182 lines
15 KiB
Markdown
182 lines
15 KiB
Markdown
---
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title: 'Day 20: Lovosice (via Prague) to Brno'
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date: 2022-09-13T16:01:29+02:00
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Tags: []
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Categories: []
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---
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## Our trip today
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{{< image src="/img/day20/map.png" width="300px" float="right" >}}
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Our plan for the day was to visit beautiful _Praha_, the capital of the Czech Republic, and then make our way down south to _Brno_, its
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second largest city. As we woke up and saw the daylight of _Lovosice_, our day started easy-going. Breakfast and coffee were good in our
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lodging, the _Hotel Lev_ with spa and swimming pool and sauna, none of which we've made use of. Yet, this hotel in _Lovosice_ was a whopping
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EUR 78,- all-in. Except for the TV and Internet, two things we really don't need anyway, it served its purpose well!
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## Prague
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{{< image src="/img/thumbnails/2022-09-13/IMG_5918.jpg" width="300px" float="right" >}}
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We ghost and drop the bags in Tessa, which is parked just down the road, fully charged. That's useful because our trip today is ~290km from
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here to _Praha_ and then on to _Brno_, so we'll need the autonomy. The drive to Prague is quickly completed, and underway Paul says "whoa,
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that's some really big birds" and I scan the sky line looking for avians, only to completely miss the, well, big-ass hawk-like birds along
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the E55 highway on the ground. It feels silly to miss them, because they really are quite large.
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Our drive to _Praha_ is only 60km or so, and Paul decides to park us at the national theater just next to the old town. We proceed to walk
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the required _Karlův most_ (Charles Bridge) and up a little way to the castle, only to get distracted by a few Bolt scooters. You know what
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that means! CZK 10 later, we feel like kingly kings with the wind in our hair, albeit at a meager 10km/h because it's a pedestrian zone. It
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doesn't hold us back though, no way, we dash around the old town to visit the sights:
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{{< image src="/img/thumbnails/2022-09-13/IMG_5947.jpg" width="300px" float="right" >}}
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* We start of course at Charles Bridge, it has an old town Bridge Tower
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* We take a look at Franz Kafka's rotating head ..
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* .. which takes us quite naturally to Church of Our Lady before Týn (which dominantes Old Town)
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* Then we spend some time (as do a few million other tourists) at the Astronomical Clock, which we find astronomically cool
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* Randomly bumping into beautiful architecture and old buildings where-ever we go, we visit Národní muzeum at Wenceslas Square
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* Paul is peckish so he nomms a strudel from the wrong country, at the Powder Tower, where Pim logs a geocache
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* We pay our respects (no selfies, we swear!) at the Jewish Synagogue and Old Jewish Cemetary, which is beautiful
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{{< image src="/img/thumbnails/2022-09-13/IMG_5934.jpg" width="400px" float="right" >}}
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We take a look at a few places for lunch and decide for a local / simple cafe, which serves us some delicious salad and pork medallion in
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green peppercorn sauce (which is a bit runny for my taste, but I think Marina would think it's just right!). Finally we take the small walk
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to St. Vitus Cathedral at the Prague Castle, walk the grounds a little bit (they now come free of charge with metal detector scanners at the
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entrance of the courtyards, was that always the case??), before making our way back down to the river and parking spot at 14:30 or so, as
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it's time to leave.
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## Brno
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{{< image src="/img/day20/map-night.png" width="300px" float="right" >}}
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In the car, I start thinking about hotels and Paul reminds me of the two Finns that we saw up in _Mo i Rana_ (Norway), who just walked in
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and got themselves a significantly better price than we did on hotels.com. We make a pact: tonight, we're doing a walk-in! I page my buddy
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Michal who is from these parts (even though most of his colleagues think he's from Finland, I wonder who started that rumour ..), and ask him
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what the cool things are in _Brno_. He immediately comes up with “burčák” (young not yet wine):
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> _Maybe check the veg market (Zelny trh) and thereabouts in Brno. It’s likely they will be selling “burčák” (young not yet wine). Better
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> yet, find some wine shop for Burčák… it’ll probably be better. Oh, and under no circumstances by the side of the road. ;)_
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{{< image src="/img/thumbnails/2022-09-13/IMG_5994.jpg" width="400px" float="right" >}}
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We park the car with 70km in the battery at a parkinglot in the center of town between _Hrad Špilberk_ (Špilberk Castle) and Liberty Square.
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Walking into town from here we immediately see what appears to be a shopping mall. We enter it for a quick pitstop, but upon
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entering I detect a very familiar smell indeed: popcorn! We make our way up the mall, exploring it a little bit and find the culprit: a movie
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theater, which appears to have movies both dubbed and original with Czech subtitles. Why not catch a flic while we're here?
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We find a movie that Paul recommends: Bullet Train, a comedy slash action movie with Brad Pitt. Check (✅, or should I say .. _Czech!_): it
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is now booked for 21:30.
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{{< image src="/img/thumbnails/2022-09-13/IMG_5995.jpg" width="400px" float="right" >}}
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We explore _Brno_ a little bit, take a look at that square Michal mentioned with the vegetable market on it. This city center is really
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beautiful as well, with historic landmark buildings littered over the entire place. Then we go to the steakhouse joint that Paul scouted on
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the intertubes, a place called _Pavillon_ which sells you cuts of meat in 100g increments, including some nice starters and accompanying
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lesser important things such as potatoes and vegetables. We book it for 18:30 and are already starting to foam at the mouth for the
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delicious food that awaits.
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{{< image src="/img/thumbnails/2022-09-13/IMG_7905.jpg" width="300px" float="right" >}}
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By now it's about 5pm, so this gives enough time to check in to our hotel. We scout one with 58 rooms, which we're happy to spontaneously
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walk in to, but it's a little bit out of the city (which also makes it cheaper, like EUR 88,- cheap), and they have rooms available on
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hotels.com, so off we go. We pick up Tessa, drive up North 8km or so and find a huge touring car in the parkinglot, plus a string of cars
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behind it (on a one-way street). Paul jumps out of the car and dashes in and quickly back out, to report that they only have a double room,
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no twins. The problem is, by now three or four more cars are behind me while this asshole touring car is empty and clearly going no where. A
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lady is also trying to exit the parking lot but she eventually parks the car again and goes inside, I can only assume to complain about the
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situation. After sitting around for 10min, Paul kindly asks the folks behind us to back out as we want to bail. They oblige and we're on
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our way again.
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So much for a walk-in! In the car, I book another hotel on-line, South of _Brno_, and it's called Hotel Pyramida, so we drive over there, it
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has included WiFi, parking and breakfast for two, that'll do. Except, it won't do. We arrive there, seeing that the parking lot is in the
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courtyard behind the building, with a teenie-tiny double door to squish our boat-sized car through. It reminds me of that time with the
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_Hardship Brotherhood_ when we drove our car into some italian garage somehwere, and as was then, the car is frantically beeping and
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signalling "don't do this, you're gonna kill me!"-style warnings, which as was then, I just ignore to the best of my ability. I manage to
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drive safely through the passage and park the car. Alright, stress over, let's check in! No, let's not. The lady informs us that, as soon as
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she saw the booking from hotels.com, she declined/canceled it because they are full. FUCK. ME.
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{{< image src="/img/thumbnails/2022-09-13/IMG_7908.jpg" width="400px" float="right" >}}
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It's now 18:15 and our dinner reservation is at 18:30, so we leave our car here and commandeer some scooters and make our way down the 1.2km
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to Pavillon. There, we proceed to have a fantabulous dinner, huge steak, a bottle of Czech wine for me (which was very tasty, our waiter
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made a good recommendation which I appreciate). There, I made a reservation for the second time, third hotel, you have to say three time's a
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charm!? and it's at the reservoir North-West of _Brno_ called _Orea Resort Santon_. Something goes wrong with the reservation - it does
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succeed in the hotels.com app, but I do not get a confirmation. I mess around with e-mail, then try to call them, but for some bizarre
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reason when I click the button on the website, the phone rings and Marina picks up (color me surprised!). I do it again, and the line is
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dead. This is not my evening!
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{{< image src="/img/thumbnails/2022-09-13/IMG_6004.jpg" width="400px" float="right" >}}
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At some point you just have to let things be things, and I decide this is one of those moments, so I declare this quest for hotels done and
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decide to enjoy the remainder of my meal. We settle the bill and make our way to the movie theater, where we have a great time watching Brad
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Pitt, Joey King, Brian Tyree Henry and Aaron Taylor-Johnson (and as it later turns out, a tiny cameo by Sandra Bullock ❤️❤️, my all time
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favorite actress). It's hilariously funny, and I really dig _Ladybug_'s dry humor as well as the quippy dialog between _Lemon_ and
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_Tangerine_ and the running gag about _Thomas the Train_ (née, _Tank Engine_).
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{{< image src="/img/day20/police.jpg" width="400px" float="right" >}}
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After the movie we grab a few Bolt scooters, it's now just after midnight, and I try to navigate with my iPhone in my pocket. It's a bit
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erratic, telling us to go left, right, turn around, and also often just "Head South-East" style commentary. Not useful when you can't see
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the Sun and you left your digital compass in your pocket. At one point, Paul gets pulled over by the cops, because he's scooting on the left
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side of the road, where we're about to make a hard left turn. I find this ironic, cuz I'm the guy with a bottle of red wine in me, yet he's
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the guy that gets in trouble with the law. Isn't that WEiRD? **Spoiler**: Yes, he is.
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OK, entirely without getting arrested, we pick up our car, which now has 68km, and we drive it to the reservoir, after which it has 41km. We
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check in to our hotel, and color me surprised, but they actually have the reservation and proceed to drop me the room keys. Yaay! Up at the
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room, we do a little bit of math, the _Brno_ supercharger is 21km South of here, and we have 41km in the battery. I'm worried that tomorrow
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morning we'll have lost another kilowatthour or so, and we may have to end up pushing Tessa downhill. Talk about range anxiety!
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{{< image src="/img/thumbnails/2022-09-14/IMG_6013.jpg" width="400px" float="right" >}}
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Not many words are spoken on this issue, Paul and I drag our poor souls back into the car, and he proceeds to drive the most careful and
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respectful he has likely ever! I can see the sweat pouring out of his armpits and eyebrows, as we see the juxtaposition on "21km to
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destination" and "29km left in battery" switch places. But, we arrive with Tessa at the supercharger like a total boss, it has 3% battery,
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12km left. Paul triumphantly plugs it in and ... nothing happens. You have **got** to be kidding me right meow! But, I notice on the website
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that there's six chargers here, even though there are eight physically installed, so I conclude that a pair of them must be busted. We move
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over a few spots, plug Tessa in once again, and it proceeds to literally _transfigurate the electrons out of the wire_, it's so happy to be
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fed.
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A weight drops off our shoulders, we go get a local geocache, hang out until there's 250km in the battery, which will be enough to make it
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up to our hotel, and in the morning back down all the way to our next destination: _Bratislava_ in Slovakia. After charging, we go to the
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hotel, I take a quick shower, and we pass out. What an egg-citing day!
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## Pictures of the Day
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{{< gallery-category >}}
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{{< gallery-photo fn="2022-09-13/IMG_5914.jpg" caption="Karlův most (Charles Bridge)">}}
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{{< gallery-photo fn="2022-09-13/IMG_7876.jpg" caption="0.5-Selfie at Charles Bridge's Old Town Bridge Tower">}}
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{{< gallery-photo fn="2022-09-13/IMG_5916.jpg" caption="Statues on Karlův most">}}
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{{< gallery-photo fn="2022-09-13/IMG_5918.jpg" caption="Franz Kafka - Rotating Head in Prague">}}
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{{< gallery-photo fn="2022-09-13/IMG_5919.jpg" caption="Church of Our Lady before Týn">}}
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{{< gallery-photo fn="2022-09-13/IMG_5921.jpg" caption="Prague Astronomical Clock - Pim edition">}}
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{{< gallery-photo fn="2022-09-13/IMG_7880.jpg" caption="Prague Astronomical Clock - Paul edition">}}
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{{< gallery-photo fn="2022-09-13/IMG_5927.jpg" caption="The side of the Astronomical Clock">}}
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{{< gallery-photo fn="2022-09-13/IMG_5922.jpg" caption="Národní muzeum at Wenceslas Square">}}
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{{< gallery-photo fn="2022-09-13/IMG_5926.jpg" caption="0.5-Selfie of Pim at the Powder Tower">}}
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{{< gallery-photo fn="2022-09-13/IMG_7882.jpg" caption="0.5elfie of Paul at the Powder Tower">}}
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{{< gallery-photo fn="2022-09-13/IMG_5929.jpg" caption="Pim and Paul don a yarmulke while visiting the Synagogue">}}
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{{< gallery-photo fn="2022-09-13/IMG_5933.jpg" caption="The Old Jewish Cemetary">}}
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{{< gallery-photo fn="2022-09-13/IMG_7885.jpg" caption="The Old Jewish Cemetary">}}
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{{< gallery-photo fn="2022-09-13/IMG_5934.jpg" caption="The Old Jewish Cemetary">}}
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{{< gallery-photo fn="2022-09-13/IMG_5942.jpg" caption="Karlův most (Charles Bridge)">}}
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{{< gallery-photo fn="2022-09-13/IMG_5943.jpg" caption="A tram track behind the Prague Castle">}}
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{{< gallery-photo fn="2022-09-13/IMG_5944.jpg" caption="St. Vitus Cathedral at Prague Castle">}}
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{{< gallery-photo fn="2022-09-13/IMG_5947.jpg" caption="Face of the St. Vitus Cathedral at Prague Castle">}}
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{{< gallery-photo fn="2022-09-13/IMG_5949.jpg" caption="Panoramic view of Prague from its castle">}}
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{{< gallery-photo fn="2022-09-13/IMG_7896.jpg" caption="A Statue of a horse and woman, by Dali">}}
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{{< gallery-photo fn="2022-09-13/IMG_7901.jpg" caption="Paul looks up at the Cathedral at Prague Castle">}}
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{{< gallery-photo fn="2022-09-13/IMG_5994.jpg" caption="Pim snaps a pic of Zelny trh to show Michal, we're here">}}
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{{< gallery-photo fn="2022-09-13/IMG_5995.jpg" caption="Mahen Theatre (Mahenovo divadlo) in Brno">}}
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{{< gallery-photo fn="2022-09-13/IMG_7905.jpg" caption="Kostel svatého Michala (St. Michael Church) in Brno">}}
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{{< gallery-photo fn="2022-09-13/IMG_5997.jpg" caption="Pim's Tatake starter at Pavillon, Brno">}}
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{{< gallery-photo fn="2022-09-13/IMG_7907.jpg" caption="Paul's Tartare starter at Pavillon, Brno">}}
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{{< gallery-photo fn="2022-09-13/IMG_7908.jpg" caption="Our USDA Prime steak (one of two identical copies) at Pavillo, Brno">}}
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{{< gallery-photo fn="2022-09-13/IMG_6001.jpg" caption="Our shared ad-hoc cheese-plate at Pavillon, Brno">}}
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{{< gallery-photo fn="2022-09-13/IMG_6004.jpg" caption="We're in the movie theater, watching Bullet Train">}}
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{{< gallery-photo fn="2022-09-14/IMG_6013.jpg" caption="It's 01:30 and we're supercharging, spirits are (once again) high">}}
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{{< /gallery-category >}}
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{{< gallery-modal >}}
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{{< gallery-script >}}
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