(time stamp 1/Sept)
On 29th August, Heidi and I were up by 8, and packed and heading to the station by mid morning. We said farewell at the station as we went to find our respective trains.
My destination was the area round České Budějovice where some family friends are from. Mirek, an English teacher, met my sister many years ago while on a British Council course for foreign teachers of English, in Durham. At that time it was very difficult for people in Eastern Europe to get permits from their own country to cross the iron curtain to travel in the West, and the only reason Mirek was allowed to go was because his then wife Martina and daughter Katka stayed behind. I visited them all, in 1986 before communism started to thaw, and their kindness and hospitality in the face of economic and political hardship was remarkable.
I leafed through some Newsweek magazines that Heidi had given me, as the rather slow train made its way south through Bohemia to the town of Tabor, where I got off. I had 90 minutes to see the town, and have lunch. The main square was beautiful and looked like it could be film set for period dramas.
From Tabor, I got another slow local train to Veselí and then an even slower one to the town of Jindrichuv Hradec, where Mirek and his new wife Marta now live. I was able to navigate my way to their house by walking a couple of km round the bypass. I found the correct apartment building, and when the door opened I got a tremendous welcome. I was introduced to Marta and the new baby, Suzie.
After returning Marta’s mother to her assisted living centre, Mirek and Marta gave me a quick tour of Jindrichuv Hradec, then we all went back for local beer. The beer tradition in this area is very strong – the nearby town of České Budějovice (whose German name is Budweis) has the original Budweiser Budvar brewery.
For most of the 20th century, Budweiser Budvar has been at loggerheads with the US company Anheuser-Busch over the rights to use the name “Budweiser” for the tasteless aqueous “beer” that is marketed under that name in the USA. Mirek gave me a proper Budweiser Budvar beer… and it was very good indeed.
Mirek had already gone to work by the time I got up on 30th August. I had a halting conversation with Marta using the very little German that I knew, which roughly coincided with the little German that she knew. I listened to the Andean folk music tapes that I’d bought in Kraków, while getting my diary up to date.
Later we went to Mirek’s school, but he had another hour of work to do so Marta took me to a nearby museum. This had an amazing nativity scene model, with well over 1000 figures, many of which moved. It was the result of 60 years of work by a local craftsman, and covered 3 walls of the large room it was in.
Mirek finished with his classes for the day and after lunch we drove to the neighbouring town of Studená which was a small but very attractive town. After dinner and another pub to sample more the excellent local beer we headed back to Jindrichuv Hradec.
Mirek had picked up a video camera the previous and was using it to record Suzie when I got up on 31st August. Later Mirek and I went for a bike ride up to some nearby hills. It was beautiful rolling scenery with forests dotted around. The day ended like the previous one with a visit to the pub to try yet another variety of the local beer.
September finally arrived, and it started with a lazy morning. In the afternoon we went to the house of some friends of Mirek and Marta, where Mirek wanted to consult regarding some doubt he had about his video camera. After watching a few tapes that Mirek had filmed, it was decided all was fine. We went out into the back garden for some photos – I managed to get in one of them, with Mirek and Suzie.
Finally we headed back to Jindrichuv Hradec, picking up a hitchhiker on the way. Mirek plugged in an electronic keyboard and let me have a go at playing piano tunes. Then it was time to head to bed for my last night in Eastern Europe.