One day visit by Ken-chan and Kae-chan

My hubby's older son, Ken-chan, visited Brno with his girlfriend, Kae-chan.  It was such a short visit, but we enjoyed strolling around the old town of Brno and drinking Brno beers here and there :) 

The course we took was this: Cathedral of St. Peter and Paul (listen to the organ and went up to the top of the tower) --> Capuchin Crypt (will write about it separately) --> Coffee break --> Vegetable Market --> Měnín Gate (will write about it separately) --> Freedom Square --> St. James' Church --> Beer break --> Red Church (couldn't go in) --> Park around the Spilberk Castle

It was also the first time for me to climb up the tower of St. Peter and Paul Cathedral. The tower is called Towers of Petrov, and they were built in 1904-1905 by an architect named Augustus Kirstein. The entrance to the tower is located on the side of the church.  The tower is 84 meters high, and yes, the staircase continues for a while until you reach to the top (smokers, be careful!).  Once you reach to the top, though, you would be gifted with a beautiful vast view of the town of Brno.   I read that there was a quote above the main entrance to the tower saying "Come here everybody who is toiling, I will refresh you. Your soul will find peace."  And, truely, you will feel very refreshed and peaceful up there!

The picture of Ken-chan and Kae-chan was taken at the top of the tower.

The House of the Four Titans

As you walk around the Liberty Square (Namesti Svobody), you see this interesting building with four naked men holding up the 5 story building. It is apparently called "the house of the four titans," and was built in 1901-02 as a palace for the V. Gerstbauer Foundation. As you can see in men's faces, it must have been exhausting to keep holding up the building :)

Btw, one of the most intriguing things about Brno is the architecture. Churches are gorgeously beautiful, but there are so many other buildings that amuse our eyes. Here are some from my archive:

Pernštejn Castle

Forty kilometers to the north west of Brno, a beautiful armour-bearer looking castle called Pernštejn stands quietly overtopped by the neighboring hills.

There were only two trains going to the Pernštejn castle area from Brno in the morning, and we took a later train which left Brno at 10:55am. The train was comfortably packed with hikers, bikers, and families. We rode the train for about 30 mins to Tišnov, and there we switched a train to go to Pernštejn Castle.

After 30 min ride, we arrived at Nedvědice, where lots of people got off. We were wondering why the place was so popular. We kept riding the train. Then as the train goes faster and faster, we saw a castle on our right hand side. But, the train kept going, passed the castle, and never stopped until we were about 5km away from the castle. My hubby who was responsible for checking the station to get off surrendered and said "ooops, we missed the right station." We got off at the next station called Vežná, a nowhere land without any people. We checked the time for the next train going back and only found out it wasn't coming for another two hours.

We could have waited there, but we said "well, we got two pairs of legs. why not walk!" So, we headed to the direction of castle not knowing whether the road will lead us there (although we had a high confidence it would, as it was the only road). The walk was amazingly nice. We walked 5.5 km (it wasn't bad at all) to the magnificent sight of the casltle. It looked strong but elegant and a bit odd like a bunch of different sizes of square and triangular boxes stuck together on one side.  It reminded me of an art homework once I did in college.

Once you go into the entrance, the first thing you notice is the bar and restaurant.  After accidentally ended up walking for 5.5 km without water, we were so thirsty and hungry.  We sat down at the bar restaurant and had a sausage (well, that's the only thing we could order as we didn't know any other foods in Czech) and a couple of beers (well, I thought beer would make me more dehydrated, but I tried beer anyway - I guess I am just trying to be a Czech person).

The castle was indeed sturdy looking. It was first built by the Lords of Medlov in the 13th century on the rock (the rock penetrates the building up to the second floor). The family branch seated at the castle and adopted the then fashionable name Pernštejn, which is the Czech version probably derived of the German name, Bärenstein - the "Bear Rock".

We took a tour (well, the tour was in Czech, so we went along with the English brochure in our hands) through the main part of the castle. The first thing you notice when you step into the castle is the temperature. It was a warm day, but you could tell the significant drop of temperature immediately. I guess the thick wall shuts out the heat coming in from outside. There were hundreds of rooms connected by the nesting corridors and staircases (unfortunately we don't have any pictures of inside, as we were not allowed to take any pictures). I am sure it was meant for the protection from the enermies, but it reminded me of old fairly tales related to the European castles that I read when I was kid. And, it would be a fun place for kids to play hide and seek for sure :)

I had been having very dull pain around my neck and shoulders since I moved to Czech Republic, but they disappeared after visiting this castle.  Is it due to the ghost supposedly appearing in this castle?  :)