Olomouc in Pictures

We're back from Olomouc. We really enjoyed our time there. It is a beautiful city of about 100,000 people.

As Jeff mentioned, Mattias and Olomouc just don't mix very well. Our first attempt was boycotted by chicken pox and this time the poor boy stepped off the train with a fever...we're still fighting the fever and whatever bug it is that is causing it. But, other than that, it was a great trip.

The Czech Republic is a small country. I was quite worried when we arrived in Olomouc that we would have a hard time getting any medicine for Mattias as it was late Saturday and the stores were closed and wouldn't be open on Sunday or Monday, the holiday. Jeff was with Ella in our hotel and she said, "Hey! That's one of my friends from Palecek!" Jeff didn't believe her at first, but sure enough, we knew the folks one floor up from us and they had come prepared with Panadol (like baby Tylenol). So we were in luck! It saved us tracking down the regional 24-hour pharmacy. (THANK YOU!)

So, the tour begins. Here is our hotel, the building with all the flowers.

And around the corner from our hotel was Vaclavske Namesti (Wencesles Square - yes, there is one in Prague, too, there are many repeat names throughout Czech Republic.) and the cathedral of the same name. To give you an idea of how old this city is, construction of this church began prior to 1107.

Next to the cathedral is the Archdiocese. It housed a really neat museum that all four of us enjoyed. You'll see Ella, below, with Cinderella's coach, or was that the pope's? Speaking of the pope, he was in the Czech Republic this weekend, supposedly the most secular (some say atheist) country in the world. But that's a whole other story.

Horni Namesti, the main square, is dominated by the Holy Trinity Column, which put Olomouc on the UNESCO World Cultural Heritage List in 2000.

The City Hall with it's beautiful astronomical clock is located in the center of the same square, and has been here since the 1400s. There is also a model of the city that Ella, Mattias and Froggie really got a kick out of.

You can figure out what day we were there with this close-up of the clock.

The square is also home to three fountains. Arion's Fountain was our favorite.

The city is full of beautiful and interesting architecture. Here are a few examples. They are simply residential or commercial space, now. Nice places to live or work, I say!

Of course, we can't go anywhere without checking out the parks and playgrounds. We visited two of the city's big parks and found a playground in this one, Cechovy Sady.

And we always appreciate yummy food, too. Here's Ella settling in for a meal at Konvikt.

Given Mattias' (and Jeff's) love of planes, we couldn't pass up the opportunity to take a peek at this 1950s TU-104 Soviet commercial jet. There were only 200 built and only one Soviet and one Czech airline ever used them. Now, if only we'd visited between 10pm and 5am we could have taken a peek INSIDE, as well.

I include this picture only because Ella took it. Not bad, eh?