A Long Weekend in Brno

My parents have now visited Vienna quite a lot of times, and I have obviously lived here for over 5 years (non-consecutively). While none of us has exhausted the huge amount of things to do in Vienna, the last couple of years we have spent a long weekend checking out a nearby city, making the most of the rich choice of other destinations in the area and making sure nobody gets over-Vienna'd. This year's destination choice was Brno, a place I had been through many times on the train and repeatedly heard was a good tourist destination, but a place I knew nothing about.

In case you, too, do not know anything about Brno, I will provide a few helpful hints. Brno is the second most populated city of the Czech Republic with a population of over 400,000 people. This makes it a tiny bit bigger than Austria's second city Graz, but while Graz is 2 and a half hours away by train (stupid mountains), it takes only a breezy 1 hour and 27 minute train journey almost due North of 
Vienna to reach Brno. Actually, I was really surprised by Brno's size. The train line doesn't run through the dead centre of the city and so I had never really grasped its size... Now I know why it has such a thriving swing dance scene!

The old town was where we spent more or less our entire time, and it is packed with enough things to see that we could pick and choose what we wanted and still not go to everything that might have tickled our collective fancies. The architecture is somewhat similar to Vienna's but with slightly less architectural monoculture than the first district of the austrian capital. There were a lot of ridiculously over the top decorated buildings, usually with very different motifs and architectural styles crammed right up against each other, and we had a lot of fun collecting all the different species of animal that adorned the various facades. Of special mention are four men holding up the frontage of a large building on the main square, obviously a famous tourist sight. In contrast to many of their kind, they appear extremely unimpressed with their lot, exhibiting a wide variety of annoyed expressions...

In our 3 day stay we managed to check out 3 or 4 art galleries, I climbed to the top of two different towers, we got lost for hours in the huge castle complex and (in)famous casemate dungeons, stopped by Gregor Mendel's actual monastery where he did the pea experiments, and had a semi personalised guided tour through a former nuclear shelter in the centre of town... Not to mention that we sampled the various beers and meaty, tasty dishes that the Czech republic has to offer. We also managed to stumble upon a small performance of swing and jazz music by musicians of the Brno philharmonic and a celebration of the end of world war two featuring cossack dancing and long speeches in Czech.

All in all an excellent holiday in a cool destination I wholeheartedly recommend to anyone sitting around in Vienna and wondering what to do this weekend. Or anyone sitting around anywhere else, for that matter! Hopefully you will check out my favourite 10 photos I took on my trip at the magic green hyperlink!

Bis bald,

Der Tom.

Brief stop in Dresden

And so we come to Dresden. My stay here came at the end of at least three weeks of travelling, failed experiments and post Lindy-hop exhaustion, so I wasn't exactly feeling all that adventurous. Furthermore, this was also a business trip, as I was attending a conference for both of the two full days I spent in the city. I spent the first evening I arrived and the evening of the first day of the conference eating in my hotel's restaurant and polishing my presentation for the final day.

Presentation given and conference completed, I walked back to my hotel for a brief lie down before I took advantage of the lengthening spring days and the gorgeous sunny weather to get in some late afternoon/ early evening touristic rambling in. Having asked my colleagues in Potsdam what to do, I also had a final (brewery-based) goal, all that is required of course to turn a simple stroll into a quest!

Anyone with even a passing knowledge of history will understand why a British person might feel particularly awkward in the city. This has nothing to do with the behaviour of the current inhabitants, and probably lies squarely in the head of said visitor, but, there it is, nonetheless. I will say that the past in Dresden is something that is very much remembered and in evidence, be it through the photos in my hotel detailing the area before its destruction in the war, or through various other plaques and memeorials throughout the city, or through the imposing and beautiful bulk of the reconstructed monumental buildings along the banks of the Elbe. This feeling that the events of 70 years ago are still held very much in mind may stem from their magnitude but also perhaps the fact that as late as 1993, the majestic Frauenkirche lay simply (and symbolically) as ruins in the centre of the city.

My stroll took me through the centre of town as the sun was approaching the horizon, painting the incredible monuments in warm yellows and later oranges and purples. The Frauenkirche is huge, its bulk and impact impossible to capture easily in a photograph. Nearby lie several other impressive buildings and the broad sweep of the Elbe as it curves through the city. The green meadows across the river sloping gently down to the water looked incredibly enticing in the slanting evening light, and I was drawn across the river and to its shore, where I spent an enjoyable half hour skimming stones and taking pictures of the many locals enjoying the atmosphere.

Just as the sun dipped below the horizon I made it to the brewery (or brewery-owned restaurant) recommended to me by my colleagues, Watzke's. I was not at all disappointed and enjoyed an excellent meal with brilliant beer, a very satisfying end to my month abroad in Germany.

Check the green link to see my full gallery of Dresden photos!

bis bald,

der Tom