My name is Michael (aka Wongie) and I’m an avid runner, amateur photographer and a recent Guinness World Record Holder along with my 3 good friends. Join me on this little adventure!
After arriving in Lyon, I almost instantly fell in love with the vibe of this city. Lyon is surrounded by the Saône and Rhône rivers, there are beautiful colorful buildings, and of course the Lyonnaise cuisine was amazing. It is one of those cities where you can grab a sandwich and relax for the afternoon down by the river with some friends. After spending some time here I wanted to capture some sights via a little video:
I recall standing on a street corner taking a photo and a few locals would come up to start a conversation with me about my travels. I hope these photos inspire you to visit next time you are in France!
Walking down just about any of the streets in Lyon, you will find little gems like this building. It’s hard not to stop and take a photograph!
It was my second time to Brno, I had spent an afternoon in Brno the previous month and thought I had seen everything I needed to in town. I decided to make a second trip on an offer from a friend, Jiří, who graciously offered to take me around his favorite spots in town. During the first evening, we ended up heading to one of his jobs at an upscale Hookah bar. This is where he introduced me to Eliška, a budding local photographer that just graduated university. She took one look at my camera and we instantly started geeking out, the rest of the night was over photography and unusual and cool things to check out when in Brno. She said if I am interested in vintage cameras, I need to check out the Café Flexaret just outside of the city center.
CafeFlexaret in Brno, Czech Republic – A vintage camera themed cafe for camera and coffee lovers alike.
I arrived at the cafe the next day, unsure what to expect. The cafe has a vintage diner feel with large display cases full of old cameras and and Flexaret branded TLRs (Twin Lens Reflex) . I had never heard of Flexaret before, but Eliška later explained that this is a Czech camera brand that was made in the former Czechoslovakia, which peaked my interested. Being a camera themed coffee shop, we spent the afternoon flipping through an encyclopedia of vintage cameras, day dreaming about what kind we would collect if we had infinite money (and storage space). One thing led to another and told me there’s another shop that I must check out that sells some old TLR’s that I might be interested in.
Antikfoto – Brno, Czech Republic
ANTIKFOTO (BAZAR)
Kounicova 31, Brno 602 00
Tel .: +420 541 213 129
E-mail: [email protected]
Open: Mon-Fri 9.00-12.00, 13.00-17.00
Entering Antikfoto, you are instantly greeted by large glass shelves filled with old film and digital cameras, barrels of camera covers and a workbench where the owner works on camera repairs. It was like a little museum with the carefully laid out displays, loads of photography memorabilia including vintage pins from photography conferences and camera brands. I spent the afternoon looking through the display cases and knew I could not leave without making some sort of a purchase here. A day well spent, Eliška and I both ended up walking out with cameras from Eastern Europe.
A very nice shop to check out if your journey takes you out to Brno, Czech Republic. There are not the lightest souvenirs to bring home, but there’s a satisfaction in finding these little gems while you are backpacking across Europe.
All of the training paid off, we were able to finish with an official completion time of 4:53:33, which was 10 minutes faster than the previous record! We can honestly say this was one of the best experiences of our running career, to be running with folks in another Country and have them waiving and reacting to our costume while running. Some of our favorite memories of the run:
Mile 14 is where things got real. There was a lot of pain, and the reality of having to finish 10 more miles to go
Run/Walk schedule was important for this marathon, it’s difficult to run so close together
The look on the little kids faces when they saw the caterpillar comping up! Some of them just lost it and started dancing around and waiving their hands!
Crowds. The fine folks of Berlin at every corner of the run cheering us on.
Running into other runners from home, making it feel like such a small world.
We’re blessed to have had such a wonderful experience at the 2017 Berlin Marathon. Thank you to all of our friends and family that have helped us out along the way, our crazy Dog Haus Run Club and everyone else who thought we could pull off this whacky run record.
