I have a soft spot for Czech trains as I rode a lot of them around the country on a couple of visits not long after the fall of communism. It was a different era in pricing and easy to hop on and off about worrying about how much I was spending. Old stations, old trains, no English announcements, a lot of friendly locals who helped me in confusing situations. Bigger and better now, I guess, with prices to match, but lots of happy memories.
Hey Johny, your video has appeared in my notifications. I can't even think of a number of how many times I took this train to Budapest. It certainly retrieved few memories. I travelled the whole Europe by train in 90's and early 2000 when I was actually studying for a railays traffic controller. I really enjoyed your video and look forward to new videos. 🙂
@@davidnermut3078 thank you, that's very kind. Do check out the back catalogue if you are new to the channel. But in the meantime, i release every Friday, with some Monday bonus vids too... Thanks for coming along 👍
@@sandiandgregh the tone is a tiny bit of Humoresk No 7 by Dvořák, the great Czech composer. My understanding is that he would be quite pleased with this, as he was known to be quite the trainspotter in his day! For me it always announces "Johnny you are back in the Czech Republic" when i have my first ride on entering the country.
Lovely stuff, and super commentary as always. I do enjoy all the nuggets of info about octagonal forts and Skoda plants and whatnot. I recently took a train from Kosice to Budapest and I also found it a very long three and a half hours (read: flat and boring - sorry Hungary!) so I get it. Looking forward to your trapse around Budapest. I trust you enjoyed its jewel, Keleti. P.S. "Rustic" - ha!
@@horsehollerer I'm aware people tune in for lots of useless information, so i try to not disappoint! 😀 Yes, you are right. It is probably the topography that makes journeys feel longer or shorter. Good point . Thanks 👍
Thank you Johnny for yet another superb video. Lots of interesting material. And on diverse subjects. I am particularly glad you mentioned the South Moravian Integrated Transport System, controlling local buses, local trains and trams. We need similar organisations in Britain ,and nationwide. (Note that a lot of South Moravia is very rural.) The Bratislava to Budapest line has gone on to my 'bucket list'. It looked far more interesting than the Vienna to Budapest line I used (for the first time) last October. I am also eagerly awaiting your thoughts on Budapest Keleti station, which I assume will be part of your next video....
@@Fan652w yes, Keleti may get a passing mention 😉 Integrated transport is the way to go (as you well know). Been in Cornwall a lot this summer and I have been impressed by their bus services. Thanks for watching along 👍
The section of route between Breclav and Kuty is being heavily worked on hence the new bridges. It is still quite frequent that on weekends the EC trains are diverted from Breclav to Hodonin via a reversal and again through the ‘rare’ route via Holic and Moravou back to Kuty and another reversal! The trains also exchange crews a few times. Czech crews work to Breclav, Slovak crews to Sturovo where the Hungarian crews take over. The place where you saw all the stabled car trains was called Devinska Nova Ves which is a junction station for a line to Vienna via Marchegg. That is currently closed for,electrification and should I think reopen by the end of the year? Great video!
Thanks for this, Prague-Budapest is on the route for my first Interrail trip next March. I'll know not to go for the pasta! Now, if you could just manage the Budapest-Stuttgart sleeper in the meantime................
@@kevinellis8869 Yes, avoid the pasta! 🤣 Have a great trip next year. You will love it! Do try to see more of CZ than just Prague. It is an excellent country. Thanks for watching 👍
Budapest is a great city. Not sure if you did this but I recommend the view from Gellert Hill at dusk. Taking in the Danube and the Pest side of the city. I also visited Sturovo back in 2005. I took the bus to Esztergom and walked over the new bridge to Sturovo. I remember walking on the left side of the road on the bridge as I am British, which is a natural thing to do. I was flagged by exasperated Customs officers to go to the border office on the other side of the road. 😂 This was before full Schengen implementation.
Interesting journey and video, although the restaurant car sounds a bit disappointing. We did Gdansk-Vienna a couple of weeks ago and the food was all freshly cooked in a proper kitchen which was quite a change from the sort of thing you get on a British train
@@stuartparks8094 I think i can only be harsh on them for their vegetarian option. The other stuff coming out looked pretty good. I love visiting CZ, but they do love their meat (mostly pork as far as i can tell). Best place for freshly cooked train food in the UK is definitely on the transport for wales services with the onboard chef! I do need to get into Poland soon... Gdansk looks lovely! Thanks for watching 👍
@@JohnnyHooverTravels I've not been on a train in years but I'm glad our restaurant cars are finally providing glassware! Presumably they replace with plastic on match days?
My partner who did Slavonics at University together with English was "critiquing" your pronunciation of the Czech and Slovak names - which was mildly amusing. This is a journey we haven't done though we have done Brno to Berlin on a Hungarian train. We are vegan and I never anticipate very much on board catering though DB have got better recently. so we have tended to use supermarkets in stations and eateries like Dean and David who tend to be close to the railway stations.
@@johncrwarner i'm sure they were chuckling at my mispronunciation in good heart. I just try my best and I am completely lost when it comes to Hungarian for sure! Just like you, I often buy before I board as the vegetarian options are generally sparse (and vegan ones even more so). It isn't a complaint though- I appreciate that they have to cater for their base population. Although on the other hand, once offered, the pasta could have been alot better . Best wishes to you and the linguist 👍
@@JohnnyHooverTravels The pasta did seem a little plonked on the plate - and that didn't enhance the experience either, I suspect. Brno with its tricky semi-vocalic r is a tricky one to pronounce and interestingly in German they get it wrong with Brünn and the English form Bren as in "Bren gun" which try (and fail) to make sense of the Slavic name by Germanifying it or Anglicizing it. Hungarian is a world to itself - I speak Finnish and Estonian and it makes no sense to me even though they are in the same language family. Note Sami whom the Finns displaced have a language a lot closer to Finnish so I could get some of the words. Hungarian is on its own.
Those English language announcements voiced by an American would thoroughly annoy me Johnny. There's no place for an American voice on European trains. A British announcement is much preferred.
As a non Brit living on the continent I really don't care either way. Also, given the fact that you lot decided to break away but still have expectations on what language styles should be used in mainland Europe is somewhat pretentious one would say 😂.
@@Eurobazz Although the voice sounds American to our English ears, I think that many Europeans (especially further east) can have that American sounding twang in their accent. Therefore i think it is unlikely that the voice is actually American. Given that i maul everybody's language in my voiceovers, I'm quite happy to handle any variations to the English language with a good heart 😀 Thanks for watching 👍
I have a soft spot for Czech trains as I rode a lot of them around the country on a couple of visits not long after the fall of communism. It was a different era in pricing and easy to hop on and off about worrying about how much I was spending. Old stations, old trains, no English announcements, a lot of friendly locals who helped me in confusing situations. Bigger and better now, I guess, with prices to match, but lots of happy memories.
@@phronsiekeys they are still generally great (if a tad slow) and the local ones are still very good value indeed.
Thanks for watching 👍
Hey Johny, your video has appeared in my notifications. I can't even think of a number of how many times I took this train to Budapest. It certainly retrieved few memories. I travelled the whole Europe by train in 90's and early 2000 when I was actually studying for a railays traffic controller. I really enjoyed your video and look forward to new videos. 🙂
@@davidnermut3078 thank you, that's very kind. Do check out the back catalogue if you are new to the channel. But in the meantime, i release every Friday, with some Monday bonus vids too...
Thanks for coming along 👍
The pre-announcement tone on the train made us wonder if an ice cream seller was coming. 😅 Looking forward to seeing your walkabout video, too.
@@sandiandgregh the tone is a tiny bit of Humoresk No 7 by Dvořák, the great Czech composer. My understanding is that he would be quite pleased with this, as he was known to be quite the trainspotter in his day!
For me it always announces "Johnny you are back in the Czech Republic" when i have my first ride on entering the country.
Lovely stuff, and super commentary as always. I do enjoy all the nuggets of info about octagonal forts and Skoda plants and whatnot. I recently took a train from Kosice to Budapest and I also found it a very long three and a half hours (read: flat and boring - sorry Hungary!) so I get it. Looking forward to your trapse around Budapest. I trust you enjoyed its jewel, Keleti. P.S. "Rustic" - ha!
@@horsehollerer I'm aware people tune in for lots of useless information, so i try to not disappoint! 😀
Yes, you are right. It is probably the topography that makes journeys feel longer or shorter. Good point .
Thanks 👍
Thank you Johnny for yet another superb video. Lots of interesting material. And on diverse subjects. I am particularly glad you mentioned the South Moravian Integrated Transport System, controlling local buses, local trains and trams. We need similar organisations in Britain ,and nationwide. (Note that a lot of South Moravia is very rural.)
The Bratislava to Budapest line has gone on to my 'bucket list'. It looked far more interesting than the Vienna to Budapest line I used (for the first time) last October. I am also eagerly awaiting your thoughts on Budapest Keleti station, which I assume will be part of your next video....
@@Fan652w yes, Keleti may get a passing mention 😉
Integrated transport is the way to go (as you well know). Been in Cornwall a lot this summer and I have been impressed by their bus services.
Thanks for watching along 👍
You had to wait in Breclav, because to Kuty is only one track for now (including that new bridge you commented). Nice video.
@@michalsvojanovsky8025 ah thanks. That makes sense 👍
Thanks for watching 👍
What a fab journey and as always Johnny, you did a great job in documenting it. That pasta looked nasty however. 😂
@@Timstravels01 yeah, it wasn't great...
Thanks for watching 👍
The section of route between Breclav and Kuty is being heavily worked on hence the new bridges. It is still quite frequent that on weekends the EC trains are diverted from Breclav to Hodonin via a reversal and again through the ‘rare’ route via Holic and Moravou back to Kuty and another reversal!
The trains also exchange crews a few times. Czech crews work to Breclav, Slovak crews to Sturovo where the Hungarian crews take over.
The place where you saw all the stabled car trains was called Devinska Nova Ves which is a junction station for a line to Vienna via Marchegg. That is currently closed for,electrification and should I think reopen by the end of the year? Great video!
@@simonpilk excellent information, thanks Simon. Really interesting 👍
Thanks too for the kind words and for watching 👍
Thanks for this, Prague-Budapest is on the route for my first Interrail trip next March. I'll know not to go for the pasta! Now, if you could just manage the Budapest-Stuttgart sleeper in the meantime................
@@kevinellis8869 Yes, avoid the pasta! 🤣
Have a great trip next year. You will love it! Do try to see more of CZ than just Prague. It is an excellent country.
Thanks for watching 👍
We did the Polish PKP InterCity run last year from Gdansk to Berlin. The restaurant car on there was actually really good! 👍
@@chrismoore4423 Yes, everybody says the WARS dining cars on PKP are some of the best!
Thanks for watching 👍
Budapest is a great city. Not sure if you did this but I recommend the view from Gellert Hill at dusk. Taking in the Danube and the Pest side of the city. I also visited Sturovo back in 2005. I took the bus to Esztergom and walked over the new bridge to Sturovo. I remember walking on the left side of the road on the bridge as I am British, which is a natural thing to do. I was flagged by exasperated Customs officers to go to the border office on the other side of the road. 😂 This was before full Schengen implementation.
@@brianmctighe no, i didn't manage to enjoy that sunset view. Great memories of Šturovo 😀
Thanks for watching 👍
Looking forward to your next video Johnny!
@@dennisb9638 hope it didn't disappoint !
Interesting journey and video, although the restaurant car sounds a bit disappointing. We did Gdansk-Vienna a couple of weeks ago and the food was all freshly cooked in a proper kitchen which was quite a change from the sort of thing you get on a British train
@@stuartparks8094 I think i can only be harsh on them for their vegetarian option. The other stuff coming out looked pretty good. I love visiting CZ, but they do love their meat (mostly pork as far as i can tell).
Best place for freshly cooked train food in the UK is definitely on the transport for wales services with the onboard chef!
I do need to get into Poland soon... Gdansk looks lovely!
Thanks for watching 👍
Video was very beautiful and given different experience to me. Thankyou. and waiting for your next video ❤️
@@trailwayt9H337 thank you. Pleased you enjoyed it 👍
Fantastic as always
@@garymcgregor7048 thank you. And thanks for watching too 👍
Great Video Johnny
@@paulgibsonphotography thanks Paul 👍
At least they treat you like humans in the restaurant car and provide cutlery, crockery and glassware!
@@RobinPalmerTV Tru dat! Although the same is true on flagship products in the UK.
Thank you so much for watching 👍
@@JohnnyHooverTravels I've not been on a train in years but I'm glad our restaurant cars are finally providing glassware! Presumably they replace with plastic on match days?
My partner who did Slavonics at University
together with English was "critiquing" your pronunciation
of the Czech and Slovak names - which was mildly amusing.
This is a journey we haven't done though we have done
Brno to Berlin on a Hungarian train.
We are vegan and I never anticipate very much on board catering
though DB have got better recently.
so we have tended to use supermarkets in stations
and eateries like Dean and David who tend to be close to the railway stations.
Do you critique their pronunciation of English words and vowels.
On the other hand, being a bit simple minded, I was thinking how clever you were to find a new way to pronounce Skoda!
@@johncrwarner i'm sure they were chuckling at my mispronunciation in good heart. I just try my best and I am completely lost when it comes to Hungarian for sure!
Just like you, I often buy before I board as the vegetarian options are generally sparse (and vegan ones even more so). It isn't a complaint though- I appreciate that they have to cater for their base population. Although on the other hand, once offered, the pasta could have been alot better .
Best wishes to you and the linguist 👍
@@colinriley123 ah but it isn't Skoda. It's Škoda...😉
@@JohnnyHooverTravels
The pasta did seem a little plonked on the plate - and that didn't enhance the experience either, I suspect.
Brno with its tricky semi-vocalic r is a tricky one to pronounce and
interestingly in German they get it wrong with Brünn and the English form Bren as in "Bren gun"
which try (and fail) to make sense of the Slavic name by Germanifying it or Anglicizing it.
Hungarian is a world to itself -
I speak Finnish and Estonian and it makes no sense to me
even though they are in the same language family.
Note Sami whom the Finns displaced have a language a lot closer to Finnish so
I could get some of the words.
Hungarian is on its own.
Those English language announcements voiced by an American would thoroughly annoy me Johnny. There's no place for an American voice on European trains. A British announcement is much preferred.
As a non Brit living on the continent I really don't care either way. Also, given the fact that you lot decided to break away but still have expectations on what language styles should be used in mainland Europe is somewhat pretentious one would say 😂.
@@Eurobazz Although the voice sounds American to our English ears, I think that many Europeans (especially further east) can have that American sounding twang in their accent. Therefore i think it is unlikely that the voice is actually American.
Given that i maul everybody's language in my voiceovers, I'm quite happy to handle any variations to the English language with a good heart 😀
Thanks for watching 👍
Learn how to pronounce BRNO, not Bruno.
@@tondab sorry. I do try, but I'm just a sad Englishman.
Hope it didn't spoil the video too much. 👍