The Big Trip: Brno

26th April

The train from Vienna to Prague was the nicest we've been on (but not the fastest). They give you free coffee and water and you can buy cake for €0.40 (so of course we did!). The lady in the seats with us asked why we'd go to Brno. She's from there and thought it's not very good. She was pleased that we were going to Prague afterwards.

We arrived in Brno at about lunchtime and found the luggage lockers. We needed Czech Króna which wasn't a huge surprise. The first currency exchange had closed for lunch. The people at the train station selling tickets could give change but not for euro. Finally we found another currency exchange at the station. She kept insisting that she could only give change. We kept insisting "yes".

In the end Jay gave her a €5 note and she gave us change. Unfortunately she gave us 50s. The machine only takes 10s and 20s. So it was off to the ticket counter to get smaller change!

After the hilarious start our luggage was in the locker! We set out to explore the Old Town.

First we found the vegetable market followed by the Old Town Hall. The information centre was located there so we grabbed a map.

Once again there was a suggested walking tour. After several failed attempts to reach the Cathedral of St Peter and Paul we set off on the walking route.

The walking tour took us through a range of squares and churches.

At about 4 o'clock we were very hungry so after exchanging some more Euros we went to a Chinese restaurant we'd seen earlier. It was yummy.

After that we walked to Špilberk Castle. The gardens were very pretty. The views from the top were good. We could see all of the Old Town.

Next we headed back to the station to pick up our luggage and catch the tram to our accommodation.

Our host, Ondrej, was lovely. We had a small dinner of pasta and a good chat. He even decided it'd be nice to drink tea and sit in the garden.

Later his girlfriend came. She was delightful. Despite claiming to be very tired she joined in the conversation.

27th April

Yesterday the lady at the Information Centre told us about a boat we could take on the dam. She said that the castle it goes to is only open on the weekend but we didn't mind.

We caught the tram and eventually got to our stop. We hopped off and wondered which direction to got. There wasn't any sign.

We asked a local and after a few minutes we found some signage. The dam looked beautiful. There weren't many people around.

It looked like the boat went at 10am on weekdays. But we couldn't see any boat. Jay asked someone who was working by the pier. No boat today!

So we went for a walk instead.

After grabbing ice-cream and apples from the local supermarket we took the tram back to the town.

We decided to go and do all three tours available that were beneath the city. The first one was the Labyrinth underneath the Vegetable Market.

There was an informative video while waited for the tour to begin. It was all about the city of Brno.

The tour guide arrived and we followed her around the labyrinth. We had audioguides - she was probably just there to make sure people are safe and respectful.

Most of the tour was interesting. I thought some of the displays were really good.

After the tour we had Chinese for lunch (again!) then it was off to the Brno Ossuary. I was a bit hesitant because I wasn't sure what to expect.

It was a bit strange but interesting. The part open to the public was small so it didn't take long. We were given a double sided A4 paper to read that explained everything.

Walls made from human bones.

We then headed back to the labyrinth to finish the video about Brno!

After that it was off to our last underground experience - Mincmistrovský sklep (the Mint Master’s Cellar). What could've been a really boring experience was made fun by our tour guide. He was hilarious!