, but somehow your eyes can't turn away. Cesky Krumlov is a small town, and on the outside this Art institute looked equally small...but its actually very large inside! The building is shockingly large inside, with 3 stories packed with art! Again, this isn't your typical art museum...be prepared to be shocked, wowed, disgusted, impressed, baffled, and mind blown. Those original early 20th century German Expressionists had some very unique perspectives on life. Can't describe this in words...so just look at my pictures I've posted...and I did not post the Rated R pics. 220CZK/$10 for entry, worth every penny for art lovers, or art likers such as myself.

Not what I expected but I came on free admission. Otherwise I would be disappointed that I did…read morenot get to see anything related to Schiele's work. Currently, there is a expressionist painter and sculptor/installation artist on display. The one section with Schiele's studio and memorabilia was closed. Check calendar before commiting.

Brewery or museum? The ages old question asked by sensible…read moretourists while planning travel itineraries. This place is a mixture of both... sort of. It's a beer museum! :) (Yay!!!) ... that doesn't serve beer. :( (womp, womp.) But it's actually still pretty cool... probably better if you can read the native language, though... but we still had fun. If you're really into brewing, you could spend 1.5-2 hours here perusing the many levels easy. If you're just there for the heck of it, 45 minutes it's probably good. Things to know: // It's not free, admission runs about the cost of what a movie would cost you. A fair price, I'd say. // It's more historic than novelty. // Not at all hipster-y like you'd expect. // It's set up kind of like a multi-level labyrinth with ups and downs at every wall so going through is never boring. // They have a whole big area at the end that's a children's playground with some beer-themed play things. Teachin' 'em young. Awesome. // SOME of the figures are animatronic and some are not. They bait you by showing you a bunch of mannequins that don't move, then BAM, you walk into a quiet room and all these robots start canoodling and making noises and drinking beer and it WILL scare the sh*t out of you, but once your heart stops beating out of your chest and your friends stop laughing at you, you'll appreciate the humor of it. // Has a lot of info about the town, the Czech Republic, and Europe in general, so even if you don't care about beer, you can enjoy the historic portions of the museum. // It's attached to a bar, so you can go get your booze fix after, should you so desire.

Melk Abbey Visited…read morethe abbey on an all-day tour starting in Vienna, then heading to Hallstatt and Salzburg. We were only there for 45 minutes, so I just had time to run in and admire the beautiful church. That was more than enough to know I have to return to Austria to properly explore the abbey and the entire Wachau Valley. What a place!!!

My friend and I spent a few days driving around Lower Austria and Burgenland at the beginning of…read morethis month. Melk was our first stop after leaving Vienna. We were there for the Melk Abbey and for an afternoon in the Wachau Valley. The Melk Abbey makes a visit to Melk totally worth it. The abbey was founded in 1089 (!!!), but the Baroque abbey you'll see when you visit was built between 1702 and 1736. The abbey sits at the top of a rocky outcrop in town, so it's a little bit of a walk through town and then up to the abbey (but not as strenuous as it seemed when we were looking up at the abbey from town). There's a lot to see at the abbey - the church, the library, the views... You can't take photographs inside the abbey, but you can see pictures of it online to get an idea. It's really stunning. It was really beautiful, and I'm so glad we made a stop in Melk to see it!

This is definitely a place to see. I didn't find information about when it was started but there…read moreis a QR code to scan later for that information. They did ask that we not photograph the bones but clearly most people didn't listen .

Sedlec Ossuary, known as the Bone Church and is one of the most visited sights in the Czech…read moreRepublic, a chapel decorated with the bones of an estimated 40,000 people. How did they all get there? In 1278 King Ottokar II of Bohemia sent an abbot of the Sedlec Cistercian Monastery to Jerusalem; he returned with "holy soil" from Golgotha, the location of Jesus' crucifixion, and sprinkled the soil on the ground around the church. This became a strong draw for people to be buried here, and the cemetery expanded, most notably during the times of the Black Death plague and the Hussite Wars. Later when construction of a Gothic church began in the early 15th century, bones from mass graves were uncovered during construction and stored in the basement of the church. There they remained for centuries until 1870, Frantisek Rint, a woodcarver, was given the task of organizing them. The final result was a chapel with four main mounds of skulls, an impressive chandelier and a coat of arms of the Schwarzenberg family, all created from human bones. Currently tickets need to purchased thru separate tour operators. I went with a bus tour and stayed there for about 30 minutes in total as the church and cemetery outside is pretty small, and a distance (maybe 10 minutes driving) from the town of Kutna Hora proper. They have a strict no photos policy as of 2024 autumn, citing concerns to people posting negative comments and criticizing the display of human remains. While it is macabre in some ways, the bones were all bleached in efforts to prevent disease and well-preserved. Such an uncanny experience to walk among so many that walked before us! For more info: https://sedlecossuary.com

We visited this place over the weekend and we really enjoyed it. Kids loved walking around the…read morecellar where were devils, making their own chocolate and marzipan candies and looking at all those beautiful things made out of it. Staff was helpfull and smiling, there is also a little candy store and café in the building or place called Budík right across the street where you can have cakes or different hot chocolates and coffes. We totally recommend if you are in town with kids.