A Great Weekend

April 22 & 23

Saturday

The Train

This past Saturday was a special day here in Letohrad when a selection of local attractions were opened to the public either free or at half price.  There also was an 'auto train' to carry visitors to some of the sites.
There were nine participating sites as you can see from the photo of the flyer.   We opted not to take the train since we wanted to stay local and walk around a bit since the weather that day was very nice in relation to the bulk of April.  As we walked toward the main city park behind the Zámek Castle we noticed some activity on a couple of the benches.  According to Petr Fiala's Facebook (the town mayor) the carvings have just been installed and have been drawing a crowd of curious passer-byes who were sitting and clicking photos.

A Letohrad Dragon

As we continued up the hill adjacent to the park we noticed a familiar face; Eva, one of the teachers at the U Dvora elementary school at which we teach each week, was standing in front of a cave of sorts holding a padlock in her hands.  She had just unlocked the metal gate at the entrance.  It turns out it was one of the nine sites, Strašidelná Jeskyně or Spooky Cave.  We entered at our own risk since Eva told us a 4-year old had just emerged crying from the cave.  We boldly entered.  Inside was an assortment of dragons, the best I can describe them, with the main attraction at the end of the cave, complete with the leg of a half-eaten victim in it's mouth.  It was a pleasant find and one we had missed during the previous trips to Letohrad.

We dutifully moved upward as we neared the chapel along the ridge just outside the city.  The chapel was know to us since we had walked up there a couple time during previous trips, but it had never been open before.  But this walk was one of anticipation since the chapel (1734-36), dedicated to St. Jana Nepomuckého, was on the poster's list and was reported receiving visitors.  The trip up was unusually scenic since we had several different views of the valleys along both sides of the ridge line.

As we approached, the doors of the outer wall were flung wide and several hardy souls were passing through them.  As we entered the chapel itself we were quite taken aback at the interior.  It was built in a pentagon shape and had five complementary scenes on each wall on the five exterior faces of the center alter (I'm sure it's something else but that's as close as I can come).  The experience was completed by the soothing clarinet sounds of a young woman, placed discretely at the periphery of the chapel.

Saturday Night
That night we were the guest of Lida "Sr" and Lida "Jr" Stejskalovi at an event dubbed "Big Band Letohrad & Oktet Girls".  It turns out the band is composed of very talented musicians who have embraced the music of the big band era of the US.  This concert in Letohrad's 'Cultural House' featured the winner of the Czech's version of our 'American Idol' series.  Martin Chodúr was the 2009 winner of the Czech Superstar series.  To say we were surprised is an understatement.  We now understand why he is so popular across the country, especially to the nostalgic group.  There was one song, that if you closed your eyes, you would have been sure it was a Sinatra album.  We enjoyed the performance and the company. (Sorry, was not possible to get any photos but if you want to go to YouTube and type in 'BigBand Letohrad" you can get videos of the band from the last several years.)

Sunday Night
Sunday morning services were conducted by Renata since the pastor, Jiřina Kačenova, was presiding at the service in the preaching station in Písařov, several kilometers away.  I had the honor of reading a Bible passage and again enjoyed the songs, especially the one's geared toward the kids... could actually understand a few words. It's tough when the local 3-year olds speak better Czech than you.

That evening, we were invited to attend a session of ballroom dancing.  There is a course which meets weekly during the winter months. The instructors, Pavel and Pavlína Jantačovi, hold monthly 'demonstration' sessions to keep everyone sharp.  Several of the church members go to the dancing lessons.  Many of the youth also take dancing; it is very popular here.  Everyone was very gracious and accommodating as I barged in on their evening with my trusty iPhone camera in hand. Please click here to get a quick view at a wonderfully active evening.