Thursday morning, Bill and I enjoyed our second and last breakfast at Monastery Garden. I decided to have French Toast, while Bill went with a three egg omelette. We had more orange juice and coffee, although on the second morning, Bill skipped the pepper in his juice. Once again, the breakfast was impeccably presented and delicious, and at least in my photos, it looked huge. One friend said it looked like my French Toast would have fed her whole family, although it was just three small pieces. I guess sometimes objects are smaller than they appear in pictures.

We decided to load most of our stuff in the car before breakfast so we could just grab my one big bag, settle up, and be on our way. While we were eating breakfast, we ran into a German couple from Ulm and a British couple who laughed when I quipped that Bill and I sounded like a herd of elephants coming down the stairs.

All told, two nights with breakfast and a bottle of wine cost us about $700 or so. We could have booked a less expensive room, but I really enjoyed the suite we had. Especially since our hotel in Brno promised to be less swanky. After Bill paid, we said goodbye and headed for the car… but then it turned out that Bill needed to break one of the Czech bills he had. So he went back to the lodging, where he ran into his coworker’s family again, having breakfast. They seemed very chipper. I guess they spent one more day in town.

While I was waiting for Bill to return to the car, I watched a young woman who was clearly having trouble exiting the parking lot. The arm wouldn’t raise for her. Every time she unsuccessfully attempted to leave, I watched her heave her chest and dramatically flail her arms. It was the universal sign of frustration. I had a few minutes, so I took some video of the Vltava River while I waited.

Soon, we were heading east toward Brno. It was supposed to take about three hours or so, but we had a lunch stop, traffic, and we temporarily got stuck at the gas station from hell. The drive leaving Cesky Krumlov was very pretty and I was enjoying looking at a more side of Czechia. But then Bill started complaining about needing to go to the bathroom. I did notice that there weren’t a lot of official rest stops in Czechia, although we did see some portalets on the side of the road. Bill even used one.

As the minutes passed, Bill became more anxious for a stop somewhere. We both noticed a sign that read “Hamburgery” and featured a photo of a tasty looking sandwich. It was getting close to lunchtime as we entered the town of Obrataň, which is where the advertised hamburger restaurant is located. Bill soon located Bistro Viadukt, which has its own parking behind the unassuming building where it’s located. Little did we know that this place is a local gem and people come from all around to eat there. We just needed a toilet for Bill.

We went into the sparsely decorated eatery and Bill took care of business. The proprietors didn’t speak English at all, but they did have menus in several languages, including German and English. We successfully ordered two cheeseburgers, a beer for me, and a soft drink for Bill. And then we proceeded to enjoy two delicious burgers that were a bit too rare for our usual liking, but tasted great. I think Bill was a bit worried about how rare the meat was, but there were several locals in there who were really enjoying themselves. And as it turned out, neither of us got sick.

As we were eating, a young couple came in with an adorable Jack Russell terrier and a baby. I couldn’t help but notice the woman was more interested in the dog, while the man tended to the baby. I kind of wondered what their story was. Several other people came in. They were obvious regulars and bantered with the kind lady behind the cash register.

They had a few items on the menu other than burgers that looked interesting. Bill liked the look of the soup they were serving, but he didn’t know how to order it. The chef had come out and, for simplicity’s sake, we both got the same thing. I must admit, the burger was very impressive– and it was obvious the patties were hand formed, rather than molded. It was a very successful stop. I liked the steak fries, too. They were delicious and there weren’t too many of them to finish.

The rest of our drive was pretty routine until we got to the gas station from hell. Bill fueled up and had a brief argument with the attendant, who wanted him to buy the more premium gas. After fueling up the car, Bill moved to the other side of the gas station for a potty break. While we were relieving ourselves, some trucker decided to try to park his rig in the area designated for cars. I watched Bill’s face get more sour and irritated as he nervously watched the trucker trying to maneuver scarily close to our Volvo. Fortunately, there wasn’t an accident, and we were able to move out of his way… only to get stuck in a veritable wall of trucks that went on for miles.

Soon enough, we got away from the truckers from hell and started seeing the familiar cookie cutter pastel colored apartment buildings of Brno. It’s still a pretty eastern European city, more so than Prague is. Welcome to the East!

We found our hotel, JeštěBrno, which was very highly rated on TripAdvisor, but located outside of the downtown area. In some ways, this location was a good thing, as we had free parking and proximity to a grocery store, restaurants, a vinotek, and even an ophthalmologist’s office. I had already checked us in online, so the receptionist had our keys ready for us, although at this hotel, you don’t even really need keys. The doors are all operated by a code, which if you have memorized it, makes the use of key cards mostly unnecessary. You just punch in the code with a pound sign, a female voice says, “unlocked”, and you’re good to go.

I booked us a “big as Brno” room, which had a little terrace, a fridge, a large TV, and a sofa, as well as a handy fridge. We were also supposed to get spa access at the nearby health club, but that proved to be too cumbersome for us to access. I understand that if you don’t pay for spa access, you can get it by paying a rate. But the pool and spa were only available at certain times of day which weren’t convenient for us. So we didn’t get to try the spa.

Other than that, the room was pretty nice. It had most everything we’d need, except for maybe a microwave. The hotel had an honesty bar, included buffet breakfast, and some services such as limited room service. We booked three nights, which was about right. Maybe it would have been nice to stay one extra night in Brno, but we actually managed to do a lot during our time there. More on that in the next post.

Below are some photos of our room…