Well we found a new way of city touring today, and any shaky views we had of Brno through our hair raising ride last night were immediately laid to rest. Our running guide Bara told us today, you either love Brno or hate Brno, there is no inbetween. Well we love Brno!
running family
Worked out well as it was Chrissi's birthday today, but as we both sacrificed our birthdays for the sake of a greater good, it was a lucky break it turned out so exceptional. With everything so different today, it was nice that cake featured as part of the hotel breakfast at the Cosmpopolitan Bobycentrum; am I the only one who finds that name amusing?
We walked into the city centre, having booked a running tour, and told to meet our guide by the 'big horse'. And fair play, there was big horse, a new statue in a city that has many statues, many of which have both humorous and serious significance. Opposite the big horse is a big fat fella that represents justice for example!
big horse
our guide Bara
you fat b*S****
We learnt a lot of the important and irreverent facts from our running host, Bara, who works at the University, and was a fantastic city guide. She showed us a church with a little man baring his arse half way up as a bit of a fuck you to the church down the road that had issues with the architect.
bare arse
She showed us the townhall, with the crocodile/dragon that is the symbol of this great city, and a wheel that also is steeped in mythology, but is now used as part of 50k ultramarathons, where people, in teams, need to run, and roll the wheel .. now there's a thought?
crocodile and a dragon
wheel
Bara took us to see the astronomical clock and main church, both that have significant goings on at 11am This dates back to a war against Sweden in the 1500s when it was decided after a seige, the Swedish would give up on midday in mid August. Things were so touch and go, convincing the Swedes that 11am was midday was important, meant they retreated early and the city of Brno has forever attached huge significance to this time.
We parted ways over a gluten free icecream, and then had some time in the Hotel Bobycentrum, drinking that lovely home made lemonade and preparing for our afternoon outing.
One thing we hadn't managed in the morning was the architecturally significant Villa Tougendhat, a UNESCO world heritage site. Built pre war it was seen as something quite unique with a 'less is more' feel, using the design to provide the aesthetics rather than any additional features. We sat in the garden and learnt how it has been used by film makers (Hannibal Rising), the Gestapo (ransacked in the second world war) and was also the site of the documents signed to separate Czeck from Slovakia in the early 1990s. Bara was telling us this morning how there is strong mutual understanding and respect between the 2 proud nations who just wanted their own identity, but no malicious feeling at all.
villa
wind down the window
We then walked back into the main town of Brno. Lovely old streets and the whiff of early evening beer in the air. Found a Craft Ale house, and then a bar that sold the more traditional Czech beer. Both great, although the beer snacks, hot salted peanuts with chilles, something I might need to replicate at home. We stayed out for dinner tonight and went Vietnamese. We learnt today that since the 1950s they have become the third largest ethnic group in Czech republic, coming over in masses as communist workers and settling. I have never eaten Vietnamese food before, the starter was a bit of prawn tempura, but the main, chille pork, garlic, wide noodles absolute taste sensation. Chrissi and I missed our chance to go to Vietnam when she fell pregnant with Bryn back in 2003, the country and its food is now back on the radar for future trips.
seen one of these before
and these
but not these like this
vietnamese virgins
ate it all with chopsticks, when in ..umm Brno
modern tram
beautiful Brno
-Carys-
A really great day today filled with lots of exploring and fun things. It all started off with giving mum her birthday card and wishing her a happy happy happy birthday. Then we all went down for breakfast in a very big buffet room. It had tons of stuff, everything you could imagine from hot food to pastries and cakes to fruit and yoghurts. It was amazing!
birthday cake being lovingly prepared
Unfortunately, we didn't stuff ourselves to our full potential because we needed to stay light for our exercise. I had some yoghurt and dried fruit - which I realised I love. I also had a small pancake with jam on it. Not tons of things, but enough to keep me from getting hungry.
We left the Boby Centrum hotel and took the 20 minute walk to where we were meeting our tour guide, Bara. Of course we almost got lost and took a weird way round, but in the end we made it and were in a square with a gallery and lots of strange sculptures including a giraffe-horse with very long legs and a man holding a square with water coming out of it - as a fountain.
that horse was important to find our guide
Bara arrived, and we introduced ourselves and she told us some things about the sculptures, like how the horse was a new model even though it looked practically ancient. We started our tour, which took us all through the streets of Brno as Bara talked us through all the architectural buildings and interesting history of the city. In the entrance to the town hall, there is a model of a crocodile which had an interesting story, as well as a wooden wheel carved by a man many years ago.
town hall, city flag crocs
The crocodile was thought to be a dragon by the people of Brno many years ago, and some brave citizen slayed the beast and was renowned as a hero. People were too scared to visit the city because of the 'dragon'. The wheel was made in just one night, after a man was told he couldn't make the whole thing in that short amount of time though. He did it, and wheeled it from his home to the city. Now there is a challenge to see how quickly someone can roll a wheel 50km. Something to try if we ever return to Brno, perhaps?
The run included some 'mild' inclines and it was quite hot out, so each stop to talk about something was a relief. It was so intriguing though, and lots of fun. We got to see the city, learn about it and get exercise all in one. Bara was lovely too, and even bought us an ice cream at the end - which were vegan. They were quite like a sorbet, and tasted delicious. They were very thirst-quenching.
dolphin or shark?
girls looking good, less said about me the better
Bara taught us so much stuff
aliens even
job done, rundone
After we'd thanked Bara we said goodbye and went back to the Boby Centrum, where we all showered and got changed for what I guess was the second part of the day. Mum had told us about the glass house where a German, Jewish family had been kicked out of by the Gestapo during World War 2. It seemed interesting, so we went along to look for it, and it turned out to only be a 10 minute walk from the hotel. You had to book in advance to look around the house and it's gorgeous architecture and interior design (which I was intrigued by) but you could pay to look around the gardens.
garden
photos of photos
These were pretty too, with plenty of plants and flowers, and added to the atmosphere of the house. We had a little nosy around, and then strolled off into the city where we were this morning for our run. Mum fancied having a beer so we went to a bar after sitting down in two other bars and walking around looking for one we wanted to go to.
C&A
They didn't actually have any soft drinks, only alcohol and crisps, so mum bought us some drinks from a store near by and we munched on crisps before going to ANOTHER bar. This one was nicer, and we got to sit outside in the sun with a big pretzel, peanuts and drinks. We had good fun.
pretzel
soda
Even though we'd eaten quite a few various snacks, Dad had seen a Vietnamese restaurant where we could have dinner earlier, so we decided to go there for mum's birthday meal. I'd never had that kind of food before, and I tried a seaweed and tofu broth! It was delicious, and it I really enjoyed trying seaweed, and actually tofu, for the first time. I had a main course too, noodles with tofu which I couldn't manage to finish but it tasted great.
vietnamese vegi
Brno has been full of fun, even though we've only had 1 full day. We've got plenty done, and it's another place to add to the list of favourites for this holiday.
Quite a short one today since we've been mostly driving, even though we've still had a nice time. The view was exquisite from the balcony, yet again. Another lovely morning. We got up between 8 and 9 again, feeling quite hungry and lacking food to eat.
I volunteered to go get some breakfast from he shop, not really wanting to walk up that steep hill again, but I was hungry, so I wasn't bothered. Bryn was asked to come as well, so when he was eventually ready, we went for a walk to the village in the heat of the morning sun.
get us some breakfast Bryn
I had an encounter with a territorial looking dog - it was some sort of alsatian/german shepherd. There was two of them actually, one chained up which growled at me when walking down the hill and back up again. Its friend joined it when we were walking back home, also growling, but this one wasn't tied up. I love dogs, but I actually felt a bit scared when this big wolf animal was prowling behind me, looking like it wanted to pounce. ''Clear off'', it said. I certainly did that.
Despite us buying things we though appropriate, mum and dad weren't exactly the happiest with our choices. I though croissants, juice (and breadsticks, a bit of a spontaneous choice) were fine though. It's only what we've been having for breakfast for the last few days! It filled us up at least, but when we were driving past the shop later on, mum and dad still picked up some breads and donuts.
We said goodbye to Yanko and his apartment and then started driving. It was only 20 minutes or so before we had our first pit stop, for a coffee, some traditional Slovenian cake - which mum had really wanted to try since we got here - and to get the vignette to get into Austria. 3 countries we've passed through today, in just one drive! 4-5 hours, and a few more stops later, we'd passed into Czech Republic and had reached our hotel.
one portion, 4 persons
need one for Czech too?
border beauty
It's nice, with a spacious room and a gym which the boys were happy to get use out of. Whilst they went there mum and I went for a drink in a bar. I tried some raspberry lemonade, which was really tasty and different. It came in a cute little jug as well.
The boys came back from the gym and had a drink too. We all had showers back in the room and even though it was a little later in the evening, we decided to go out for dinner. There was this pub/restaurant that looked quite like ones you get in the UK, and it had lots of things that looked interesting - especially for the meat eaters.
In the end, I had a starter and a side (the menu had some meat-less options but not the widest variety I'd seen). My fried camembert was different, and interesting to try, and I really liked the garlic bread - a simple choice.
vegi flexibility
We have a busy day tomorrow, so time to get some sleep so we can enjoy Mum's ''21st'' birthday fully.
(Lloyd)
Longest of our drives today, pretty much crossing the whole of Austria. The rather unplanned and random nature of our trip evidenced by the fact our Austrian vignette ran out yesterday so another 10 Euros for the privilege of using their roads. It was a a safe/good ride though, hence the name of today's blog, a road sign we saw with great regularity.
Woke up with a bit of a hangover today, we have had a drink or two or more every day of this trip but last night, in the heart of slovenian nowhere land we all let our hair down. Music, singing and games until the early hours, not sure fully appreciated by a farmer just down the valley who was up at 4am with his strimmer. Sound carries in the dead of night and first thing in the morning. Please consider this location if ever in Slovenia and apologise to the neighbours for us https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/13471760?source_impression_id=p3_1565237920_XoOXGkJmuNKtEjDc
Bought a stack of wine of our fabulous hosts, and sent kids to local shop for breakfast - they came back with crisps - pointless, so we stopped at the village shop ourselves for some bread, and then slightly later at a service station for that vignette I mentioned, plus wifi, coffee and traditional slovenian cake. We failed to eat last night with our only available food boiled pasta and cheesecake hence perhaps the extra drinks.
how much wine can we fit in?
true air bnb
kids useless breakfast so got my own
so many options
On we went then through Austria, circumventing Graz and pretty much cutting through the heart of Vienna, crossing the Danube, always worth mentioning. Quick bit of research unveiled the fact we would also need a Czech vignette, so pulled up just before the border at a petrol station to sort that out.
blue danube
so much more of the world to see
loving the EU
truckers cafe
The border crossing a bit of a slow and slumberous affair, and a noticeable greying of the buildings and perhaps just a tad less slickness of the infrastructure, our 5th country of the trip (didn't make it into Croatia by foot too far, or car, too uninsured). But we made good time, and then were on the outskirts of Brno. Our hotel was on the other side so had probably the trickiest driving experience of the journey to date, avoiding trams, parked cars, pedestrians, roads merging, traffic joining, traffic lights, ambulances and much more, felt like a video game. Luckily google maps and free roaming data kept us on track, as I might have mentioned previously, that is about to disappear post Brexit. Good work isolationists, keep finding ways to hit the pocket. Things a bit cheaper here, the pound vs the euro at an all time low, again, good to see how things are so much better economically home and abroad. There is a slightly sad tinge that this might be the last time on the continent as members of the EU, I live in hope someone sees sense somewhere, and realise its only the fat cats who will ultimately benefit from our departure, along with a few people gaining some sense of cultural superiority (or perhaps something else?)
Czech and EU so easy
pay your taxes
like a train station, a border never the nicest part of a country
Brno - which way?
Brno - which street?
Brno - what hazard next?
oh dear god trams
Our hotel the Bobycentrum is a slightly Soviet looking building, a reminder of the Hotel Cosmos I stayed in back in Moscow in the early 1980s. It has good facilities, including a gym next door that Bryn and I used, was good to stretch the legs after so much driving and ensures I am still running every day this week.
gym bunnies
Got changed, didn't wander too far for food, a grill house next door. Food was superb both in price and quality. I had their signature burger the Boby Burger, eggs, bacon and the size of your head. I needed that, washed down with some home made mango lemonade. Yes, a teetotal day at last, much needed.
A much quieter getting from A to B kind of day. Didn't rush out of the hotel in Brno, I did a bit of time on the treadmill, even though...
What we doing?
3 Parkruns in Germany, Italy and Poland;
6 countries so above plus Austria, Slovenia and Czech Republic;
2 birthdays, mine and Chrissis;
1 Mountain run in the Alps;
1 Running tour in Brno;
.....and so much more hiking, cycling and somethings in the water ....
