On Steve's birthday, he and his traveling companions met up with Rasto, who translates and gives geneaological tours in Europe. They got the singular treat of taking a trip to Kadov, south of the capital. It's the area that Steve's great-grandparents came from. (Now might be a good time to remind everyone who's on this trip: Steve, Emilyn, Steve's cousins Laura and Brian, and Steve's aunt Ellen.)
On the van ride there, Steve felt a little queasy. But he had an answer for that: Had meat & potatoes in cream sauce and .5 liter of Deep beer. Pretty good. It settled my stomach after the ride in. I don't think that's how most of us would settle our stomachs, dear!
Their guides in Kadov and Malkov were Emilie Augustinova and her husband, Pan Augustin. Emilie was an old friend of Steve's great-grandmother's family. The gang posed for a picture in front of Steve's great-grandfather's old house. They laid flowers at the Rencova grave and saw the famous Rocking Stone, and even met the mayor of Kadov! They drove to Malkov and and saw where Steve's great-grandmother had lived.
They also met an actual, distant living relative, Pan Smetana, who was selling whipped honey in Malkov. Whipped honey? Mmmmmm!
When they got back to Prague, they headed to "Lesser Town" and Mesenace for Steve's birthday dinner.
From Steve's journal:
Had huge meat platter, beef, duck, pork and chicken, and three kinds of sauce. ... Turns out this place has been around since at least 1627, when the local executioner signed the wall. There's a frame on the wall; it's still there!
To see all the photos from Steve's 40th birthday in the land of his forebears, click here.
1 comment:
OK, I'll try this again. After the ride way in the back of Rasto's van, I was feeling a bit queezy. So, the first thing that Pani Augustinova says is that she has prepared a little snack for us. A little snack turned out to be a big bowl of self butchered meat (beef we're told) and potatoes in a cream sauce. And since you can't have a snack, or anything else over there without it, we also got a half litre bottle of Deep beer. The beer was a bit sweet and the snack was delicious and they calmed my stomach right down.
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