Zlin

Today we drove to Kromeríž, a neighboring town, for lunch and to visit the Kromeríž Castle, listed by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization among the World Heritage Sites. Kromeríž is a beautiful city and was founded in 1260 by Bishop Bruno ze Schauenburku. The “castle” is actually the Archbishop’s palace and was once the principal residence of the bishops and (since 1777) archbishops of Olomouc, a city on the Moravia River. The palace is a fine example of the European Baroque style and features a large tower containing a central clock. From the top of the clock tower one has a tremendous view of the city and of the courtyard below (pictured). Certain interior areas of the palace were used as stand-ins for Vienna’s Hofburg Imperial Palace during the filming of the movie Amadeus.

We lunched at the Capital Restaurant near the castle, right off the city square. The restaurant was pretty quiet and I enjoyed a beef goulash with dumplings and a Pilsner Urquell; Cindy a braised chicken dish. After lunch we walked around the square and window shopped before heading back to Zlín. As we drove out of town, I inadvertently turned the wrong way down a one-way street. Although there was no traffic and I immediately turned around, I didn’t escape the watchful eye of the local police department. We were pulled over and after a brief discussion of my error, I was given a 500kc (about $30) ticket. The police officers were courteous and apologized for their poor English (when it should actually be me who apologizes for my inability to speak their language). An interesting experience and my only regret is that I didn’t get a picture with the police officers…

We spent our last evening in the Czech Republic dining at our favorite restaurant, the Sunflower in Zlín. Tomorrow we check out of the Penzion and head to Austria. We’ll spend the night in Vienna and will fly out on Friday morning.

This evening we joined three other North American couples for dinner at the Potrefená Husa or simply “Husa” Restaurant in downtown Zlín. I say “North American” because one of the couples was from Newfoundland, Canada. Potrefená Husa translates as “Crazy Goose” which explains the goose footprints that run up the wall and across the ceiling. This is a great place for English-speaking couples to dine because they provide copies of their menus translated completely into English and the food is amazing! I had pork cutlets and potatoes and Cindy had a delicious garlic soup and marinated chicken; the beer was Staropramen, an excellent Pilsner; and desert was tiramisu and espresso. The conversation was great, we must have been there for more than two hours just eating, drinking and talking. The conversation continued at the hotel after dinner.

Yesterday, we spent a quiet afternoon strolling through the city of Zlín. It was Sunday and most of the shops were closed, so we walked through the parks and visited a small carnival. In one of the parks was a WWII memorial. The statue of the Czech soldier was situated between two marble rectangular slabs with what appeared to be the names of the fallen. The soldier faced the city of Zlín, which could could be seen through an opening in the trees. The rest of the park was very peaceful and we spent quite a few minutes on one of the benches just admiring the foliage, just beginning their Spring bloom.

We lunched in the restaurant of a local hotel, the Baltachi. Cindy had pasta and I had a pork dish with smoked edam cheese and potato pancakes, along with a glass of the local Pilsner. The evening we spent in the lobby of the Uno talking with some other American guests of the hotel. We’ve made plans to get together for dinner later this week.

So, we woke up about 8:30 am after a very restful night’s sleep. We had arranged for Hanna to make breakfast for us at 9 and, once again, were not disappointed: scrambled eggs, sausage, waffles, yogurt, fresh bread with butter, jam and honey and fresh orange juice and coffee. After breakfast we took a nap (jet lag).

In the afternoon we drove to Tesco for some shopping. Actually, Cindy shopped and I sat in the café. After shopping, Cindy joined me for coffee (and we still had a few dollars left in the bank, if you can believe that! ;-). Before we left we picked up some more fresh bread and cheese to snack on later.

Dinner this evening was at the Sunflower Restaurant (pictured), we had Chateaubriand with fresh vegetables and parsley potatoes. Delicious! We also enjoyed a couple of Pilsner Urquells on tap. We were too full for desert, which is regrettable because the deserts here are amazing!

This evening there was a wedding reception in the Bar Uno on the bottom floor of the hotel. Hannah invited us down for drinks, but we didn’t feel right about crashing the reception. The noise was tolerable and the party was over by 11:00 pm. The last time we stayed here there was a party that lasted until almost 3 in the morning and our room was right above the bar! We complained to Hannah who was very apologetic and quite accommodating (I believe she genuinely felt bad–she didn’t charge us for the night and gave us a nice bottle of Czech wine when we left). In fact, she remembered us from our last visit and gave us a key for a room on the top floor so we can sleep if the noise from the wedding reception got to be too much.

Cindy and I have returned to the Czech Republic and once again are staying at the Penzion Uno in Zlí­n. The trip was uneventful after we finally got off the ground in Atlanta (our plane was delayed an hour while maintenance workers changed some “valves” in the engine). This time we flew into Vienna and rented a car, a little Opel compact with plenty of room. The drive from Vienna to Zlí­n was easy (thanks to GPS) and took about 2-1/2 hours. It was mostly highway driving, although approaching Zlí­n we were traveling down little country roads. During the short drive we crossed three boarders, Austria into Slovakia into Czech Republic. We arrived at the Penzion about 4:00 pm.

After unpacking and a short nap, we ventured into town to get some dinner (about 7:30 pm). It seems we waited too long because all the restaurants were “full” (of course, we only visited three restaurants, but it appears Friday night is the “big night out” for the locals and we didn’t have a reservation anywhere). We ended up just picking up some bread and cheese (and beer!) at Kaufland’s and had a quiet dinner in the room. We spent the rest of the evening reading and watching a movie on the laptop (”My Cousin Vinny” is always a riot!).