This back end of our trip includes more meeting up with old friends, & today we woke early to enjoy our breakfast and leave the bustle of the City to head to Mladá Boleslav.
Ondra was our PVC volleyball number 12 for around 5 years when he studied in Leicester, but then returned to his homeland. A big man with a big heart, it was great to be able to get across for a bear hug during our adventure 😎
On our way, we booked some more trains, & were slightly shocked that there were only two second class seats left on all three trains heading to Berlin tomorrrow…so we grabbed them: didn’t fancy almost 5 hours standing only 😱
Met a nice lady with her youngsters on board the old train: she recommended the bar, so we all had a drink on the sound basis that whilst it might have only been 9:30am, it was 5:30pm *somewhere*.
Ondra was waiting for us, & after warm hugs, drove us off to find the space age Ještěd Tower. I had seen photos: it looked AWESOME!
The weather had other ideas….by the time we parked, perhaps a mile from the summit, there was faint drizzle and the murky mist meant nothing could be seen. We climbed up and up, and eventually a shadow of the tower base was faintly visible.
The restaurant sign proudly told us it was “ABOVE THE CLOUDS”. Bloody liar: it was very firmly IN the clouds!
We took some photos, spotted the sad little lost Martian, but soon headed inside: we had a table booked for lunch, & the view…well, Ondra pointed the direction of places, but all we could see was thick fog 🤣
Inside was fabulous!
The place was designed and built in the mid-60s, but to a beautiful spec.
We discovered wifi, & were able to prop the iPad up to have The Kings Coronation on in the background, much to Christine’s delight 💪
Dinner was delicious! I had avoided the disturbing-sounding “tripe soup”, but decided to give it a try: unexpectedly tasty!
As we ate, the clouds suddenly started to lift. I ran downstairs to get some snaps, lest it change it’s mind, but the rest of the day saw the weather continue to improve 👍
It was great to catch up on life, work, family and the challenges of neighbouring countries, & finally we drank the last of our drinks and wandered outside to the sunshine.
A few more photos and a rather nice zero alcohol pint were enjoyed outside, before taking the steep scramble back down.
En route, we discovered the useful phrase “I need to jump into the forest….” 🤣
Ondra drove us back via a brilliant “service area” for ice creams, with a beautifully painted Ilyushin Il-18 serving as a restaurant space. Most unusual!
Finally, a tour of his hometown, where Škoda employ over 22k people to build cars, but also a look around the old town.
Farewells at the station, and off we went.
Back in Prague, we hopped on a tram to seek out the “Dancing House” he recommended….the tram appeared to cost 4p, & the house was very funky.
A top day of spectacular sights and friendship 😎Read more
Traveler Hallo ihr zwei, ich wünsche euch eine tolle Reise und viele schöne Erlebnisse. Liebe Grüße von Dagi
Traveler Das sieht so beruhigend aus. Da wäre ich jetzt auch gerne.