Czech Trip - Day 1

We arrived to Znojmo, Czech Republic (Karel’s hometown, around 10k from the Austrian border) after a 3-hr drive from Roman’s house (outside of Prague). Although the trip was only around 110 miles, there is no interstate to get on but instead, we go through many small towns where the speed limit is constantly changing from 30-50Km/hr to 70-90Km/hr (the interstate is 110Km/hr). Plus, there’s also construction, round abouts, tractors and trucks to slow things down on the small two-lane roads.

When we arrived to Znojmo, we unloaded our stuff at our Airbnb in the town center and then made a quick stop at the grocery store to get flowers for Karel’s mom and some mineral water (and a non-alcoholic beer for Karel). Karel’s mom was really happy to see us and the feeling was mutual. It’s been three long years since Karel saw his mom. She had dinner ready for us – Svickova, one of Karel’s favorite meals. She started preparing this meal two days before we arrived (it’s a labor of love). I appreciate that she makes me a vegetarian version.

Nearing 8pm, we went back to our place and we were ready for bed. I was really proud of myself for not taking a long nap as that always throws off my sleep schedule. We slept around 10 hours but it was someone of a restless night as we were a little warm in our place (no AC and it has been in the 90’s here). It’s rare to have AC in many places in Europe and actually, many Europeans don’t like the AC as they believe it makes them sick (at least that is what many of Karel’s Czech friends tell him).

We had a light breakfast since we had a big late night dinner. We had yogurt and muesli and fresh peaches. After we ate and did a little work on the computer, we went to the local pool for a swim workout. The pool opened at 10am and we arrived shortly after and it was packed. I guess when you don’t have AC, it’s summer break and it’s 90 degrees out, the pool is where you want to be at.

The pool doesn’t have the same swimming etiquette as the states so you have to be ok with people getting in and out of your lane as you are swimming. We even had an old guy cannonball into our lae as we were swimming. No big deal 😊 We swam in the 25-meter pool (8 lanes) and swam 3200 meters. We did 1000 warm-up, 5 x 200 and then 10 x 100s.

After we swam, we went to Karel’s mom’s house for lunch (leftovers from the night prior except we started with bean and potato soup – so good). After lunch, we went to two different cemeteries so Karel and his mom could see his sister (who passed away 21 years ago at the age of 34 from a brain injury) and then we went to see his dad. This was a bit more emotional for Karel as the last time he saw his dad was in 2018 and the last time he talked to him was a day before he suddenly passed away from COVID. His dad was 81 and we were supposed to visit for his 80^th birthday celebration but COVID disrupted those plans. 2020 was supposed to be our trip to Europe, which is what we are doing now.

After we ate, I enjoyed looking through a few old albums from Karel's teenage years. Here are a few pics of Karel on a cycling trip w/ his dad and brother at Grossglockner (in Austria).

Karel dropped his mom off at her place and then he got our mountain bikes out of the case and got them ready for us to ride. Around 5pm we headed off our bikes through the town and into the National Park to explore. This was our first time riding mountain bikes in Znojmo as we are usually on our tri bikes. Karel had a great time playing tour guide as we explored the park and surrounding towns. I also experimented with my new Go Pro Hero 10 which I plan to use during the Haute Route Alps. There are so many hiking trails around to explore in Znojmo. We are planning a longer MTB ride on Sunday with one of Karel’s former cycling teammates. We rode around 90 minutes and then went back to cool off in the shower and then walked to the grocery to get a few things for dinner. When we are in Znjomo, we do a lot of walking. We ate around 8pm and went to bed around 10:30pm. Our time clocks are still a little off but hopefully in another day or two we will adjust to this new time zone (6 hours ahead EST).