Štrbské Pleso, Slovakia

Štrbské Pleso is 18 km (11.2 miles) from Tatranská Lomnica.  By train it's an hour away.

Štrbské Pleso is another popular tourist town in the Tatras.  

It was founded in 1872 and today it is home to about 200 residents.

Lots more hiking!

The town is located on the southern shore of Lake Štrbské pleso.

The lake is the second largest lake, in the Slovak side of the Tatras.  It is almost 20 hectares (almost 50 acres).

Nearby is the Veža snov (Tower of Dreams), which is also called Tatras Tower.

The tower is 53 metres (174 feet) tall and has a 15° incline.  We wanted to check out the top but it started to rain a bit.  

Some Major California Sightseeing

We did quite a bit of sightseeing yesterday.  With mom, my sister Angela, and brother-in-law manual we showed Kája more of the LA/Hollywood touristy experience.  

The first stop was Union Station which is in the northeastern corner of downtown Los Angeles.  Union Station opened in 1939 was known as the "Last of the Great Railway Stations."  

The station is beautiful, combining Art Deco, Mission Revival, and modern styles.  In 1980, it was added to the National Register of Historic Places.

Union Station is the largest and busiest passenger rail terminal in the Western United States.  It is the 13th busiest train station in North America.  This also shows that train travel isn't really a thing in the USA.  Just the city of Los Angeles has about 4 million people but the station only serves about 110,000 passengers a day.  Brno has about 400,000 people and more than 65,000 passengers use hlavní nádraží every day.

Me & my sister

Across the street is Olvera Street.  It's a historic pedestrian street in the historic centre of the city.  There are plenty of street vendors and restaurants to check out.

Olvera Street is home to Ávila Adobe, built in 1818, which is the oldest standing residence in Los Angeles.

Olvera Street gets about two million visitors per year.  Some people don't care for it because it can seem touristy.  I like it because of the history; it was the historical city centre in both the Spanish and Mexican times prior to California being taken by the U.S.

Then it was on to the Warner Bros. Studio Tour.  Warner Brothers (WB) was founded in 1923.  It is one of the major American film, animation and television studios.

It's fun but expensive.  An adult ticket is $76 and the tour lasts about three hours.  You get to visit a soundstage and the backlot, which is where we got to sit on the Friends couch.

Some of the most popular sets we got to visit were from Friends and The Big Bang Theory, plus big exhibits for Harry Potter, Game of Thrones, and The Justice League.  

Barbie gets released this week so there was lots of promotion for the film.  I had to get a photo of the Kája Barbie doll, plus some video of him dancing around like Dobby the house elf.  

Germany's €49 Ticket

Germany launched its new Deutschlandticket, or D-Ticket, as the successor to its €9 ticket.

The new €49 ticket began on 1 May, and it's a monthly subscription fee for travel, all across the country.  It is good for all:

• local and regional buses
• trams
• metros
• S-Bahn trains
• regional trains (RB/RE)

Travel is valid for second class but you may purchase first-class upgrades.  Children under 6 can travel for free.  Separate tickets are required for pets and bicycles.

The ticket can't be used for ICE, IC, or EU trains, or long-distance buses.  

The D-Ticket seems like it would be a good deal if, I lived in Germany as a monthly subscription, or if I was going to be travelling around Germany for a couple of weeks.  I loved the €9 ticket but I don't see me buying the €49 ticket.

I still have my Czech In-Karta, which costs 990 Kč ($50) every three years and gives me 25% of train tickets and 50% off seat reservations.  The only difference now is that I don't have a physical card; it's just an app on my phone.

Here are a couple of short YouTube videos I found about the new ticket.

©France24

©DW Travel

Update January 2025:  The €49 ticket has now increased to €58.

Update October 2025:  Due to inflation, as of January 2026 the ticket will cost €63 a month.

Hustopeče, Czech Republic

Kája's birthday was three week ago but we've been busy with work so we decided to celebrate later.  I surprised him with a wellness weekend in Hustopeče.

Hustopeče is a town about 30 km (~19 miles) southeast of Brno, located between Brno and Břeclav.  It is home to about 6.000 people and it is known for almonds and wine.

The area was settled by Germans in the 13th century who called it Auspitz and its first mention was in 1247.  The Germans brought viticulture to the area.  From the start of the 14th century to 1599, Hustopeče was owned by St. Thomas's Abbey in Brno.

In 1572, Hustopeče was given town status by the Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian II.  It belonged to the House of Liechtenstein from 1599 to 1848.  In the mid-18th century, Hustopeče was Moravia's largest wine-growing municipality.   

Following WWI, and the end of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the area became part of the newly independent Czechoslovakia.  After the 1938 Munich Agreement, which gave the Sudetenland to Germany, the Nazis took over.  It then became part of the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia.  

The 1910 census indicated that most of the town's inhabitants were ethnic Germans.  After WWII, the German-speaking population, even those who lived here prior to the Nazis, were expelled due to the Beneš decrees.

Almond growing is not that common in Central Europe.  It dates back to the 17th century.  In an effort to supplement food during Communism, the first large-scale orchards were planted in 1949.  

A lot of the almonds goes to making mandlovice (almond brandy).  The almond version of slivovice.  

There are three versions - normal, coffee-flavoured, and cherry-flavoured.  The original mandlovice is my favourite of all of the Czech "-ovices", followed by merunkovice, hruškovice, slivovice, and jablkovice (Calvados).

The town's main landmark is the Church of Saints Wenceslaus and Agnes of Bohemia.  The church was built in 1994 on the site of the original church that dated back to the early 14th century.  

The Baroque plague column dates back to 1736.

The Žumberák fountain dates back to 1595.  It used to be one of the town's few sources of drinking water.

Town Hall

The Neo-Renaissance town hall was built in 1906.  

Dům U Synků

The Dům U Synků is a Renaissance house dating back to 1579.  It was renovated in 2001and today the building is used for cultural purposes.  It is home to the City Museum and a Gallery.

The House of Lords of Vizovice was built from 1488 to 1492.  It was renovated in 2002.

At Calvary Hill is the Chapel of St. Rocha that was built in the 17th century during a plague epidemic.  It sits in a park overlooking the town.

T.G. Masaryk, the first president of Czechoslovakia lived in Hustopeče from 1861 to 1868.  There is a 2 km (1.25 mile) trail that can be followed to see places associated with the family. 

His parents are buried in the town cemetery.

Near the town cemetery is the Red Army cemetery.  There are 101 individual graves and a total of 1.875 Soviet soldiers buried here.  Renovations that took place in 2005 were financed by Russia.

The earliest known Jewish community in Hustopeče was during the 15th century.  The Jewish cemetery dates back to 1886 with the last known burial taking place prior to 1942.  During the German occupation the cemetery was vandalised, and later the Communists removed all of the gravestones in the 1980s.  Now there is just a memorial plaque for the town's Jewish population that perished during the Holocaust.

The train from Brno to Hustopeče takes 45 minutes and we arrived at our hotel on Friday evening.  I booked us in at Hotel Amande and really enjoyed our stay.

The hotel restaurant was excellent and on Saturday we had the full wellness experience complete with a private relaxation room and massages.

I hear that from the second half of March to the beginning of April, the almond orchards are covered with pink flowers.  I'm sure that its beautiful and we'll need to make a return trip to visit some of the local wine cellars. 

New Electric Trains

About two weeks ago the South Moravian Region unveiled the first of 37 new electric trains at Hlavní nádráží.  South Moravia is the first region to purchase its own trains which will replace the older fleet, some of which are more than 50 years old.  These will also be Czechland's first electric trains.

There will be 31 four-car trains with 333 seats and six two-car trains with 146 seats.  The trains will be able to go up to 160 km/h (almost 100 mph).

Production of the Škoda trains began two years ago and the first trains will leave Brno sometime this fall.  The entire project cost 6,65 billion Kč ($310 million) but 85% was covered by an EU subsidy of 5,5 billion Kč (+$310 million).

The trains will run on the S2 and S3 lines, both of which are regional backbone line.  

The S2 line runs Křenovice - Sokolnice - Brno - Blansko - Skalice nad Svitavou - Letovice.  The S3 line runs Níhov - Tišnov - Brno hl.n. - Vranovice - Šakvice - Hustopeče / Tišnov - Brno hl.n. - Židlochovice.

The trains will be initially operated by České dráhy until 2025.  One of the requirements in order to get that 85% EU subsidy was that the carrier will be decided by tender procedure.  The tender process should be decided in 2024.  

Below is a video I found out on YouTube showing the trains.  They look like they are going to be pretty comfortable.  In keeping with the region's wine producing heritage, all of the trains will be named after varieties of grapes.

©IDS JMK

My 4th Trip This Month

I'm on the train to Dresden.  This is my fourth trip to Germany this month.  I'll meet Claudia tonight and then tomorrow we meet up with her parents and Tünde, after she gets out of school, in Moritzburg which is about 17 km (10½ miles) away.

Moritzburg is home to the prince's castle in Popelka.   We've got tickets to a play where they will perform Cinderella at the backside of the castle.  This is also Claudia's parents' 45th wedding anniversary and we're staying at the same pension where they had their honeymoon.

It should be a fun weekend but this is it for all of the Germany trips.  Next weekend I'm sleeping in my own bed.

Back to Back Berlin Weekends

Last weekend I was in Berlin for the Pet Shop Boys concert with Claudia.  This whole last week I was on a business trip to Frankfurt.  I wasn't planning on being in Berlin this weekend but with Natalie making a surprise visit to see the girls I just had to join in too.  

Once we finally arrived, we went to Claudia's parent's place in Rahnsdorf.  It's been hot in Euroland.  It was 35℃ (95℉) so the swimming pool felt great.

Once pool time was over, I was put to work picking cherries.

Later on we went to to Friedrichshagen and grabbed some döner kebabs for dinner.

This was a whirlwind weekend but I got to see Nat a second time while she's here with the Red Cross and Tünde got a double godparent visit.  But I was completely knackered after the delay getting to Berlin on Friday night.  

I left around 7:30 am because my train from Hauptbahnhof to Brno left at 9:16 am.  I had a seat reservation in 1st class but there was a last minute reconfiguration and there was one less 1st class wagon.  

Of course, the wagon that wasn't there was the one where I had a reservation.  So lots of people were scrambling to find a seat.  Not a big deal. but the train was late and I missed my connection in Prague.  

The next Prague train was completely booked so I had to wait just over three hours for the next available train to get back home.  On Thursday I go to Dresden and Moritzburg.  My fourth trip to Germany in three weeks. 

Delayed Sleeper Train

Natalie booked sleeper train ticket from Budapest to Frankfurt Oder.  She booked two sleeper berths so that when the train stopped in Břeclav, I could jump on and then we would arrive in Germany together and we would then go to Erkner where Claudia would pick us up.  Easy enough.  Except, in my experience, nothing coming out of Hungary is ever on time.

Headed to Břeclav

Nat's train was supposed to leave Budapest at 19:29 but it left 28 minutes late.  The train was supposed to arrive in Břeclav at 23:04 and depart again at 23:50.  I made it home from Frankfurt am Main,  Unpacked, showered, repacked and hopped on a local train to Břeclav where I found out that Nat's train was delayed.  There's not a whole lot to do at the Břeclav train station after 23:00 while you're waiting for a delayed train.

I did discover that there's a train museum inside the Břeclav train station.  It was closed but maybe I'll have a chance to check it out some other time.

Inside the station there's also a monument to the locals to fought and died in WW2.

The train finally arrived a little after 2:30 and I jumped on.  I was so ready for that sleeper berth.

Headed to Erkner

The train then continued on through Poland before finally getting to Frankfurt Oder.  From there we jumped on a regional train to Erkner, which I got to use for free thanks to the €9 ticket that I bought before last weekend's concert.

Claudia and Tünde picked us up at the Erkner.  Claudia's parents were away for the weekend so we headed over to their place to use the swimming pool.