Travel Information
The GWC 2004 conference will take place in the city of
Brno and is organised by the Faculty of Informatics, Masaryk University,
Brno, Czech Republic.
Organiser's Address:
Faculty of Informatics (Fakulta Informatiky)
Masaryk University
Botanická 68a
CZ-602 00 Brno
Czech Republic |
tel.: +420 5 49 49 6696
fax: +420 5 49 49 1820
email:gwc2004@aurora.fi.muni.cz |
The Organiser's place is displayed on map of the city displaying both the
Faculty of Informatics and the conference venue (high resolution version).
Conference Site
The overall description of how to get to the city of Brno can be found on
the page How to reach
Brno
The conference will be held at:
Menza Vinarská, Masaryk University
Vinarská 5
603 00 Brno
Czech Republic |
The conference venue is different from the organizer's address!
Accommodation
If you arrive before the start of the conference, go directly to your
accommodation place. If you arrive late at night, there is a nonstop service
at both the accommodation places.
Registartion for the conference starts on Tuesday, Jan 20, 8:00 at the
conference site.
The students accommodation is directly on the conference site:
The *** hotel Voronez 2 is located about 10 minutes walk from the
conference site:
Hotel Voronez 2
Krizkovskeho 49
603 73 Brno
Czech Republic
phone: +420-543 142 030
|
See the map of the conference
surroundings with relevant public transport (the same map in higher
resolution).
Taxis
Brno taxi services have better reputation than those in Prague.
Overcharging does not happen so often and the taxi-gang wars are not an
issue here. In any case, when using the taxi, ask about an approximate
price in advance and make sure that the taxi-meter has been set to zero at
the beginning of the ride.
An operator of City Taxi (phone number (++420-) 542 321 321) is able to
speak English.
Prices for travelling from bus or railway station to the conference and
accommodation sites should be roughly CZK 150-200.
From railway station
The Brno main railway station is called "Brno Hlavni nadrazi". To reach the
conference and accommodation sites use the tram line 1 in direction "Bystrc"
and leave on fifth stop "Vystaviste". Important points can be found on map
of conference location. You have to buy a tram ticket (CZK 13) in any
news-stand before you enter the tram and mark it inside the tram.
From bus stations
There are two big bus stations in Brno: "Grand hotel" and "Zvonarka". The
first one is located near the railway station. The second one is located
about 500 meters from railway station (over footbridge to TESCO store and
through underpass).
From the bus station Zvonarka, you may take bus No.84 to Krizkovskeho
street (Hotel Voronez 2).
From airport
You can use bus line 76 to reach the railway station from the airport.
Maps
Exchange Facilities and Rates
The currency used in the Czech Republic is the Czech Crown (CZK, koruna
ceska, Kc). There are exchange facilities at the train/bus
stations, airport and at the border. The approximate exchange
rate is 29 CZK for one US dollar and 33 CZK for 1 EURO. See
actual exchange rates.
Czech Crowns are available in the following denominations:
5000, 2000, 1000, 500, 200, 100, 50 and 20. We advise you to ask
for 200 or 500 crown banknotes when you exchange your money as these are
easier to change. Do not change money on the street.
The City
Brno is the second largest city in the Czech Republic, with a
population of almost 400,000, and is the country's judiciary and
trade-fair centre. The first written record of Brno dates from
the ninth century. City rights were acquired in 1243. After
successfully defending the city against the Swedes 350 years ago
(in 1643--45 during the Thirty Years' War), Brno became the
capital of Moravia. The nineteenth century was a period of
technological progress and development for Brno. It became one
of the most prominent industrial centres in the Austro-Hungarian
Empire. It was in Brno that J. G. Mendel formulated his theory
of heredity, V. Kaplan produced the first water turbine and Leos
Janacek composed his musical works. Milan Kundera wrote his
first novels here. Brno is the place of birth of Kurt Goedel---
a major 20th century scientist of international standing
The Czech Republic consists of Bohemia in the north and
Moravia in the south, with Brno the capital of the latter.
It had been a royal
city since 1347. There are six Universities in Brno.
Historical and artistic places of interest include:
- Brno castle
(now called
Spilberk)
- Veveri castle
- The Old and New City halls
- The Augustine
monastery, with St Thomas' Church and crypt of Moravian
margraves
- The Church of St James
- The
"Bishops' Church of St Peter & St Paul"
- The famous Villa Tugendhat, designed by Mies van der Rohe
- Many other important examples of Czech architecture between the wars (1918-38).
In the immediate surroundings of Brno are the Moravian Karst with
Macocha Chasm and Punkva caves; the site of the "Battle of the Three
emperors" (Napoleon, Alexander I of Russia, and Franz Joseph of Austria),
known as the Battle of Austerlitz; the chateau of Slavkov
(Austerlitz); Pernstejn Castle; and many other attractions.
Time Zone and Climate
The Czech Republic is on Central European Time (MET DST), one hour ahead of
Greenwich Mean Time (GMT). The average temperature for January is
around 0 degrees celsius.
Links
