Yes, that´s correct, as I mentioned in my last post, it´s time to move on again…in a couple of weeks we´ll be saying goodbye to beautiful Slovenia and Ljubljana, and to our cozy little flat. We officially announced our departure to our landlord, I spent hours and hours online going through hundreds of ads for flat renting, and then finally I went for a couple of days to Czech Republic to see some flats with my own eyes.
I was very lucky to find a “prevoz” (carshare) with a guy who was going together with his friend to Brno, for a poker tournament, and he could take me to CZ on Wednesday and bring me back on Sunday. It was a bit hectic, but it was just enough time to see the flats (at least the few flats that we decided are worth checking out) and to pay a visit to my family.
On Wednesday we took off on a rainy cold morning, there was 4 of us – the driver, his friend, me and a Czech student of architecture who is doing an erasmus exchange here. The trip took 6 hours which was a bit longer than expected because we went through Kranj (where we had to pick up the Slovene guy) and Klagenfurt, and this route led through some winding mountain roads. It was even snowing in the mountains, in mid-May! But then most of the route was on the highway which went very fast. We arrived in Brno around 4 p.m., I had no clue where to go from the place in the centre where they dropped me off, I just knew the numbers of the trams I had to take to get to my friends´place. I immediately dashed to a bookshop to buy a map of Brno and the shop assistant helped me with finding my way to the tram stop which I needed. My friends Jakub and Veronika were already expecting me in their home, where I could stay for a night (together with their frog, loud hamster, worms and all kinds of other weird bugs :-p).
The next day morning I headed to the appointment for the first flat and I met up with my mom (who came from Prague to see the flats with me) in front of the house. It was an incredibly run down building which was supposed to be undergoing reconstruction soon, but meanwhile it looked like it will fall apart if you jump a bit on the floor or lean against a wall…too bad, because it was the flat with the nicest kitchen 😦 And the interior was quite nice… After seeing this flat we went for lunch to a macrobiotic restaurant (yes, a real macro restaurant!), really yummy! Though also very tiny… How I would love to work there…
In the afternoon we had 4 more flats to see, with different real estate agents, so that kept us busy travelling from one part of Brno to the other. One of the flats had very old furniture (and also a very old cranky owner, who actually kicked out one of the tenants, but it was not certain if she´s really leaving in time or not…), another flat was quite nice, but with a tiny kitchen with no daylight and almost no furniture (and it was in a family house where you would constantly be controlled by the owners…), and the next one was nicely equipped but without a laundry machine, in a very busy neighbourhood and again with a kitchen with no natural light….We started feeling a bit desperate. But luckily the last flat was really nice, on the edge of town in a very green rural area, in a well kept house, with a reconstructed interior of the flat, lots of equipment, great view from all windows, a fairly nice kitchen….The price was the highest from all the flats but well worth it, at least we believe so. So we decided to accept the offer. That saved us from having to stay in Brno for one more day which would be really inconvenient (and there was basically just one more flat which I could see, in a village quite far from Brno). The new place is not in a central location like it is here in Ljubljana, on the other hand it is very close to nature and the connection with the centre is pretty good – there are a couple of trams which take you there in about 20 minutes… I am so curious how we will like it there, it will be so different!!
In the evening we managed to get ourselves on the bus to Prague, though it was kind of tight. But I was amazed how everything worked out in the end, even though at some moments it seemed to be a mission impossible to find a flat in just one day! The buses that operate between Prague and Brno are quite nice – the trip takes about 2 and a half hours, but you have your own little flat screen on the back of the seat in front of you, and you can listen to music, watch films or tv, play games etc. Pretty handy, there was even a nice film in their selection which I watched.
In Prague the next day I went for a macro lunch to one of the Czech macro teachers who cooks lunches every work day, also very tasty. Yet, Prague really needs to have its own MB restaurant such as the one in Brno…On Saturday me and my mom went to Písek to visit my grandma in the hospital, and then the next day I had to go by bus again to Brno, because the Slovenes were leaving from their hotel and were not at all going through Prague. I arrived to Brno very early, but at least I had time to chill for an hour in the beautiful central park and eat my lunch there. This time the journey took only 5 hours as we went through Graz and Maribor, the quicker way. And we even had time to stop at the incredibly crowded popular bakery in Trojane where there were tens of people standing in a queue for their famous donuts and other pastry! Never seen anything like that! Slovenes sure are obsessed with their food…
Meanwhile Nar had a bunch of interviews for his new job and he got his position confirmed, he should start on June 18th! Juts two days after my arrival to Ljubljana he left for Holland, for one week, to see his family and friends, and celebrate his grandma´s 90th birthday. So now I am here alone, enjoying some solitude 😀 I did however meet up with one Czech girl from Couchsurfing, we went for a little picnic to the lake in Koseze on the edge of town. And I also hosted a very nice British girl for one night, a fellow anthropologist. I very much enjoyed going on my own to the Saturday market, which was unbelievably busy because there was a presentation of the Prekmurje region with many stands with local foods and other products, and also some cool folk music on the stage. It was such a big event that the weekly organic market was moved to the conventional market, that never happened before :-p
I also had to find a moving company which would take our stuff to CZ in June, the price differences are indeed enormous! In the end we settled for a company which offered us a ride, very convenient, because getting to CZ in time from here by train is not easy at all… But I can already say that I am NOT looking forward to all the packing – again!! Too soon… 😀
Walking on Moss 
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