Brno

We boarded a train for the Czech Republic and stopped an hour and a half in at the adorable city of Brno.  Located in the Czech state of Moravia, it’s the second largest city in the country. We only had a few hours, so we had a coffee and went straight to Freedom Square and wandered through the markets, bought the most delicious raspberries I have ever had, and walked up to the Cathedral of Sts. Peter and Paul, first built in the 12th century for St. Peter; St. Paul was added in the 1600s.  It’s the highest structure in the city.  There were laminated pages in 10 languages you could borrow to read the history of the cathedral.

Brno’s medieval castle is now home to the city museum and St. James Church has a crypt and ossuary thanks to medieval plague and cholera epidemics and later the Thirty Years’ War and various Swedish sieges (seriously, read the link).  Sadly, the ossuary is closed on Mondays, which is too bad because it would have given the kids discussion topics (and bad dreams?) for years to come.  We all shared some sorbet – currant and grapefruit/sage – and walked back to the train station to head to Prague.  It’s a city we’ll come back to for sure.

And I wonder what sort of Thanksgiving cocktail I can dream up with grapefruit and sage …