Day 28 – Friday 5 June

Pulling back the curtains revealed gentle rain this morning. I reflected on how fortunate we have been with the weather so far. It cleared by the time we headed out, and then there was only a small shower at dinner time.

Breakfast was really good again, with some slight variations and everything tasty and fresh. We enjoy these family run pensions (small hotels), especially ones with a good history. It seems to really add to the feeling of the culture and place.

At breakfast a gentleman at the next table struck up a conversation with us. He was a little more senior than us, American and had a slightly younger than us Asian wife. Apparently he worked for/with Obama and did not like to be associated with the current leader who shall not be named. It is quite interesting hearing peoples views first hand, and not just from the propaganda media channels.

We had some more business work to do, before heading out for a bit of art nouveau today, verses oogling at the lovely buildings which will probably put our neck out looking up in awe all the time.

After wandering and popping into some quirky shops for a browse, we circled around the river edge and back down the small streets, passing a high street and loads of tourists everywhere. As the crowds thickened we popped out in the main ‘town square’. It still provided a spectacular view even though we saw it yesterday. Like stepping back in time – surrounded by delightful old buildings joined together in an eclectic symphony – that is if your imagination can block out all the people!

We navigated through the tour groups and other crowds and continuing towards the general direction of the train station, getting a little lost occasionally as the navigation on the phone struggled with small lanes and tall stone buildings. At one stage we paused at a little green park that was green in more ways than one with the aroma of marijuana overpowering the roses.

Our nav was doing funny things and seemed confused (maybe the thick smell of marijuana in the air) so we had a break at a little cafe before seeing Alfons Mucha’s museum-gallery – apparently a couple of hundred meters away.

Mucha is the father of art nouveau art, also becoming famous for his posters. To limit him to this style alone would deny the incredible talent he had. We had hoped to see his Slavic epic (collection of wall sized art) but found it is not housed here. There seems to be conflicting information about where they are held.

However, we did get nose close to a very good selection of his original art. It was spectacular. There was also a 15 minute movie screening on his life and art which was very interesting and added a lot to the experience. We are going to try and hunt down where the Slavic epic is, as that will be the icing on the cake.

After this infilling of culture we went to find the rotating head statue of Franz Kafka by another Czech artist, David Cerny. It is a kinetic sculpture made of stainless steel. It is 10.6 metres high, and weighs 39 tons. The extra cool thing is the 42 rotating panels powered by 21 motorised modules and 1 kilometre of cable. As the panels move, the face disintegrates and comes together again. It was really interesting to watch, and quite beautiful with the sun reflecting buildings on it. The movement display is for 15 minutes, on the hour.

We wandered back towards home continuing to admire the architecture and had dinner at another recommended place close by called Food Lab. Our dinner was nice, but the pork was a bit heavy on salt. It seems the Czechs and Hungarians love salt. When it came to the end of the meal we were asked how it was, I said nice but the pork was a bit heavy on salt, but it was ok and we ate it all up.

The maitre-de looked concerned and next minute came back with a beautiful dessert as a gift. Wow! It was one of the best of this type of modern dessert that we have ever had. Caramel mousse, creamy, bits of salted caramel and white chocolate holding it together. Not too sweet either. This is the first time we have had that level of service, and without really complaining!

Back at home we grabbed a couple of complimentary wines and relaxed for the remainder of the evening, blogging and Mr washer-man doing some light duties. Another day of good exercise, clocking in at nearly 7km.