Today was another early wake up with a longer trip to Kutna Hora. We visited many places from a church that used human bones to decorate it, which was very interesting but a little eerie when you thought about how many bones were used. We next traveled to St. Barbaras Cathedral.
After that we went to a silver mine museum where we had the chance to go down into the mine which was amazing. Going down 33 meters we walked through the narrow corridors made by the miners who would use narrow ladders that were wide enough for one foot to go up and down within the mine. In the past some parts would have wooden slides made that were used to slide down and the miners would have leather aprons to slide down and protect them from splinters. Additionally, we were given helmets with flashlights but before that the miners used larger candles that would not give off much light. They were unable to use other light sources like torches because they would consume too much oxygen. Although they did have a system to ventilate air through the mine that consisted of a person spinning a fan that would blow air down into the mine, it would not be enough with the torches.
Coming back from Kutna Hora the bus got stuck in some traffic and as we were slowing down, I noticed the cars ahead of us began slowly pulling over onto the shoulder and on the left lane the cars also moved more to the side, creating an open lane along the center of the highway for emergency vehicles. Once the traffic sped up the cars went back into their lanes. During this time, I saw no cars skip in front or take advantage of the open lane which is how Czechs respect the laws and rules despite no one there to enforce it. I noticed this since I never saw it happen in the United States and there have been any times that while sitting in traffic a inpatient driver would pass by on the shoulder. Another example is the public transport. In Prague the buses, trams, and underground metro are based on an honor system where you need to buy the correct ticket when using public transportation but there are no gates to enter the underground or scanners on buses and trams. Except there are ticket inspectors that sometimes go around checking for tickets.
Swanson School of Engineering 