Jul-8: Our first day in the Czech Republic, we bravely drove in to the Prague city center (our GPS doesn’t have a Czech map) and did most of usual things. Prague is a beautiful city and we enjoyed a full day of sight-seeing.
Charles Bridge
Jul-9: The next day we decided to get out of the city and drove to Karlstejn castle in the morning. The long uphill hike was worth seeing the magnificent fortress constructed in the 14th century. We returned back to our campground south of Prague to regroup. We had tried to contact our Czech relatives (on my Father’s Mother’s side) that morning and wanted to see if they had left us a message at the desk. No luck. Despite not having an address, we decided to drive to Sobeslov to see if Dad could remember where the house was he visited 10 years ago with Grant. It was about a 90 minute drive and with no hesitation, Dad directed us right to the house of Ales and Zdenka.
Zdenka was just a teenager when my parents visited in 1972 and Elise and I had heard stories about the run-ins they had with the Police when they were together. Czechoslovakia was a scary place back then, oppressed by a Communist government. They were fined a couple times for minor offenses and could never feel at ease.
We found Ales and Zdenka in their garden and were welcomed warmly. Though we could only communicate through German, a second language for both parties, we had a fun time conversing and catching up. Elise and I were able to get a taste of the Czech hospitality that our parents were able to experience nearly 40 years earlier. It was very moving to see the effort they made to make distant relatives who show up unannounced feel welcome. We are so blessed to be able to make these special connections.
The next day, July 10th, we spent a very enjoyable afternoon in Cesky Budejovice with Zdenka’s parents – Zdenek and Zdenka – and her 22 year old daughter, also named Zdenka (yes, there are 3 Zdenkas in a row), who spoke perfect German and good English. That evening we headed south to Cesky Krumlov and camped there for the night. My father places a very high value on camping in close proximity to any body of water. This particular night, on the Vlatava river, we were nearly blown into the raging torrent by the gale force winds. Still, no complaining is allowed.
July 11th - We went into the city center of Cesky Krumlov and saw the castle before driving to Vienna.
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