The City of Brno.

Since I didn't update this thing last night (sorry, i was way too tired!) I figured I would do two tonight. Well, sort of. I'm going to devote a whole post just to the tour I took yesterday of Brno. It was quite interesting and I think some of you history geeks out there may appreciate a few things I learned along the way. Everyone else, you'll appreciate the stories and folk lore of good ol' Brnoians. (At least, I did!)
So here it goes...






This is Blaza. She is standing in front of a very significant wall in Brno. The story goes something like this: Back in the day (I honestly can't remember the dates..) there was an army (Syrian maybe? I can't remember sorry!) that was devising a plan to sneak attack the city of Brno. One of the citizens of Brno wanted to help the other army out, so he was going to betray his city and tell the other army how best to attack. Well, unfortunately for him, a few of the governing bodies of Brno found out and as a message to all others considering the betrayal of Brno, they took the man's body and mixed it in with the cement of the wall and built his body into the wall you see in the picture above. Brno has never been betrayed by one of its citizens to this day. (According to tradition...)






This is the dragon of Brno. They call him a dragon because, well, crocodiles simply don't exist in the center of continental Europe, so a dragon was the closest thing they could liken him to. There are many ideas about where this dragon came from, but my favorite was this: History tells of a time when a dragon used to live outside the city walls of Brno, eating and harassing its citizens. The government of Brno finally got fed up with it and petitioned the citizens to fight back, offering a very large reward for the man who could defeat the dragon. Many people failed and died in their attempt. But one man was cunning enough to outsmart the dragon. He slaughtered a goat and with the remains, mixed in some sort of poisonous powder (i can't remember exactly what) and left it out near the city walls. When the dragon ate the goat, he immediately died and now hangs in the city as a reminder of that man's quick wit. (or something..) ::Sidenote - I am a terrible story teller and an even more terrible Reteller, so I'm sorry these stories aren't as good as when I first heard them! But I hope you get the jist.







This is the outside of the old town hall. When it was reconstructed (I think at the turn of the 19th century), rumor has it the city refused to pay one of the architects, thus the crooked spire in the middle. The moral? If you want something done right, don't scam your workers! haha.






This is just a shot looking up the whole tower. It was pretty massive.






Just a really cool sculpture in the middle of one of the town's squares. On top is the goddess of something (again, I can't remember...) and there are three columns descending down from her that apparently represent each of the three ancient civilizations (Babylon, Persia, and...?)






Hercules defeating the three headed dog of the underworld.






This is a church of some sorts. Apparently something like 27 monks still live inside and care for the church. If you look really closely, there is a sign on the left that says "KRYPTA" with an arrow. We were told that to the left of the building is literally a crypt with "fresh" mummies inside. They are currently renovating it (i would NOT want that job!) but it will be open to the public in a few weeks. I plan to go visit it (i know gross but SO cool...) and I'll try to take pictures (if they let me!).






The Cathedral of St. Peter and St. Paul. They used to each have their own cathedral, but somewhere along the way, they upgraded this building and combined the two cathedrals. It was absolutely massive and insanely beautiful. I wish I could've taken pictures of the inside. It was breathtaking. They have a whole Easter concert series there in March that I plan to go to, and I'm pretty excited about it!






Approx 175 stairs to the top of the Cathedral and this is what you get. It was a drizzly day, so not so clear, but really awesome nonetheless. The balcony where I was standing had a small ledge that came up to about my hips and nothing more. Sam, you would not have liked it one bit.






Don't worry, I didn't lean over to take this picture. I held my camera out over the edge and this is what it saw. Straight down. YIKES.






If you walk through the belfry of the cathedral to the other side, there was another (smaller!) ledge to stand out and take a picture. This was even more beautiful than the last, in my opinion. My new home for the next 3.5 months :)











Another view of the city.







The stairs leading up/down to the top!