{"id":1208,"date":"2014-04-29T14:13:40","date_gmt":"2014-04-29T13:13:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/parosparadise.com\/CzechMates\/?p=1208"},"modified":"2014-05-01T15:35:40","modified_gmt":"2014-05-01T14:35:40","slug":"brno-place-world","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/parosparadise.com\/CzechMates\/2014\/04\/29\/brno-place-world\/","title":{"rendered":"Brno: A Place in the World"},"content":{"rendered":"

Have you ever heard of Brno, Czech Republic? Have you ever heard of Oaxaca, Mexico?\u00a0 What do they have in common?\u00a0 The former reminded me of the latter because Oaxaca is where I first realized how big and how populated our world is.
\nOn our honeymoon in Mexico Karin and I found ourselves in a large bustling city that we had only heard of because we were scouring the map for places to go.\u00a0 Further as I watched the people go about their business in the crowded market, I realized that they in turn had probably never heard of my home city, Portland Oregon.\u00a0 Or as my brother put it after attending an Army vs. Navy Football game where 50,000 fans were rabidly involved in the outcome: \u00a0900 million Chinese could care less.<\/p>\n

\"BrnoSimilarly, Brno, the Czech Republic\u2019s second city, gets little attention in the wider world.\u00a0 We found it very delightful.\u00a0 First thing we noticed was while it had all the facilities and size of a big city, the hustle and bustle was definitely missing.\u00a0 People walked at a slower pace\u2014we could feel that the intensity of Prague or other big cities \"sidewalk<\/a>we knew was not here.<\/p>\n

The city is home to the huge Masaryk University with over 42,000 students.\u00a0 As we approached our hotel we heard trumpet playing coming from a 3rd<\/sup> story window.\u00a0 We were delighted to discover we were across a narrow street from the Music Department\u2014which in turn was across the street from the city philharmonic music hall where the next day we heard a rehearsal while walking down the street.<\/p>\n

Like most places we really enjoy there is nothing spectacular to see in Brno.\u00a0 The castle has an interesting history but is not impressive to look at.\u00a0 For instance the well in its central courtyard is claimed to be the deepest in the country and therefore important to the survival of the residents.\u00a0 Yet looking down we saw just a black hole.<\/p>\n

\"Brno<\/a>

Reservoir Reflections — all photos by Karin<\/p><\/div>\n

The first day we followed a walking tour of the city center\u2019s main sites.\u00a0 The second day we went out into a couple neighborhoods and then to a large reservoir at the edge of town.\u00a0 All very pleasant.\u00a0 The highlight for me was a steak dinner at\u00a0Monte Bu<\/em> (Cow Hill).\u00a0 Karin really enjoyed the Romani Museum which displayed the history and culture of the gypsy migration across Europe since they came from India about 1,000 A.D. \u00a0\"ZwibelmusterWe both enjoyed buying cups with the authentic but very common Zweibelmuster design.<\/p>\n

So my travel advice for the day is: don\u2019t always look for the spectacular and impressive.\u00a0 Instead seek peaceful and pleasant experiences for a true perspective of the world.<\/p>\n

Read more of our journeys away from Prague: \u00a0Environs\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Have you ever heard of Brno, Czech Republic? Have you ever heard of Oaxaca, Mexico?\u00a0 What do they have in common?\u00a0 The former reminded me of the latter because Oaxaca is where I first realized how big and how populated … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"Brno: A Place in the World http:\/\/wp.me\/p2MK34-ju","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[13],"tags":[285,286,288,289,287],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2MK34-ju","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":38,"url":"https:\/\/parosparadise.com\/CzechMates\/2010\/01\/07\/asia-trade-centre-sapa\/","url_meta":{"origin":1208,"position":0},"title":"Asia Trade Centre – SAPA","author":"Michael","date":"January 7, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"A few months ago when we first started researching where to go in Prague we read an intriguing article about a Vietnamese \"wholesale\"\u009d market on the North side of the city. \u00a0It sounded exclusive, hard to find and foreign so we resolved to go. \u00a0But then we started reading even\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Shopping"","block_context":{"text":"Shopping","link":"https:\/\/parosparadise.com\/CzechMates\/category\/shopping\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/parosparadise.com\/CzechMates\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/01\/SAPAgroceries-300x225.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":336,"url":"https:\/\/parosparadise.com\/CzechMates\/2011\/06\/15\/david-cerny\/","url_meta":{"origin":1208,"position":1},"title":"David Cerny","author":"Michael","date":"June 15, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"David Cerny's work can be seen every where in Prague, literally and figuratively.\u00a0 The climbing babies on the Ziskov Tower in our\u00a0original\u00a0masthead photo are the prime example. So after three months there we thought his name and reputation would be well known around the world.\u00a0 But, to date, we have\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"David Cerny\"","block_context":{"text":"David Cerny","link":"https:\/\/parosparadise.com\/CzechMates\/tag\/david-cerny\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/parosparadise.com\/CzechMates\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/06\/Entropa-225x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":470,"url":"https:\/\/parosparadise.com\/CzechMates\/2012\/02\/17\/cesky-krumlov\/","url_meta":{"origin":1208,"position":2},"title":"Cesky Krumlov: You gotta go there!","author":"Michael","date":"February 17, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"I recently discovered that a report of our visit to Cesky Krumlov never made it to this blog. \u00a0So two years after the fact here it is. \u00a0This World Heritage Site is probably the Czech Republic's second best known city and well deserving of its reputation as a \"must see\"\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Destinations"","block_context":{"text":"Destinations","link":"https:\/\/parosparadise.com\/CzechMates\/category\/destinations\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Cesky Krumlov castle","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/lh4.googleusercontent.com\/-7vNm9v-yFEw\/S3zybLEPpPI\/AAAAAAAAMpY\/cn7-PzgLFlY\/s576\/P2090036.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3757,"url":"https:\/\/parosparadise.com\/CzechMates\/2015\/11\/29\/podebrad-square\/","url_meta":{"origin":1208,"position":3},"title":"More N\u00e1m\u011bst\u00ed Ji\u0159\u00edho z Pod\u011bbrad","author":"Michael","date":"November 29, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"You may think that living in the middle of the city about three blocks from a tram stop and a Metro (underground) station that we get tired of the same urban scene. \u00a0You would be wrong because in many ways we see variations every time. The major differences are as\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Events"","block_context":{"text":"Events","link":"https:\/\/parosparadise.com\/CzechMates\/category\/events\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":381,"url":"https:\/\/parosparadise.com\/CzechMates\/2011\/10\/25\/pilsen-brewery-and-city\/","url_meta":{"origin":1208,"position":4},"title":"Pilsen: Brewery and City","author":"Michael","date":"October 25, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Our major goal for this extended stay is to use Prague has a home base for side trips throughout the Czech Republic and neighbouring countries in central and eastern Europe.\u00a0 The only things holding us back, of course, are the limitations of time and money. So as soon as I\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Destinations"","block_context":{"text":"Destinations","link":"https:\/\/parosparadise.com\/CzechMates\/category\/destinations\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/parosparadise.com\/CzechMates\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/PilsenBrewery-300x224.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":171,"url":"https:\/\/parosparadise.com\/CzechMates\/2010\/10\/17\/a-shopping-trip-to-vietnam\/","url_meta":{"origin":1208,"position":5},"title":"A Shopping Trip to Vietnam","author":"Karin","date":"October 17, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Get ready for some unusual shopping. Michael and I needed some fresh coriander for a recipe we wanted to make.\u00a0 While Prague has some large and wonderful supermarkets such as Tesco, Albert or Aldi,\u00a0 none had fresh coriander a.k.a. cilantro.\u00a0 However we had heard, via the grapevine, of a great\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Places"","block_context":{"text":"Places","link":"https:\/\/parosparadise.com\/CzechMates\/category\/places\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/parosparadise.com\/CzechMates\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/01\/SAPAexterior-300x225.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/parosparadise.com\/CzechMates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1208"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/parosparadise.com\/CzechMates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/parosparadise.com\/CzechMates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/parosparadise.com\/CzechMates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/parosparadise.com\/CzechMates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1208"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/parosparadise.com\/CzechMates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1208\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1221,"href":"https:\/\/parosparadise.com\/CzechMates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1208\/revisions\/1221"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/parosparadise.com\/CzechMates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1208"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/parosparadise.com\/CzechMates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1208"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/parosparadise.com\/CzechMates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1208"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}