I attended a conference and co-presented a paper at DFRWS-EU
in Brno, Czech Republic (or Czechia). The trip out was not
exactly direct—I drove an hour to the Elmira airport,
flew to Detroit (west of New York State), had a layover, then
flew to the Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris, had another
layover, then flew to Vienna. Then I had a 3 hour layover
and too a bus to Brno. I left on Saturday, March 29, 2025,
got in around 11:30pm on Sunday night March 30.
I had Monday Marth 31 as a day to get some errands done, and then
the conference ran from Tuesday through Friday. I chaired a
session the 1st Annual Digital Forensics Doctoral Symposium (DFDS).
On Thursday morning, we presented our paper. Saturday was a free
day in Brno, them Sunday morning April 6, I took a bus back to
Vienna had 2.5 days free in Vienna before flying hom on April 9, 2025.
The photos below are mostly from Monday and Saturday, the free days,
while I was in Brno. Highlights include walking to and around the
Špilberk park, which is on a hill right next to my hotel, and Špilberk
Castle, which is at the top of the hill. Then visiting the town hall
and walking up to the tower with a nice view of the area, as well
as a bit of exploring the central "old town" area.
110 photos.
Click here for photos of
Vienna.
001-DSC_9712-header: Hrad Špilberk (Špilberk Castle)
001-DSC_9712-headertext:
The earliest mention of the castle was in 1277 and it has a long
history.
Around the castle grounds was an art exhibition of various
sculptures by artist Martin Skalický of Brno, called
Sculptures in the Castle II. The sculptures were
there from Jun 19, 2024 to April 13, 2025 (which means as I
write this, they are no longer there, and were removed 4 days
after I left Brno).
I didn't really go inside the castle other than to cut through
from one side to the other because the way around the outside was blocked
the southeast side by construction work (they had removed the stones on
the road on the south side, and were (presumably) rennovating it. I
did use one of the public restrooms and there was a restaurant.
More or less, everything else required a ticket, and I didn't want to
spend hours and hours there, as just walking around the outside,
exploring, and taking pictures was going to take enough time. Plus
I wanted to be outside and moving, to try to help sync up to the local
time.
Here's some more information on
Špilberk Castle and Fortress.
001-DSC_9712: Looking northeast at Brno from Špilberk Castle, plus a rainbow!
002-DSC_9715:
003-DSC_9716: The green turrets are the Church of St. Michael and the
Old Town Hall.
004-DSC_9717: The Brno cathedral.
005-DSC_9723: The rainbow is growing!
006-DSC_9724: Frank, rainbow, and Brno.
007-DSC_9729: Frank at the end of the rainbow with the city of Brno behind.
008-DSC_9737: Beware what lies beyond this gate!
009-DSC_9738: No, fools! You must not cross its threshold!
010-DSC_9740: The (back?) entrance to the castle and another
sculpture by Skalický.
011-DSC_9741: The road to the back (east) entrance to the castle.
012-DSC_9742: They were working on the service road at the castle.
Big piles of stones behind the forklift.
013-DSC_9743: Inside the castle (but not the real part, just where the
restaurant and public toilets are, and a cut-through because of the
construction).
014-DSC_9744: On the eastern bridge to Špilberk castle, facing south.
015-DSC_9745: On the eastern bridge to Špilberk castle, facing north.
016-DSC_9746:
017-DSC_9748: An entrance to the castle with a cute little guard hut.
018-DSC_9749: The castle with the flag of Brno flying (the Austrian
flag has no white stripe on top, totally different).
019-DSC_9750: At the northeast corner of the castle looking south.
020-DSC_9752: At the northwest corner of the castle looking south.
The Allegory
statues are visible to the left of the triagular roof. On the far
you can see the pond from
028.
021-DSC_9754: The Bridge of Doooooom!
022-DSC_9755: "Stop. Who approacheth the Bridge of Death must answer
me these questions three, ere the other side he see."
023-DSC_9756: The bridge over the non-moat and the doorway from photo
008.
024-spilberk_park_Panorama5: A view of the park below and Brno beyond.
025-DSC_9761: Martin Skalický's work: Allegory
026-DSC_9762-header: Špilberk Park
026-DSC_9762-headertext:
Špilberk Park is a large park that surrounds Špilberk castle and the hill it is on. There are paths and stairs that wind around it. Just below the castle is a small pond. There are some scultpures, one of which has its own section below. It's a pretty place and the view of central Brno at the top of the hill is great. 026-DSC_9762: 027-DSC_9763: 028-spilberk_park_Panorama1: A panoramic of a pond in the park just below the castle. 029-spilberk_park_Panorama2: 030-DSC_9776: A little birdhouse hanging from a tree in Špilberk Park. 031-DSC_9777: It was late March and a tree was in bloom. 031a-DSC_9785: 031b-DSC_9787: 031c-DSC_9789: A signpost at the eastern entrance to Špilberk Park. 031d-DSC_9790: A signpost at the eastern entrance to Špilberk Park. 032-DSC_9778-header: Statue of Jan Skácel's head by Jiří Sobotka 032-DSC_9778-headertext:
Jan Skácel Memorial – “Face open to space and time”
The statue is in the park, but is cool enough to merit its own
section here. It's made of long hollow metal tubes of varying
length to produce the front of the head of a famous poet from Brno.
Depending where you stand and how the light and shadows are cast,
different features and textures are visible. The back side is
hollow and the shadowing forms a sort of reverse image of the face.
Plus standing behind the head allows you to see the landscape
in front of the sculpture for those tubes you are directly in
line with. The effect makes it look like there's a transparent
area. Standing further back, it becomes bigger.
The eyes are at person's height, so people can "see"
Old Brno through Skácel's eyes.
A word is carved into each side of the base that represents a
common theme of Skácel's poetry, specifically dětství (childhood),
ticho (silence), krajina (landscape) and smrt (death). Each word
has different typography to "play" with the word's theme.
And yes, when I saw it, my first thought was of Homer Simpson
dancing and singing, "I am so smart. I am so smart.
S…M…R…T. I meant S-M-A-R-T…"
Here is some information on the
sculpture, and
Jiří Sobotka's web page on the memorial (it's in Czech, if your
browser can't translate it, then try
this via Google Translate).
For some reason the lyrics "No one knows what it's like to be
the sad man, to be the bad man, behind blue eyes." from The Who
jumps to mind.
032-DSC_9778: A statue of the head of the Brno poet Jan Skácel
by Jiří Sobotka. The word krajina (landscape) is on this side
which faces the city's landscape.
033-DSC_9779: A side view of Jan Skácel's head with the Czech word
ticho (silence) on the stone.
034-DSC_9780: Seeing Brno through Skácel's eyes (or right eye).
The word on the pedestal is dětství (childhood).
035-DSC_9781: The view through Skácel's left eye.
036-DSC_9782: And the vision in his head of Brno.
037-DSC_9783: Eyes closed here (I had to find an angle where I wasn't
aligned with the tubes).
038-DSC_9784: A better view of the individual tubes, and the upside
down word is smrt (death).
043-DSC_9791-header: Around Brno
043-DSC_9791-headertext:
I sort of wound up on the west side of the hill when I left, when my hotel was directly east of the hill, so I wandered around the area a little. At points I was a little annoyed but then I saw a cool church with its gold dome illuminated by the sun. And the shadows across some of the buildings coupled with the blue sky made for some sharp contrasts. So it wound up working out well. I have two pictures the hotel room, which faced east. One of Old Brno with St. Jacob's Church and another of dawn. 043-DSC_9791: Walking on Pellicova Street just west of Spilberk Park. 044-DSC_9792: A nice view of yet-another-church. 045-DSC_9794: The Orthodox Church of St. Wenceslas, founded in 1924. Shut down in 1943 by the Nazis. 046-gold_dome_church_Panorama1: The belfrey tower was added in the 1990s and the gold-plated dome in 2003. 047-DSC_9798: Cool shadows, late in the day. The street was under construction, so no traffic. 048-DSC_9799: More cool late-day shadows on the buildings. 049-spilberk_park_Panorama3: Steps at Špilberk park lead up the hill to the castle. 050-spilberk_park_Panorama4: A wider picture of Špilberk Park. 051-DSC_9808: My hotel (The International) was across the street from Spilberk Park. 052-St_Jacobs_Church_Panorama1: The view of central Brno and St. Jacob's Church from my hotel room. 053-Brno_dawn_Panorama1: Dawn in Brno from my hotel room. 054-DSC_9818-header: Brno Old Town Hall (Stará radnice) 054-DSC_9818-headertext:
The Old Town Hall was built in 1240 and has been modified over the centuries. The lookout tower is 63 meters (206 feet) high and you get there by climbing 173 steps. It has a great view of the area. The building was used for city administration until 1919 when the goverment moved to a more modern building. It is the oldest building in Brno that is not a church. 054-DSC_9818: 055-Brno_town_hall_Panorama3: The tower of the Old Town Hall (now a tourist center). 056-DSC_9824: The Treasury, the oldest room in the building where scribes would record legal transactions. 057-DSC_9827: The Cathedral and Plague Column in Brno. Same picture angle as this. 058-DSC_9828: A supermarket building and Špilberk Castle in the upper right corner. 059-DSC_9829: The look-out area at the top of the Old Town Hall tower. 060-DSC_9830: The square below the Old Town Hall in Brno. 061-DSC_9845: Kostel svatého Michala (Church of St. Michael). I think the fancy-roofed building is a shopping center. 062-Brno_town_hall_Panorama2: Dowtown and the St. Peter and Paul Cathedral from the Old Town Hall. The sculpture in the center is the Morový (Mariánský) Sloup (Marian Plague Column), commemorating the end of one of the many plague epidemics. Look around the picture—can you spot the drone? 063-Brno_town_hall_Panorama4: Looking eastward, the courtyard in front of the Old Town Hall is in the foreground. In the distance, to the right are 3 smokestacks. I thought the thin smokestacks were part of the Siemens Energy complex and Nová Zbrojovka, annewly redeveloped area that used to be a big arms and munitions factory. But it looks like they're from 1 building—a dance school called Starlet. I could not find information on the history of their building (I spent minimal time on it). The fat one that looks like a nuclear power plant cooling tower is the same block as the Starlet, but I can't find any information on what it is or is associated with. Maybe the dance school has a small reactor so they can teach how to do the "Neutron Dance" (a Pointer Sisters song that was in the movie Beverly Hills Cop). 064-DSC_9850: Another Brno view from the Old Town Hall (unsure which direction I was facing). 065-DSC_9851: The iconic Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul in Brno. 066-DSC_9855: Looking up the staircases to the top of the tower in the Brno Old Town Hall. 067-DSC_9856: Another angle of the staircases up to the tower in the Brno Old Town Hall. 068-DSC_9857: The look-out area is just above the clock. 069-DSC_9859: An alligtor hanging from the ceiling. I guess it's a a local dragon. Cool. 070-DSC_9860: On the ground I heard and spotted the same drone. The operator stood near me. 071-DSC_9861-header: Old Brno 071-DSC_9861-headertext:
Staré Brno (Old Bruno) is in the center of the city, founded around the year 1000 and a town by the 14th Century. There are a lot of twisty streets, interesting shops, good restaurants, and bars that are open surprisingly late. It feels very save, even in the wee hours. Almost every day I walked around a little bit because of the location of my hotel at the edge of it, and where events where. There's a lot of cool stuff there like old buildings, historical statues and monuments, and events going on like a farmer's market (the vegetable market). 071-DSC_9861: I didn't know you could do that with colored pencils! 072-DSC_9863: I noticed it while walking downtown and it looked really cool! 073-DSC_9864: Czechia is a meat-heavy culture. Even their plants are meaty... 074-DSC_9865: Look closely at the sign for the true name of this tea shop. 075-DSC_9866: A twisty Brno street with the cathedral visible in the distance. 076-Rome_Square_Panorama1: The sign describes the history of Rome Square, or Jewish Square 600 years ago. 077-DSC_9873: Note the scaffolding on one, and a strut by the door of in the far building. 078-DSC_9875: Could this be the Jewish Gate in the Jewish Square? (Pretty sure it's not.) 079-DSC_9876: The band-aid says "Love Hurts". I think the severed arm hurts too. 080-DSC_9877: I like how the sculptures were surrounded by building structural supports. 081-DSC_9878: Some artistic graffiti on where a pay phone once was. 082-DSC_9879: Kašna Parnas (Parnas Fountain) in Vegetable Square (where the market is held). 083-DSC_9880: A vendor selling flowers at the Vegetable Market. 084-DSC_9881: Not everyone sells vegetables at the Vegetable Market. 085-DSC_9882: Appropriately, Wang is next to the Erotic City Supermarket. 086-DSC_9883: Another church with a sun over the door catching actual sunlight. 087-DSC_9884-header: Good Karma Flea market and a Nearby Neighborhood 087-DSC_9884-headertext:
I met up with Daryl by the Big Horse statue. After taking a look at a little art gallery right by there, we went to the Dobrá Karma - Bleší trhy, which is the Dobrá Karma Flea Market. And Dobrá means good, so it's the Good Karma flea market. This was the first time it was open this year. It ran along the length of the street tř. Kpt. Jaroše. People were selling stuff they had like clothing and shoes, books, toys, kitchenware, and assorted junk. There were also artists who had made stuff like pictures, clothing, and jewelry. It was neat to see a very "everyday life" sort of thing. 087-DSC_9884: They have the device! Note: the switch is actually labeled "zap"! 088-DSC_9885: The Dobrá Karma Flea Market in full swing! 089-DSC_9886: This guy made "laser cut" things like D&D dice! Maybe like 3-D printed? 090-DSC_9888: He did a lot a lot of cool stuff + gave me a d8! That's laserdesignbrno.cz! 091-DSC_9889: Shoes that were so shiny! Perfect for the Tin Man or a robot! 092-DSC_9891: The Dobrá Karma was ending and people were packing up. 093-DSC_9893: 094-DSC_9894: 095-DSC_9896: 096-DSC_9897: Frank's shadow in the foreground, Daryl + suitcase in in the distance. 097-DSC_9898: Daryl in the Distance. 098-DSC_9899: Hamlet, presented in the original Czech version (on the left: The Tale of Living Water). 099-DSC_9900: 100-DSC_9901: 101-DSC_9904: Charming cobblestone streets and sidewalks (just not with suitcases). 102-DSC_9905-header: Park and Apartment 102-DSC_9905-headertext:
I stopped by the Tyršův sad (City Park) that was across from where Daryl was staying and explored that for a few minutes. It looks like the street that it's on has the same name and other parks have other names, so I think that it is a proper name, not just a generic term. 102-DSC_9905: A colorful tree in the far end of the park with cobblestone sidewalks. 103-park_tree_Panorama1: A tree wtih somewhat creepy bark in the park. 104-DSC_9924: The place where Daryl was staying. 105-DSC_9925: The place where Daryl was staying. 106-Brno_street_Panorama1: Colorful and cool looking apartment buildings in Brno. 107-DSC_9931: The view of Tyršův sad from Daryl's place. 108-DSC_9932: The spacious balcony. 109-DSC_9934: A hip place. 110-DSC_9935: And a view of the park! Bottom:
Click here for photos of Vienna.
