Let me just start off by saying that sometimes traveling across the world can be……..challenging. We had such a day today and we were very glad to finally make it to Prague for our last night in Czech Republic. Our morning started off great. A continental breakfast was included with our hotel stay and it was a very nice one indeed. There was very little egg at all which, for us, is a blessing. We both got our fill before we headed out to explore Brno a bit more before we hopped on the train to Praha.
We walked up the hill to the the Cathedral of St. Peter and Paul. It’s a very beautiful church which can be seen from most places across Brno. It is also an iconic building across Czechia and is featured on the Czech 10 Koruna coin. Interestingly, the bells of the cathedral are rung at 11 o’clock in the morning instead of 12 noon. The reason for this, according to legend, is that during the Thirty Years’ War the invading Swedes had promised, when laying siege to Brno, that they would call off their attack if they had not succeeded in taking the city by midday on the 15th of August. The battle underway, some clever citizens decided to ring the bells an hour early on this date, fooling the Swedes into breaking off the siege and leaving empty-handed.
In one of the squares below the church there was a farmers market which was one of the cutest things ever. There were tons of fresh fruits and vegetables but even more surprising there were a ton of flowers! There were so many cute dried wreathes and supplies to make your own. It was almost physically painful for me to leave without buying something however. I knew I wouldn’t be able to transport it on the journey ahead of us. On our way back to the hotel to get our bags we even stopped at a McCafe (McDonalds) for a large cappuccino to take away, it was really yummy too!
Now is the time when our story gets really interesting. If you have been following along, you might recall in our first post that we arrived at the airport pretty dang early due to someone (cough Brett cough) having some paranoia. Well. Turns out Brett did not have the same mindset when it comes to traveling by pretty much any other mode of transportation. We knew in advance that the main train station in Brno was under construction and we would have to either take a bus or walk to the alternate train station to get back to Prague. Mr. Bohunk thought everything would be just fine if we relaxed a bit and delayed our departure to the train station until the last possible minute. Turns out that this transition to the alternate station was a bit of a messy nightmare involving a longer than anticipated walk, getting lost, many tears from Kate, and subsequently missing our train. I had purchased our tickets in advance and thought to myself, “Wouldn’t it be nice if we rode business class for Brett’s very first European train ride?!” Upon missing our scheduled train we were in for a rude awakening. We got last minute tickets, literally 3 minutes, before the next train departed. Little did we know that such last minute tickets meant that we 1. Did not have assigned seats and 2. We wouldn’t get to sit at all for the 2.5 hour train ride. It reminded me of the scene in White Christmas [I know not everyone likes musicals but White Christmas is one of my favorite Xmas movies!] when Bing Crosby realizes that Danny Kaye has given up their nice warm sleeping cabins to two girls they don’t even know, only to spend the ride awake in the snack car all night! For us, this meant we had to stand for the entire ride back to Praha. Turns out, it was quite a funny trip and we met some Americans from Chicago who were in a similar situation as us. In the end we got to sit down for about 35 minutes which was alright.
When we got back to Praha we promptly took an Uber to our apartment and settled in for our brief last night. We thought, given our day, it was prudent to treat ourselves to a nice dinner. We found a steakhouse a short walk away called, Highland Steakhouse. It was AMAZING. Brett has steak tri-tip with steak fries and I had flank steak with potato pancakes. It was a superb dinner! It surpassed our expectations in every way. For very decently sized steaks, sides, and drinks we spent about $30. That is just unheard of in the States!!!
Overall it was a tiring day and we have to get up at an ungodly hour tomorrow. Not so many pictures to share today but given the events I think our friends and family can understand. Until tomorrow when we will be reporting our next adventures in Albania!!
Devious Owl 