Day 10–Saturday, May 30

Day 10–Saturday, May 30

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Prague:: day trip to Doksany (40 minute drive)/tour Abbey/travel back to Prague/hotel in Prague

This morning feels like an eternity ago. We got a late start and drove to Doksany to see Sr. Augustina, the representative from her cloistered group and one of the visitors for the 2012 General Chapter at SNC. 9 nuns live there now.

The history of the church dates back to 1144 when it was a Romanesque basilica. They’ve even left a door that when opened has a portion of the original wall visible, it’s rather fascinating and totally different from the wall around it. After being all but destroyed, occupied by Communists, and then left in shambles it was restored. This church also has stucco walls that are now Baroque in style. There’s bits of evidence from the storied past through the building, much of it subtle. One of the stairwells has many names carved in it, for instance. This church, like the others we’ve seen, is also dedicated to Virgin Mary. Sarah played the organ for us. We took our photos and toured the property.

These nuns only act as owners of part of the property–the part that is impeccably kept and is restored as money comes available. The remaining part is owned by the government–which, to the nuns dismay, is currently being used to film a TV series.  So part of the property is essentially a back lot, like the ones at Universal Studios.

We walked through a section where one real wall is next to a fake and they are nearly indescribable but when you knock on them they are hollow. The dead give away is that the fake walls end and the real walls have roofs or decorative tops.

Walking through the property is like a trip back in time. Even the set looks old.

A couple of peacocks and chickens greeted us on our way to get to the tree planted when St. Norbert’s body was moved to Prague more than 400 years ago.After Agusustina’s long goodbye we stopped at a local pub for lunch, had soup and some paprika chicken–Mike can get you the recipe.

Lots of time to walk and pursue interests this afternoon. People from the group went to all ends of the city.

Tomorrow is the much-anticipated Strahov. Starting with Mass, tour and then we travel to Berlin for the final leg of the tour.