52nd Birthday

Yesterday was a pretty cool day.  I celebrated my 52nd birthday with my family.  The last time I was with my family on my actual birthday is when I turned 18.

My nephew Kai plays the drums and he has been participating in a jazz camp at one of the local community colleges this week.   

As the final wrap-up he performed in a jazz concert that we all went to.  I look at it as getting a jazz concert for my birthday.  

It was pretty cool to see him do this thing.  Here's a video of his group performing.  

Afterwards, we came back to my sister's house and had dinner and cake.  

This has been a really nice holiday but it's hard to believe that it's already been three weeks.  Just one more day and then it's back to Euroland.

Petrov Birthday Wine Cellar Party

Yesterday we went to Petrov, about 4 km (2,5 miles) southeast of Strážnice, to celebrate his friend Verča's birthday. 

The area has about 80 wine cellars that date back to the 15th century.  

The wine cellars form a street with two squares and is frequently visited by wine tourists.  In the past, local farmers weren't able to build wine cellars under their houses due to the high groundwater level.  So instead, they set up cellars on a slope a short distance behind the village where it wasn't suitable for cultivation.

During WWII the cellars served as shelters for people who were illegally escaping from the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia to the Slovak puppet state.  

The wine cellar area was declared a monument reserve by a decree of the Ministry of Culture of the Czechoslovak Republic on 15 September 1983.  I understand that it took more than 10 years of effort before the government listed it as a monument.

The party was a lot of fun and obviously there was plenty of wine for the celebration.

Hustopeče, Czech Republic

Kája's birthday was three week ago but we've been busy with work so we decided to celebrate later.  I surprised him with a wellness weekend in Hustopeče.

Hustopeče is a town about 30 km (~19 miles) southeast of Brno, located between Brno and Břeclav.  It is home to about 6.000 people and it is known for almonds and wine.

The area was settled by Germans in the 13th century who called it Auspitz and its first mention was in 1247.  The Germans brought viticulture to the area.  From the start of the 14th century to 1599, Hustopeče was owned by St. Thomas's Abbey in Brno.

In 1572, Hustopeče was given town status by the Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian II.  It belonged to the House of Liechtenstein from 1599 to 1848.  In the mid-18th century, Hustopeče was Moravia's largest wine-growing municipality.   

Following WWI, and the end of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the area became part of the newly independent Czechoslovakia.  After the 1938 Munich Agreement, which gave the Sudetenland to Germany, the Nazis took over.  It then became part of the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia.  

The 1910 census indicated that most of the town's inhabitants were ethnic Germans.  After WWII, the German-speaking population, even those who lived here prior to the Nazis, were expelled due to the Beneš decrees.

Almond growing is not that common in Central Europe.  It dates back to the 17th century.  In an effort to supplement food during Communism, the first large-scale orchards were planted in 1949.  

A lot of the almonds goes to making mandlovice (almond brandy).  The almond version of slivovice.  

There are three versions - normal, coffee-flavoured, and cherry-flavoured.  The original mandlovice is my favourite of all of the Czech "-ovices", followed by merunkovice, hruškovice, slivovice, and jablkovice (Calvados).

The town's main landmark is the Church of Saints Wenceslaus and Agnes of Bohemia.  The church was built in 1994 on the site of the original church that dated back to the early 14th century.  

The Baroque plague column dates back to 1736.

The Žumberák fountain dates back to 1595.  It used to be one of the town's few sources of drinking water.

Town Hall

The Neo-Renaissance town hall was built in 1906.  

Dům U Synků

The Dům U Synků is a Renaissance house dating back to 1579.  It was renovated in 2001and today the building is used for cultural purposes.  It is home to the City Museum and a Gallery.

The House of Lords of Vizovice was built from 1488 to 1492.  It was renovated in 2002.

At Calvary Hill is the Chapel of St. Rocha that was built in the 17th century during a plague epidemic.  It sits in a park overlooking the town.

T.G. Masaryk, the first president of Czechoslovakia lived in Hustopeče from 1861 to 1868.  There is a 2 km (1.25 mile) trail that can be followed to see places associated with the family. 

His parents are buried in the town cemetery.

Near the town cemetery is the Red Army cemetery.  There are 101 individual graves and a total of 1.875 Soviet soldiers buried here.  Renovations that took place in 2005 were financed by Russia.

The earliest known Jewish community in Hustopeče was during the 15th century.  The Jewish cemetery dates back to 1886 with the last known burial taking place prior to 1942.  During the German occupation the cemetery was vandalised, and later the Communists removed all of the gravestones in the 1980s.  Now there is just a memorial plaque for the town's Jewish population that perished during the Holocaust.

The train from Brno to Hustopeče takes 45 minutes and we arrived at our hotel on Friday evening.  I booked us in at Hotel Amande and really enjoyed our stay.

The hotel restaurant was excellent and on Saturday we had the full wellness experience complete with a private relaxation room and massages.

I hear that from the second half of March to the beginning of April, the almond orchards are covered with pink flowers.  I'm sure that its beautiful and we'll need to make a return trip to visit some of the local wine cellars. 

Lucie's Birthday 2023

On Saturday, we were at the chata to celebrate Lucie's birthday.  

It's hard to believe that it's already been a year since we celebrated her last birthday.

Due to covid restrictions, she still hasn't been able to take her long awaited trip to South Korea.  So we continued our Asian theme again this year with more karaoke and soju.  Hopefully she'll finally be able to take her holiday this year.

Ale's 40th Birthday

Yesterday was Ale's 40th birthday party.  She had people over to her flat in Řečkovice.  She had several friends over for Mexican food and festivities.

It was a party with other expats.  I only knew a few people but everyone was really nice.  

It also gave me an opportunity to use my Spanish which seems to be getter more and more rusty.      

A Couple of Birthday Cards

I received a couple of birthday cards in the mail today.  My folks mailed their card from Arizona on 12 July and my aunt and uncle mailed there's from California on 14 July.  Two weeks isn't that bad.  During Covid mail was taking much longer because there were so few flights between the USA and Euroland.

Pre-Birthday Care Package

It's been a while since I received a care package from the USA.  I'm not complaining mind you.  The cost to mail a care parcel from the USA has increased to $77 and now there's VAT due on everything.  After more than a decade here I'm just not as dependent on getting things from back home.  If there's something that I really need I can find in locally or at least on Amazon.  Of course there are some things that I can't find.  I can't remember the last time that I had Rocky Road ice cream and it's not like I can have ice cream mailed to me.  

I was working from home today when the postman buzzed my door.  I was surprised because I hadn't ordered anything but here was a box from my sister in California.  I had to pay 120 Kč ($5.40) for VAT due which I could pay with my iPhone.  It's still two weeks until my birthday so I should wait until then to open up my presents.  I do know that there's a box of corn muffin mix and according to the custom's form there should be some socks.  I can't wait to see what all she sent me.

Aleš' 4Oth Birthday

Yesterday we celebrated Aleš' 40th birthday out at the chata.  It's hard to believe that this chap is 40.  It was a lot of fun hanging out and talking with everyone.  

And of course, there was karaoke.  I swear that I haven't done this much karaoke since I was last in Japan back in 1999.  I guess at some point I'll have to post some videos of the chata karaoke.  Eventually...not yet.  I usually sing in either English or German but maybe with some practice I'll post video singing in Czech.  Something to look forward to I guess. 

Lucie's Birthday

Yesterday was Lucie's birthday so it was a great excuse for another karaoke party out at Honza and Aníčka's cottage.  

Lucie has been patiently waiting to rebook her holiday to Korea which was cancelled due to Covid travel restrictions.  That and her love of K-pop meant that we had an Asian inspired birthday party complete with  K-pop karaoke and Soju.   

Honza & Aníčka

It was a lot of fun!!  

I seem to have made the list because after Vašek's birthday, I was invited to both the Christmas party and New Year's parties.  Now Lucie's birthday and it looks like Aleš will have his birthday at the cottage in February.  

I did my best to sing a bit of K-pop but I only know a few songs.  Not that my singing in English, German, or Czech is anyway better.  Next week several of us are going out for Korean BBQ in Brno.  I can't wait for that!

Vašek's Birthday Party

On Saturday Vašek had a little birthday celebration at a friend's chata in Jundrov which is a Brno suburb about 15-20 minutes away by bus.

A chata is basically a weekend cottage used by the city folks to get away from the city and to spend some time in the countryside enjoying nature.  Not all cottages are the same.  Some are kind rustic without any electricity or running water while others can be very extravagant.  

The popularity of these weekend cottages dates back to the First Czechoslovak Republic when people first felt the need to get away from the city.  Then during communism it was almost impossible for people to travel outside of the country, except to other communist countries and even then I hear it wasn't exactly easy.  During this time, cottages were the easiest way how to spend your holidays someplace other than at home.

I believe that Czechs rank second in the world, just behind Sweden, for the number of cottages per capita.

I wrote before about the "golden Czech hands."  If I didn't believe it it before then I definitely do now.  Prior to the party starting some of the guys took a cardboard fruit box and screwed it to the ceiling so that it would hold a projector in order for us to have a screen for some karaoke.  I can't believe that it actually worked.

Vašek and Aleš were the only guys I knew.  Vašek warned me that my Czech would get a workout and it did.  I also got to speak German, some English, and even use my now rusty Spanglish.  

There were probably around 30+ people at the party.  People grilled out and there was plenty of liquid courage to enable all of the karaoke.  As this was my first time here I'll spare everyone the painful videos.

Everyone was so nice and I've already been invited back for future events.  I can't wait!

Birthday Legos

While Claudia has been staying with me for the last week, Tünde has been with her dad.  He dropped her off so today was the first time I've seen her in a year due to Covid restrictions.  She has gotten so tall.

She loves Legos so for my birthday she gave me the new diversity set.  

I can't remember the last time I actually played with Legos but we had fun putting them together.