Trip log #5: Europe - Olomouc, Czech

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Anyways, I'll pick up from where I left off the last time: visiting Church of Virgin Mary of Snows.

I walked down a street towards the center of the town from the church. Because of the tradition of having church bell towers and crosses to be the tallest buildings in town, the churches are usually placed on a hilltop or are really tall; therefore, they can be spotted from almost anywhere in the town.

Then, I visited the Chapel of St. John Sarkander (Kaple Sv. Jana Sarkandra).

According to Wikipedia (of course the most trusted source on the Internet), Saint John Sarkander (Czech and Polish: Jan Sarkander) (1576–1620) was a Polish and Moravian priest. He was consecrated in 1609, and worked in Holešov from 1616. He was accused of betrayal and tortured in Olomouc prison, partially due to his refusal to divulge what was said in confession. Nowadays St. Jan Sarkander chapel stands on its place. The original torturing rack and Sarkander's gravestone are preserved here. Sarkander was canonized by Pope John Paul II during his visit in Olomouc in 1995.

I then roamed around the town to check out the following buildings:

1) Jesuit Seminary (Jezuitsky Konvikt)

2) Chapel of the Corpus Christi (Kaple Boziho Tela)

3) Jesuit Seminary
4) Vila Primavesi
Then I visited St. Michael's Church (Kostel Sv. Michala), which sadly was not open to public. The building was huge, and the interior is supposedly a Baroque style. I couldn't imagine how beautiful it would be inside.

Though I couldn't see the inside, I was treated with a nice view of a statue with a street musician. I gave him a coin equivalent of a US dollar.

As soon as I gave the musician a coin, a very sketchy-looking guy came up to the musician and seemingly asked who he just got a coin from. Of course, being the only Asian on the street, and the musician pointing at me, I quickly realized that I needed to get out of the street corner. The sketchy guy came up to me and asked in a very poor acting (he was trying to make a crying face but wasn't working quite well) that he needs a coin to call his sick brother. Because I had seen his angry and stern face at the musician the minute before he started walking toward me like a coyote, I knew from the beginning that he was lying. I told him that I do not have any coin or any money, and that I was just passing by to go home.

Later when I asked my host professor about it, he told me that such cases are not as common as they are in Prague, but still present in Olomouc, targeting the obvious foreigners. The sketchy guy was apparently waiting for me to take out my wallet so he can snatch it from my hands. Something to be careful about if you're planning on going on a trip. :)

I think that's a long enough read for the Log #5. Thanks for reading!