A weekend visit to our Czech mates: day 1
It’s two years since I’ve been to Prague [my blog posting here], but this weekend I made my 23rd visit in as many years [my notes on city here]. The reason for all these trips is partly that my wife Vee is half Czech and her father was a famous wartime night fighter ace [brief biographical details here] and partly because we have friends of 26 years in Prague who are as close to us as family [my obituary to our friend Pavel here].
I wasn’t supposed to be going to the Czech Republic this weekend. For many months, the plan had been that Vee and her twin sister Mari would attend an air display in Pardubice where they would receive a medal commemorating their father’s exploits. But Mari’s husband Derek fell off a ladder and fractured a bone in his spine, so Mari pulled out of the trip and Vee asked me to accompany her instead.
We flew over late on Friday and spent the whole of Saturday with our Prague ‘family’: Tamara (Pavel’s widow) and her three ‘children’ Vojta, Kaca and Martin.
Tamara (back) with (L to R) Vojta, Martin & Kaca
On Saturday morning, Vee and I went for a walk with Vojta and his partner Kacenka around the city centre of Prague. The weather was unbelievably hot – 36C/97F in the sun.
View of Prague Castle from the Charles Bridge
Then, in the afternoon, we all drove an hour or so outside Prague to a place called Blanik to meet an aunt of Kacenka’s and celebrate her birthday. Blanik is a hill of 638 metres (2,093 feet) and the celebration was at the summit. It was quite a tough climb in such hot conditions.
Vee climbs Blanik hill looking for dormant knights
I rarely drink beer but at the top I was never so pleased to have a cold bottle. Among the family and friends at the summit, there were five school children whom I befriended. They were very keen to try out their school English which was fine by me because the Czech I learned over two decades ago is very weak now.
Roger with five new Czech mates
There is a famous Czech legend about the hill at Blanik which promises that, when the country is at the time of its greatest need, knights will arise from the mountain and come to the nation’s rescue.
However, they did not appear in 1938 when the Nazis invaded or in 1948 when the Communists took over or in 1968 when the Warsaw Pact invaded or in 1989 when the velvet revolution took place. Clearly they are waiting for some real trouble.
Back in Prague, we visited Tamara’s mother Jarmila who will be 90 this week. Then Vee and I took the family out for an Italian meal and a catch up with all the news since our last visit.