It is a fine Monday morning in late August. We finish packing and walk around to the bus to go to the airport. Twenty minutes later we step out and into the departures lounge of East Midlands Airport. We are there three hours before departure of our international flight and 30 minutes after arriving we are in the terminal and hours too early.
Finally boarding and the trip is without incident. We find our chauffeur as we had arranged a pick up form the airport. His English is quite understandable so we chat on the way to our apartment. Kerry asks about the sights and in particular the former German concentration camp. Well, our driver is Montenegrin and he has seen it and becomes very melancholy – how frightful the camp is and remembering the wars in Bosnia etc.
We arrive at last. The sun has gone and darkness is creeping over the city. We go out to find a supermarket. Kerry spots a group of young people in the courtyard. “Do you speak English? We want to buy groceries.” she asks. One girl with limited English tries desperately to help us and leads us up the street. We bump into a street spruker for an Irish pub who speaks English. He directs us to Alberts under Debenhams by the metro but our Czech friend is not so sure. The Spruker speaks to her in English, French and German but does not know Czech so our friend follows us to Alberts just to make sure we get there. She then disappears in the crowd.
Shopping is interesting with the koruna being about 35 to the pound. Our small selection of groceries was 581 koruna or about 12 pounds. Dinner is a hotdog and a chicken cutlet and some french fries. We know how to end the day on a high!
After a restless night due to the apartment design not really permitting airflow we arose to trip around the city. The apartment design does not seem to flow. We have our bedroom in the loft without a window or airflow. The kitchen while appearing to be spacious is cramped once you open its huge window. The living room would be fine if there were some suitable furniture in it. Here are the photos of the apartment. However it does have some innovations like the carpark lift. In the square below our deck is a circular room comprising large windows with large doors and no obvious purpose. I thought it was the abandoned idea for a reception. No it is a car lift to the carpark below which holds 40 cars. You swipe your electronic card, drive in the motor vehicle and the elevator takes the vehicle to that space.
glendon1954 