czech republic: brno

Thankfully the bus Bo and I were on arrived on time (even ten minutes early!) in Brno. It was still after dark though, which always unnerves me a bit in a new place. I was able to call our accomodation and they told us to call again when we got close.

I was able to use the wifi from the bus to figure out the quickest walking route, it only took 20-25 minutes. As we got close I started looking for building numbers and noticed a sign pointing to registration for the place I had booked. Check in was easy, and I loved the place.

It was a loft, which made the space feel quite big. Two beds upstairs, bathroom and desk downstairs.

We saw a branch of my favourite Czech grocery store, but we got there about 30 minutes after it closed. Oh well, I knew we would go again the next morning, and it was good to have an idea as to where we would be going first thing in the morning.

The next morning I woke up early as usual, and we eventually got ready for the day. It was a beautiful day, with a blue sky and fairly warm. Next to our hotel was a giant wall mural, so of course we took photos of and with the mural. (Thank goodness for timers and tripods.)

We went to the grocery store (Albert) straightaway and I was thrilled to find they had my favourite Czech yogurt. Between the yogurts (because of course I bought two) and juice I was a happy camper. We found a bench not too far from the grocery store to sit down and eat.

Not too far from our eating bench was a wall of graffiti murals, we took a look. Nothing exciting, but I like seeing that kind of art. Graffiti can be awesome when it is actual art, not just tagging.

We kept walking, and Bo noticed a vehicle with a specialized license plate. It was a LandRover, and the licence plate said "funrover."

What Bo also noticed was that this particular LandRover had also been booted, which was rather funny to the two of us. Of course he took a photo. The lady who owned the car was standing around waiting for whateva; she didn't think it was nearly as funny as we did, and didn't want Bo to take a photo. (But it didn't stop him.)

I'd already noticed that my new camera had one small problem: the lens cap was a separate piece, not attached to anything else on the camera. I knew there would come a time when the wind blew the cap away or some other accident caused me to lose it, so I wanted an attachment of some sort.

Bo and I walked, and fairly soon came to a camera store. I used English and charades to explain my problem, (and the guy spoke plenty of English,) and the guy knew just what I needed. Problem solved, yay!

Our next issue for the day was money. Czech Republic is part of the EU and Schengen Zone, but it does not use the common currency. In other words, our euros weren't going to do us any good. We went hunting for an ATM, and eventually found one.

Sometimes I wish all the countries used the same currency, but I also love learning the relative value of every currency.

We walked toward the castle that overlooks the city, there isn't a straight road to get there. The hill is covered with a park, with criss crossing paths going everywhere. Some of the paths are quite steep, but none of them are very long. We got to the top, and figured out where the entry gate was located. Surprisingly, the ticket window was not near the entry gate, there is free entry to the outer walking area.

We walked all the way around the castle to find the ticket window, and found that there were several options for tickets. We bought the cheapest option, which just let us into the tower with an observation deck. There was also an option that let visitors into an art exhibition, and another ticket window if we wanted to visit the dungeon jail.

We entered one of the courtyards of the castle and went through an archway into another courtyard. In the middle of this second courtyard we saw a well and a set of bells.

I don't remember what was so important about the bells, but I do remember about the well. It was the deepest in the country, and most of the work to dig the well was done by prisoners.

We found our way to the tower, and climbed up the stairs. We got up to the observation area and I must say I was not terribly impressed. We could look over to the old city area, and see the tops of a few churches. It was also really windy, it was sortof hard to keep my eyes open.

We went back down the tower stairs, then out of the castle. We followed the winding paths down the hill and started walking toward the old city area. When we left the castle I realized that no matter what ticket you buy, you don't really get to see the castle itself, I wonder why. I know it has been a fortress or prison for most of recent history, is there nothing (or very little) left of what furniture used to excist inside?

Most of the old city area is pedestrian only, which I loved. We came into one of the main squares, there is a farmers market of sorts on one side.

There is a statue with a memorial/monument in the middle, it was surrounded by locals just hanging out. We took a look at all the buildings and moseyed through the market, nothing exciting.

We walked out of the platz on another side, and walked up to Sts Peter and Paul Cathedral. It's at the top of all the lists of the sights to see, and is quite big. You're not allowed to take photos inside, and it seemed as if someone was there to watch to make sure no one ignored that rule. The inside was pretty, but not super stunning. (I know, I'm totally a jaded, spoiled traveler when it comes to judging how a church looks.)

We walked around the outside of the church and found options for climbing a bell tower or visiting the crypt, both of which required tickets. Since we'd already seen the city from the castle and knew the skyline wasn't impressive, we skipped the tower. We skipped the crypt just because we weren't in the mood for it.

We walked back through the big platz, and exited through yet another side. I bought ice cream, just because I could. We hadn't had a proper meal since breakfast, even that wasn't a proper meal.

We walked along the street, which took us past another church. This one wasn't a separate building from the others on the street, at least not in an obvious way.

I expected very little when I walked in the door, but absolutely loved it. The whole church was painted and decorated, it was very energetic, if that makes sense. As I stepped in I could see a worship service taking place, so I didn't go more than a couple steps inside. I looked around and knew I couldn't see the whole church, so I stepped out again.

Bo and I got back out to the street, a minute or two later people started spilling out of the church onto the street. I knew the service was over, and was interested in going back in. Bo didn't much care, so he sat on the next street corner and watched people while I was in the church. I took my photos and went back out.

We walked some more, and made our way to Svobody Square. Freedom Square in English. It isn't a square shape, more like a long extended triangle. Almost immediately I saw the astronomical clock, which didn't look much like a clock to me. Big and black and tall.

In another area of the platz was another memorial, I think this one might've been a plague memorial. There were some people out and around, I imagine the area is packed with families and friends in warmer weather. It's a great place for people watching.

We walked out the other side of the platz, and eventually got to another church. This one was unique in that there was a giant horse statue in front. We peeked into the church but there was a service taking place, so we didn't go in any further. We noticed the way the light shined in at exactly that time, it lit up a small area of the altar, which I thought was pretty cool.

More walking took us to another church. I love churches, but even I was getting a bit churched out at this point. This one was not having a service, so we were able to go in a bit further. In fact I walked all the way around the altar area in front. There were tall windows allowing in a lot of light, which I loved, even though they weren't stained glass.

More walking brought us back to Freedom Square. At this point we were both starting to get hungry, and were thinking about dinner. We picked up a snack and started making our way back toward our accomodation.

When we walked past the abbey this time I noticed the door of the church was open, yahoo!! We stepped inside to take a peek, because even though I was a bit tired of churches I also wasn't about to pass one up. The interior was really busy, and didn't seem to match. That probably doesn't make any sense, but that's how it felt. Different themes seemed to run through different areas of decoration, the whole thing didn't seem to fit together very well. It was all quite nice, it just didn't match.

Along the way back we passed a micro brewery. It was full of people, and I've always had good food at such places all over the world.

It took us a while to figure out how to get seated, and order food, but it was worth it. I loved my dinner, which was braised beef. YUM.

The next morning we packed up and checked out, then started walking.

As we packed we talked about what we wanted to see that day, and initially wanted to see the UNESCO sight in town. We checked it out on travel apps and other mentions online, and found out we wouldn't be likely to see it that day. It was a villa, and according to the designation was one of the first examples of modern design for a house. Something like that.

Anywho, to get inside the villa you have to take a tour, and everything we read said those tours are booked out 2-3 months in advance. There was a chance we could show up and get lucky with someone else cancelling, but we didn't really want to walk all that way and more than likely not get what we want. Somehow I don't think I'll ever see this place, as I'm not likely to plan a repeat trip to Brno 2-3 months in advance.

We walked in the same direction we had the day before, making our way to the old town area. We walked a couple different streets just because we could, and made our way back to one of the churches we'd seen the day before. Since this was Sunday morning we didn't see many people out on the streets.

I wanted to see the ossuary. Bo had no interest in it, or at least not enough interest to pay the entry fee. (Which was a bit steep.) It took us a bit to find the entry, as the listed address was not where the entry was actually located.

According to the sign at the ticket desk, this is the second largest ossuary in Europe, after the catacombs of Paris. I'm not sure how the size of these things is measured, as I've definitely been in bigger places with bones.

The bones in this ossuary are several centuries old. To make a long story short, a church crypt was created then forgotten about several times. Each time more bones were added, messing up others already interred. Eventually someone decided to fix the terrible state of the crypt and make it into something respectable.

I wandered through three hallways or so, looking at the different arrangements of bones. Not super exciting, not super scary. I don't think I would be capable of arranging bones like that, but it was interesting to see. There were a couple signs telling the history of how this ossuary came to be.

The other thing I wanted to see that day was the crypt we'd missed the day before. Go figure, as we got there I realized I'd just missed it again, by just a few minutes, again! Argh. This time the door was closed for lunch as we arrived. Argh. Oh well.

Since not visiting the crypt meant we had a few minutes to spare, so we walked around the first platz we'd seen in the city the day before. While watching people I noticed a spire a few buildings over, and wondered what it was. Walking down another street took us to the building, which ended up being City Hall.

It was definitely not a grand building, and I only noticed it because of the spire. As we got closer we could see something over the entry gate, made by the man who designed city hall. There are small 'towers' on the front facade, one of which is bent. Legend has it that the man who designed the building wasn't paid properly, so he made sure one of the 'towers' was bent as a form of revenge.

Inside the entry arch were two things hanging from the ceiling: an alligator and a wheel. Wikipedia told me those are the symbols of the city. Interesting combo, to say the least.

I peeked into the courtyard after going through the arch, and saw a wedding couple taking photos. Pretty.

From there we walked to the bus station, arriving 15 minutes early as our tickets said we should. We waited, then waited some more. And waited. And waited. At one point I went into the ticket office to see if that lady knew anything, but she didn't. She told me what time the bus was supposed to depart and I said it still hadn't arrived. She said delayed (in English,) and I remember thinking 'I already know that.' Bo and I talked about how long we should wait, and what we would do if the bus didn't come in that amount of time.

The bus finally arrived, almost two hours late. In other words, it arrived not too long before we should've been arriving in Vienna. Argh. Oh well, at least it finally arrived.

After the bus crossed into Austria we were pulled over by an Austrian police officer. We hadn't done anything wrong, he was just checking the ID of everyone on the bus. He also quizzed the driver and other staff, asking where the bus started, how often the route was run, etc... Nothing happened, but it was nice to know that governments are paying some attention to what is happening on the continent.

Brno was nice, but not great. I don't know if I will return, but I'm not against it either.