brno

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Inspired by watching Michael Palin's mainly travels through Europe on trains and my last visit to Prague where I saw the old trains leaving the station I decided that on my next backpacking adventure I would skip the planes and travel over land.

This started off with my journey from Brno in Czech. My colleagues got me to the station and hooked up with a ticket on the over night train to Warsaw. I tried to book a sleeper, which the lady at the ticket office told me I could buy on the train.

Once on the train this did not seem possible and I was little to freaked out to even bother so ended up on a couchette. In each compartment there are 6 seats which slide out a little. I got into one of these with two other guys, pulled the seat out as much as possible and slept with feet on the opposite seat.

Let me start by saying I thought the beer in Prague was better than in Brno. Now maybe this is just because I was on holiday in Prague and it was my first Czech experience.
After drinking vast quantities of Brno beer (it was good, just not as good as I remembered beer in Prague being) it was pretty easy on the hangover which was a god send.

I was there on a 3 day training course with the obligatory dinners out at steak houses trying to work out what the best vegan chips and salad option would be. Drinking quantities of beer in a team building kind of way.

So I did not get to see much of the town really. I managed a quick run one morning which was great and I bought a Kafka book which is becoming a tradition when I visit Czech.

On the last day I convince the team to go to a Veggie restaurant. This was the best meal (only proper) of my time there and included this funny spiced cola which was awesome.

Tags:
Stage one of my Road trip.
Arrived in Munich on a Flight from Cork. Paul picked me up with his lovely girl friend and took me down to his house on the lake. How much closer can you get to heaven?

To make the most out of being there I woke up super early and went for a 1km swim in the lake. Not as hardcore as it sounds though as there where already a couple of old dears in there splashing about. Its probably the best place in the world to retire, if you like swimming.

So from there we pickup our rental an A6 Avante S line, quatro 3.0TDI. What a car! Perfect for 4 guys to stoke up on testosterone and storm down the autobahn cross the border into Czech.
I was designated drive number two. Now being a South Africa I am obviously a good driver. How ever a number of factors where against me.

  • Steering wheel on the wrong side of the car
  • Clutch pedal missing and no hand brake.
  • Everyone else driving on the wrong side of the road.