Road Trip to Moravia

Greetings Folks. We just returned from a week long vacation in Moravia (the eastern part of the Czech Republic). Lots to tell, little time to do it. Here are the highlights...

Friday

What we did: Rented car (went wrong way on one way and cussed before I even drove the 1km to get it home (it took me 3 km on the odometer to get here)), crammed all three kids in the back of a Škoda Fabia, missed turn before we were out of Česke Budějovice, went off the road a little bit trying to leave enough space between us and an oncoming car - problem is there are no shoulders and the ditch is steep - kept in control and learned to be comfortable with less buffer between me and a head on collision (Kristine's hand print is indelibly impressed on the door handle though), carp statue in roundabout in Třeboň, visited romantic castle in UNESCO city Telč, visited Jewish quarter with narrow streets, Jewish cemetery, and cut stone cathedral in Třebič (also UNESCO World Heritage Sites), arrived in Brno to stay with the Řezač family. 
Most striking: Old headstones with Hebrew inscriptions amid ivy and forget-me-nots.
Morale: Started the trip with Kristine, Lucy and Silas suffering from colds, Caleb and Peter still drained from biking. Despite this and tight quarters and rain forecast for the entire week, spirits are upbeat.
Road Report: Country roads are narrow, but not too much traffic. Speed limit is 90 km/hr (56 mph) though we rarely attain it because curves are designed for much less. Lots of people passing me on this day.

Jewish Cemetery in Trebic. From 2010-05

Saturday

What we did: Went to the limestone caves of the Moravian Karst, toured Punkva cave complex, saw the Macocha Abyss from above and below, rode in boats through caves, hiked along trails in wet woodlands, went to crypt of Capuchin Monks in Brno and saw the mummies and the plaque over them that says "As you are, we once were. As we are, you shall be.", hung out with the Řezač family more.

Funniest: Telling, retelling and continually embellishing the story of why the Macocha ("step-mother") abyss is so named (step-mother threw step-daughter down, but she caught a tree and woodcutters rescued her and threw in the step-mother) because Silas was fixated on the story. Also, needing to explain how the mummies died (Silas slept through this tour) and that they are not mommies. Also, Caleb grumpily saying that he was obviously smiling in the photo below and we didn't need a re-take.

Road Report: Mostly local, well traveled. No problems.

Sunday

Fountain with kolonade in background at Kroměřiž. From 2010-05

What we did: Went to church in Brno, found it easier to understand people here, talked with people Kristine knew from her mission, mistakenly did not take signed detour routes, went to nice romantic garden in Kroměřiž where they were filming a movie, went through lots of roundabouts, made it to Štramberk - a beautiful little city on a hillside, visited friends Milada and Jiři Hejkal.
Most striking: the village of Stramberk is a hidden gem, off the international tourist route, truly magical
Most funny: Our Czech grandpa, Jiri, and his constant wisecracks--when he heard the airport had closed for the day because of volcanic ash, he declared that we should start walking home, just make sure we also have our swimsuits along.
Road Report: Signage here is different than in the U.S. Routes may or may not be numbered and even, if they are, the number is on a small sign and not repeated often. Instead signs say where the road goes. With that, however, they may list the next town or the next big town or some random town somewhere along that particular road. Kristine (navigating) would tell me, "take the road that goes to..." and list off three towns to make sure one of them showed up on the sign. Detours were a problem. They may begin suddenly and only be communicated by a small orange sign with an arrow pointing where the detour goes. You may not get a warning about a road closed ahead such that by the time you find out you have to backtrack a km or two. Despite the poor signing, we found it best to follow signed detours because the "well, I'll stay on this road and take the next connecting road" approach doesn't work so well in a place where there is not a grid system for the road network.

Monday

What we did: Worked in Hejkal's garden, climbed around in old quarry and hiked up White Mountain, ate the best fruit dumplings ever, hung out with Hejkal's
Most striking: The village Štramberk was just as cute as a bug's ear.
Most heart-touching: Silas and Jiři goofing around together stealing each others' pillows on the sofa.
Most heartbreaking: Climbing a wet rock face (some 40 feet tall) and seeing Caleb reach the top while his old man chickened out half way up.
Road Report: Just drove back and forth between penzion and Hejkalovi, streets were at a phenomenal slope.

Us with MIlada and Jiri. From 2010-05

Tuesday

What we did: Hiked up to the old castle tower overlooking Štramberk, ate Štramberske Uši (Stramberk Ears - a circular gingerbread cookie folded around to form something sort of like a funnel, made here since 1241 when the people, taking refuge from the invading Tartars, prayed for help and a rainstorm flooded the Tartar camp. They are in the shape of ears because the invaders would cut off the Christians' ears), hung out with the Hejkal's, got tips on how to make better fruit dumplings, drove to Polička, ate at a medieval style restaurant.
Most fat on a single platter: My 1000 gram serving of roasted pig's knee was big and bold.

Road Report: I was getting used to driving by now.

Wednesday

From 2010-05

What we did: Went to Oldřiš (ancestral home of the Picha's), visited graveyards, Kristine went to the museum and learned about composer Bohuslav Martinu and the Polička area (including getting a photo of the kroje (folk dress) from the region, escaped the rain for a while, went hiking to the highest point in the Vysočina (the highlands region), a place called Devět Skal (nine rocks) with these cool rock formations atop the hill, took Lucy to urgent care (15 minutes after it closed).
Most striking: Rocks at Devet Skal
Most depressing: Everything for Lucy at this point with her throat hurting to the point of tears.
Road Report: Splendid driving in the hills, the road would actually narrow around trees (i.e. the trunk was half on the road).

Thursday

What we did: Took Lucy to a clinic and got her penicillan for strep throat, visited Jimramov and Konikov (ancestral homeland of the Hloušek's, Great Grannie Annie came over to the States when she was 14), drove home, returned car, went to concert (but left at intermission because Kristine was coughing and Peter was sleeping).
Most striking: Doctor's bill, including medication, was less than $30! How much getting back home felt like home.

Funniest: Black bags under our eyes.
Road Report: Lots of roundabouts again, noticed that they do a lot of spot milling and overlaying on their bituminous roads, makes them look like a patchwork and, on some of the minor roads, made them rough as heck. Work zone signing is not good.

It was fun. Need to rest. No time to rest. The kids and I are leaving for camp in an hour. Kristine is going to Prague for an opera tomorrow.

-Peter

Booklust

Nothing like a catchy title to keep people coming back for more blog!

Last night we finished reading The Jungle Book as a family. Each night we take 15 minutes or so, gather up, and take turns reading out loud. I try to pick classics that appeal to all ages. We've read The Prince and the Pauper, Little Men, Sweetgrass, Heidi and now The Jungle Book.  One night during Heidi, when the reader stopped to pass the book to the next person, Silas, whom we'd thought was oblivious, snapped his head up from the blocks with which he was playing and asked, "What happens next?" with an urgent tone in his voice.  More is getting through than we realized.  Of late he transforms into Rikki-Tikki-Tavi (the heroic mongoose from The Jungle Book) in the twinkling of an eye and tries to engage us to be his ill-fated cobras.

I recently got word that my book club in Mankato read The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch. That inspired us to watch the lecture on youtube.  I miss the wise and witty women from my book club. I read very little here, mostly just plugging away at a really dense, scholarly book of Czech history.  It's the kind where I sometimes read a paragraph several times and still don't completely understand the author's point--I'm not sure why I'm torturing myself-- maybe because it's good for me, like brussel sprouts. 

Caleb also reads a lot less now that he is in public school - ironic, huh? Between fencing, violin, and World of Warcraft, it leaves him little time. My sister sent him the Sword of Shannara trilogy weighing in at 1,191 pages.  I'm hoping he at least finishes it before we leave, so we have enough weight allowance for Czech goodies instead.

Lucy has taken over as the big reader in the family, going through books like crazy. She has 22 books on the shelf above her bed and she's read them all at least once, some of them several times, since we've been here. Inspired by her love of the Kenneth Branagh and Emma Thompson film, she just read Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare, which we discovered in English at the local library.

Silas "reads" at naptime and bedtime mostly and really gobbles up the Frog and Toad readers and his Ladybug magazines.

Peter has become a reader again, too, and loves it.  He's read several fantasy and sci-fi books, particularly enjoying his re-reading of The Anubis Gates by Tim Powers.  He finds that his writing flows better when he's currently engaged in a book.

For those who have sent book-laden packages, we so appreciate it! And the USPS appreciates the injection of cash into their coffers.  We think we are set now; the library does have some books in English and spring is coming wherein the reading will taper off.

Reading in Czech is still not easy for me (the rest of the family doesn't even try). When I try to read Czech, I spend as much time with my nose in the dictionary as in the book.  They have a lot of differences between formal written Czech and conversational, so it's often necessary to learn two versions of the same words. Plus, when people take a moment to think about what they want to say, like most writers do (disregarding those writing facebook comments), they tend to use less common words in order to be more precise.

On Tuesday, Peter finished the first draft of his book. He's feeling a sense of accomplishment. Now comes the hard part of wordsmithing and editing, though. It's a race against the weather, because I'm sure that when the snow melts his bike will call out to him from the dark corner of the cellar and Peter will gladly respond.

Kristine

We Made It

We made it across the big pond. We're travel weary, yet energized at the same time.Arrival at our new home on Havlickova Street with all our possessions
(astute observers may notice one less suitcase than when we left).