From Berlin to Brno 8/3/2012

August 3 (actually already August 4 here in Brno, as it is nearly 1 am)

Brno, Czech Republic

Dobrý večer (Good Evening)

Began our day in Berlin where it was raining — actually pretty hard at times, and left for the Bahnhof around 11:30 am to get the train to Prague. The station is huge — about six levels and includes every conceivable chain store and eatery you can imagine. It was mobbed; people coming, people going, people waiting around, and people probably just taking shelter from the rain. After a bit of confusion, we found the correct car on the train, and our seats.. .. and wouldn’t you know it, we are seated right behind a couple from Texas! Fortunately they left fairly early for the dining car, so we didn’t really interact, but we heard the accent pretty quickly. Getting settled on the train was a bit frenetic as we got onto our car at the wrong end (not that there is a wrong end, but it was at the opposite end from where our seats were — and people board at both ends of the car.. so what with the narrow aisles of the train car, there’s a constant people/luggage jam in the aisle. Anyway, smooth trip, through the Erzgebirge mountains, and views of beautiful alpine river valleys, surrounded by rocky mountains. Over the past decades, we’ve been to Czech Republic and former Czechoslovakia at least five times and have never entered the country the same way… This was the first time we came by train and also the first time from Berlin. In the past, we’ve crossed in from Vienna, from Budapest, from the Tatra mountains, and from Poland.

Although the Czechs belong to the EU, they have not (as of now) adopted the Euro monetary system and thus still use crowns.

After disembarking from the train at a station at the edge of Prague, we hopped a taxi to get our rental car — a 10 minute ride… and then the fun (not really) began. First I need to tell you that they gave us an “upgraded car” and we are tooling around in a Mercedes! My how things have changed.. Some years ago we probably would have rejected such a benevolent gesture of giving us a fancy car. In any case, it’s a very smooth drive. The car doesn’t have a GPS, so we’re using my iPhone which is sometimes hard to follow… So we managed to drive in circles for about 30 minutes before getting on the right road. And then we were off and running.. sort of.

The first 30 minutes on the road was impressive. Totally new roads and tunnels as you leave Prague. Very different from former drives when the roads were terrible (sort of like getting out of JFK!) and there were so many potholes and obstructions that we learned the word “objížďka” (detour) because we saw it so many times

We called our friends in Brno to say that we were about 30 minutes behind schedule… but then after about an hour (it should be a two hour drive), traffic just slowed to a standstill for more than 10 kilometers. Apparently there is road work being done on the Prague to Brno route. This was Friday night. They closed two lanes in our direction and everyone had to merge into a single lane for about 15 kilometers, but there weren’t any workers anywhere to be seen. (Later our friends — who were non-plussed by it all — said… Oh yes, This is the Czech way… “There is construction going on, according to the government, but it is invisible construction! We never see anyone working on the supposed construction.”) So this set us back an additional hour. By the time we reached Brno it was 10 pm and we were to have met them at 8. So, at about 10:30 we all strolled from our hotel to the old center (actually our hotel is smack in the center of the old city)… for dinner (and of course, Czech beer!).  We’d been to this part of the city many times on other visits, but we have not been here since 2002 — ten years. The center is quite hip now, and perhaps overdone.. But it was packed with young people, extremely lively, and there were many reference points for us from prior visits.

In case I didn’t explain earlier, we’ve come to Czechoslovakia several times because when we lived in Helsinki, many years ago, we made friends with a Czech architect/planner who had permission to live overseas for a year, and probably could have escaped at that time — but he didn’t. He, Lallin, was incredibly proud of his country and had great visions about the potential for its future. Because of the political system, he was demoted soon after his return and went from being a lead planner to a position as a draftsman. Anyway, we remained friends and visited him and his family numerous times over a 30-year period. The last visit was in 2002 after Lallin had a heart transplant. About a year ago, Lallin’s niece, her husband, and son visited us in California before heading on a trip to visit several of national parks in the west. Lallin’s niece is a pediatrician and her husband is a geologist. This trip was planned to see them all again. But Lallin died a few weeks ago, so our visit now is a little different than what we expected.

So, the hotel… the Barcelo Brno Palace (which was not a hotel when we visited last time)…

It’s a landmark building in the center of Brno, built in the middle of the 19th century and the original idea was to create a residential building with different sized rooms and a sophisticated system of staircases. The  façade looks like a palace but the inside has a Romantic style .. but the recent interior renovation to turn it into a hotel appears to have been done by the brother or sister of a bordello designer in France!… more upscale, but back to the silver and black… and glass lamps… and all kinds of wallpaper… Not exactly a Fern and Mike design, but everyone is friendly and the location is fantastic..

Tomorrow we’ll walk around town and visit the University where Jarek teaches.. and visit Lallin’s sister and brother-in-law whom we’ve met many times before.. and of course spend time with Lallin’s partner. It’s a short visit. We only have tomorrow here; we leave for Paris on Sunday (having to brave the drive again from Brno to Prague airport). Hopefully those invisible construction workers will be even more invisible and leave all three lanes open.

A few things I forgot to mention — On our Brussels Air flight from Nice to Berlin, they charge for water! I think they are learning from and advancing beyond United Airlines! First class train from Berlin to Prague doesn’t provide any complementary drinks or food (unlike first class on Eurostar).

That’s it for me. I’m going to head to bed. More zitra (tomorrow)

Take care —

Fern