Czeching out the Continent

Last week, Alette and I spent some time in the Czech Republic. I gave talks at a security conference in Prague and at Masaryk University in Brno. The remainder of the time was for vacation, which we spent with our friend Václav and his family. Japhur stayed at home this time and was spoiled by his new sitter Joelle.

We arrived in Prague (via Frankfurt) on Tuesday evening. While I was at the conference on Wednesday and Thursday, Alette spent some time touring Prague. The highlights were a walking tour of historical, communist Prague, and a tour of the Jewish Quarter (see the following virtual tour).

On Thursday evening we drove from Prague to Brno, or more specifically, Bilovice. We had been to Brno before and saw much of the city, so this time we had some exciting trips to local castles and caves. On Friday, we went to Veveri Castle and had lunch in Veverska Bityska where I had the opportunity to sample a favourite Czech beer of mine: Starobrno. On Saturday morning, we went to the Punkva Caves, and had lunch in Krtiny where Václav tricked me into ordering a pork knee (and where they also had a carnival, which should explain the 'bumper car' pictures in our photos). In the afternoon, we went to Vypustek Cave, where Alette and I were able to practice our Czech listening skills on the tour - suffice to say that we need a little more practice.

You can see our photos by clicking on the above picture.