Olomouc

After the assessment I felt a huge weight lift from my shoulders, and my German friend Anne suggested at the perfect moment that I should go to Olomouc with her for a few days. Olomouc is town about 1½ hours north of Brno. People had told me that it was a pleasant place to visit, and I have been keen to see more of the Czech Republic and stop being tempted by all my surrounding countries.

We rendezvoused there, Anne having travelled from Pardubice. And we soon checked into the very homely and friendly Poets corner Hostel. Lovely place. In fact that very evening the staff kindly invited us out with them, to see some very good, very cheap, live jazz at the ‘Jazz Tibet Club’. It was a great evening.
Anne in soaking up the sun

Olomouc is a lovely small town, with a very impressive main square. It has something of Krakow about it. The surrounding town is full of parks and lots of narrow roads very reminiscent of Prague. There is also an astronomical clock to rival Prague’s, it has the added novelty of showing all the name days of the year. There is a good art gallery, two thumbs up from me, and there is a nice café culture. The big university attracts lots of students, which means there are lots of cool bars. Sadly when Anne and I were visiting it was absolutely freezing. There was lots of snow, which enhanced the beauty of the town, but the cold meant that we couldn’t wander, as we would have liked. Instead we spent hours and hours in cafes nattering away about all sorts of rubbish, my kind of holiday.

Here's the Astronomical clock dad!