Spilberk Castle Brno Czech Republic

People around the world know Czech Republic for it's castles and fortresses. There are so many close to where Yemi and I live that we had to show them off when Yawah came.

Spilberk castle is interesting because it's in the center of Brno (Czech's second largest city) but isn't visible when driving to find it because it is on the top of wooded hill. We had driving directions but probably circled the castle 2-3 times before we realized we were there.

We left the car at the base of the hill and then it's about a 7 minute walk to the top. Along the way there are great scenic views of Brno.

Spilberk holds a lot of historical significance for this city. The first records of it's existence go back to the 13th century. And before it became a museum and national monument it was used as barracks by the Germans in WWII.

We took a tour of the casemates/prison which has been preserved to show the conditions for prisoners in the 16th and 17th centuries. The tour creeped us out a little bit; it's self guided so we wandered around the prison tunnels just the three of us; until we saw some bats. That ended our tour pretty abruptly. The most interesting fact for me was that prisoners were only given warm meals 2 days a week. The other five they lived on cold bread alone. Makes the three squares they get in American jails seem like a luxury.

They have a great detailed history of this castle and Brno city at www.spilberk.cz

The admission for the museum and the casemates is very affordable about $8 per person or 140 Korona.

Bouzov Castle

Bouzov Castle is about a 45 minute drive from our house. They were having a special Christmas opening and tour this year; normally they are closed for the winter months.

Although it's 45 minutes away, it wasn't that easy to find; we got turned around a little bit but eventually we found it. We took a tour and had some hot wine. Definitely worth the drive.

The castle was first built in the 14th century but it's appearance has changed a lot according to wikipedia. It's been renovated atleast a half dozen times; it's most recent occupation was by the Nazis in the late 1930s.

Our Christmas Day; fashionably late of course

We received the best Christmas present this year...Yawah! Shoot me if it sounds corny but spend 3 months away from friends and family and you will know that statement is true!

She flew in to Vienna on Dec. 25th. Yemi and I drove down to pick her up. It's about a 2 or 2 and a half hour drive from Prostejov, depending on who's driving ;).

She came out of the terminal smiling as always and was ready to do a little site seeing since we were there. That's pretty impressive to me coming off of 13 hours of flying!

In the train station; first thing first...Where the heck are we??

Venice has Gondola's; Vienna has Carriages

Impressive to know that churches from the 17th century can be equipped w/ Flatscreens.

It was bitter, bone cold out though. The wind in Austria is ridiculous, so this limited our out door site seeing this time around.

But we did hit up the usual suspects: Stephansdom, Stephansplatz, Centre and their exclusive McDonalds! We were hoping that the Christmas market would still be up but they celebrate Christmas on the 24th. We were just a day late and they had already taken it all down.

I thought it was interesting they have a memorial to J.F. Kennedy in Stephansplatz. It was a proud to be an American moment!

It's been awhile Mrs. Bola:)

The Prostejov Eagles gave Yemi some good time off for the holidays, we were grateful for this time and took FULL advantage. Two-a-day practices, 6-7 day work weeks, and unpredictable schedules begin to take a toll on anyone so I wanted to help him get far away from all the pressures/demands of professional basketball this break.

We began the vacation with a trip to Bratislava, Slovakia. Yemi and I have really grown to love this city and we joke about it being an ideal city to own a flat in.

They have a new shopping/restaurant area called Galleria Eurovia.

This place is amazing; restaurants and cafes right on the Danube river. Our friend Solei, another professional athlete on the women's Volleyball team here in Prostejov, invited us to a Brazilian style restaurant called Leblon on this river front centre.

Leblon equates to Rodizio Grill in Denver and it quickly became Yemi's new favorite European restaurant. We had a great dinner with great company and then we met Elena and Nesa, friends from last season a couple of blocks down the water front.

It's always a pleasure to catch up with friends from past seasons. The best parts of traveling are connecting with people from different cultures.

From Leblon we headed 15 minutes outside of Bratislava to Pezinok, the site of our European adventure last year. Saw some old friends and drank some great wine. Reminiscing on our first joint venture this side of the pond had us laughing all night.

When we got back to Prostejov our minds were totally focused and excited on Yawah's arrival!