But first....... A reminder of how this blog works.
What you are seeing here is intended as a brain dump, or reminder of what we've been doing. Some time after the end of the holiday it will get condensed, edited and reformatted into a single entry on my main travel page.
The daily entry gets sent to a very select group of people in the family : there's G on the south coast who is always encouraging me; D&J with J&J who are also currently on their holibobs in Portugal; our two children A who gets paid to keep the trains running, an K who's on her own journey but is also looking after our cat's emotional wellbeing.
On the days we have been travelling - it also goes out onto social media, in my case through Mastodon, which means it's probably visible on Bluesky too - and this is why I don't use real names and try to obscure faces in photos.
Now, back to the show
Brno, being in Czechia, has a very different feel to the places we visited in Slovakia. Yesterday evening Brno felt grittier and more edgy although today, to be fair, was more chilled. We saw a lot more graffiti from the train once we crossed the border. Between the station and the hotel I got the impression of more homelessness / beggars (some of which felt a bit intimidating).
Also, we're in one of the few EU countries not to use the Euro. Here it's Koruna or Czech Crowns - so I really haven't got a clue what I'm spending. I may have to mortgage the cat when we get home 🙀
After a good breakfast we walked (and walked) to the Mendel's Museum which was one of the best museums I think we've been to. Although we've both got scientific backgrounds we learnt things, and I'm convinced that anyone at all could go and come away understanding the basics of genetics - and be entertained on the way.
We also took advantage of the café which overlooked Mendel's pea garden, and bought some pea seeds!
We braved the tram on the way back - free for me as I'm of an age, and very cheap for her because she's not. We approve of Brno's trams because Sacha didn't fall over!!
Back at the square we indulged in an ice cream, bought apricots from one of the many fruit & veg stalls for lunch, and some shelled walnuts for eating another day. The quality of the produce looked to be extremely good and not expensive.
Then, we did that sitting, watching, reading and drawing thing that we do so well.
In the middle of the square is the most bizarre fountain & statue I've ever seen - it a 17th century Baroque monstrosity with lots of allegorical figures in it - impressive but the stuff of nightmares!
We've dismissed the food at the beer festival in the square (because we can't understand it) but we might have a listen to the band that's on this evening - possibly through our hotel window, now I've sussed out how to get it open.
