Brno

Yesterday we said goodbye to Brno. We took another high speed train to Vienna. Smooth sailing the whole way. Of course everything is just so close together here in Europe it is a whole lot easier to get around. The only unusual thing that happened was when we got on the Ubahn in Vienna after getting off the train, a young respectable looking man got on and stood menacingly close to me. I reverted to Edmonton transit mode and looked away from him. After about 15 seconds of sticking his finger close to my face he remarked I want to go to prison. And walked down the subway car. About 3 minutes later he walked past us and joined some other young men at the other end of the subway car who I assumed were his friends. Then suddenly a full fledged fight broke out which he seemed to be getting the worst of and he ran past us with the other young men in pursuit. It was all a little unnerving. We made it to our VRBO safely but the cleaning staff were still cleaning. Madeline and Jada declared that they had to go to Brandy Melville so we went off into the heat on this quest. On the way I realized that almost exactly a year ago minus 3 days, I had been on another such quest with Madeline when we were in Montreal last year. Oh the power of advertising and social media. Brandy Melville makes beige cheap quality clothing which they have fooled teenagers into believing is worth buying. After dragging Madeline and Jada out of the store we returned to our Air BnB for an air conditioned leisurely evening.

Today we headed off to the Hapsburg summer palace. I guess at one time it was in the country but now a short 15 minute ride on the U Bahn from downtown and the Hapsburg winter palace. The palace was built in 1740 to 1750 and in Rick Steves words rivals Versailles in splendour and ornateness. It is large at 1440 rooms. We did the 41 room tour which gave us a good glimpse of the life of Franz Joseph and his wife Sisi who were the true last monarchs of Austria which became a republic in 1918 shortly after the war. Ornately decorated rooms with wonderful frescoes and furniture. I think I enjoyed the spectacular mantel clocks the best. After the audio tour of the castle we wandered around the beautiful garden. I promised everyone a drink- nonalcoholic of course if we walked up the steep hill behind the castle. Just as we were sitting down at the cafe looking back at the castle Cheryl realized that she had lost her small purse from her front pocket with her one credit card and 75 Euros. She wondered whether it had fallen out of her pocket either when retrieving her phone or when we had rested on some park benches. So much for the leisurely drink. We reached our steps but no such luck. We wandered around for a while to find the administrative office. They were actually very helpful letting us use their phone to call National Bank to cancel the card. Of course when we did get through to the emergency line we were informed that no one was available to help us and to call back later. No other instructions. Fortunately Cheryl googled how to cancel a stolen National Bank credit card and we could do it online which we immediately did. National Bank should of had these instructions on the answering machine. No charges appeared to have gone through on the card so it wasn't so bad. Maybe if Cheryl doesn't have a credit card it may even save me some money. We headed back to the apartment as it was now warming up. Daily highs this week will be between 32 and 34. My goal for the week is to do something in the morning and chill out in the afternoon. There was an indoor outdoor pool about a 15 minute walk from our place so I went for a swim and read my book chilled out beside the pool. In the evening we collected Alice another friend of Madeline's from a downtown hotel. Alice and her parents are traveling in Europe for three weeks and we agreed to have her travel with us for the week.Read more