Vienna - Prague - Brno

17 July 2006: Waking up at 7 in the morning of Monday, the first thing to do was to pack my luggage, since I knew that the process would be time-consuming. I thanked the pansion owner after drinking a quick coffee and started my journey to Prague, driving through the national road. I wanted to see the Austrian and Czech province and this could not be achieved from the highway. Road conditions were mediocre (like the Greek ones) but the landscape was exciting! At the beginning I was seeing a lot of vineyards. Later on, when I started climbing the mountains, the vineyards gave their place to the forests. Driving in between forests is not something that happens daily. And when I’m talking about forests, I mean similar to the ones that we’ve met in Belgium last year. What a rush! Entering Czech, the scenery was the same, but now there were also lakes added. Houses seemed “cheaper” than the Austrian ones, at least concerning their exterior appearance. National roads were in good shape. Interestingly enough, the international roads were also similar to ours, thing that I couldn’t imagine. I felt a small frustration, since in Austria they were better. 
Destination: Prague. The city was very beautiful, with a lot of tourist life. Unfortunately, my only interaction with Prague was a stop for a coffee, on a floating cafeteria, in the known river that crosses the city. Concerning my decision to just visit for a while Prague, I don’t know what got me, some kind of madness perhaps… 
During my coffee time I was thinking what my alternative routes were. Should I sleep there or should I start my trip to Brno, since I knew a few hotels there or should I start for Poland? Since the time was almost 2pm, I decided to start for Brno. Maybe it was a wrong call. Afterwards, when I gave it a better though, I concluded that my best option would be to head for Poland. 
Starting for Brno and trying to leave Prague, I discovered that the iPAQ was showing everything wrong! It was like it got crazy or something. Of course, it was not its fault, but the company that provided the maps didn’t make a correct alignment on them. After realizing that I already did 5-6 circles, I decided to turn the GPS off and follow the traditional way, with the road signs. So, after half an hour I finally managed to find the way out of the city. I would definitely like to sit for a little bit longer in Prague, maybe for a one night-stay. It’s an interesting city that requires more attention. Of course maybe I could do this on my way back from Lithuania. From Prague to Brno, I followed the highway, in order to catch up Brno before it gets dark. I was moving with a stable high speed all the way. Czech drivers … what can I say? Until the time I reached Brno, they gave me the impression that they were all going up to what speed the signs were saying for top speed. 
At the national roads, I was watching them going on behind the other, topping 60km/hour and afraid to bypass other cars. In big cities of course, they were acting a little bit different. A few of them were a little bit dangerous, due to speeding. 
As for the weather, one interesting thing that I saw was that even though in Prague the temperature was 33oC, during driving to Brno, the road temperature signs shown 22-25 oC (maybe because of the forests), during midday.
Entering Brno and opening my GPS, I had the same effect: The GPS was acting like crazy. After a long trip back and forth, I managed to find the hotel I had already marked on my map. For my surprise, the receptionist informed me that it was full. She recommended that I should go to the centre of the town to ask there. I would more certainly find something. Big hotels in Brno look like the eastern block buildings: Refreshed skyscrapers that were modified for hotel rooms. Relatively easy to find one! 
At the first one I entered, that was called Hotel Continent (perhaps cut from the familiar Intercontinental?) I asked the reception if she had a room for me to stay for one night. “1350 Czech Koruny” (crowns) she replied. Without even having to think about it, I said “Ok!”. “Do you want a motorcycle garage too?” she asked again. “But of course!” I replied. Another 200 Czech Crowns! Summing up, 1550 Czech Crowns or else, around 55€. 
The room price was including bathroom, shower and breakfast. While I was paying my room, the receptionist told me that the garage for my bike was right next to the hotel, hidden. I would put the card (that she gave me) and the door would open. So I found the “hidden” parking, that actually wasn’t that … hidden! I parked my bike in, pick up my luggage and straight to the room. 
Half an hour later, even though I was exhausted, I tried to go out and see the city. Walking around the places that young people used to hang out, I could only see one nice thing …. Blue-eyed blonds! Ouch! 
After 1 hour, I returned to my hotel, in order to drink some coffee and have a lunch. To my surprise, the ordering menu was completely written in Czech, so I couldn’t understand anything! You can’t imagine how happy I was once I say the word “biftek” written, believing that it was a greek bifteki! After ordering it, I realized that in Czech, “biftek” means veal, not hashed-meat as I expected. Moreover, if you don’t mention to them “well-done”, they’ll bring it almost raw, in its blood. It needs a small attention there.
Another tiresome day had passed. Next in row would be Poland.