A Full Week

The Annapolis Group
This was a different past week since the LCCers were here for 'Language, Culture and Church'.  Allison, Heather, Jenn and Rebecca produced and presented topics ranging from food, to arts to the

Allison, Heather, Rebecca and Jenn at work.

Thank You Gifts handed out by Jirina 

more technical areas of health policy and astronautics (yea, I was impressed).  The format was a bit different from the past Tutoring Sessions in that there was a joint activities period beginning each night and afterwards, the attendees were divided into four groups which rotated through each of the four LCCers during the week - Friday's session was joint and included activities and an assessment period from both perspectives.  Feedback from the Letohrad perspective has been very positive and I know the LCCers experienced the inevitable Czech hospitality and love.  Also on the agenda was various local trips and regular meals from several church members.  I will let them brief you on all that but just wanted to highlight the outing that B.J. and I joined with the group.

The Usti bikers.

The Faltejskovi (Bob and Jana) and Suchomelovi (Katka and 14-month old Johanka) families guided a bicycle trip from Letohrad to Ústí nad Orlici on the superb bike path along the river (read that no hills!!).  It was a beautiful day and a marvelous bike ride - especially for Johanka who enjoyed the behind-the-bike carriage.  Johanka was a very disciplined participant except when we stopped a bit too long for rest - she always encouraged us to keep going (not to mention her brum-burm sounds to help Katka power the carriage forward)!  Lunch and a quick return trip rounded out the day.

The Festival
It seems that each year about this time Letohrad hosts a Festival or 'funfair'.  It can best be described

Street Crowd
(Novy Dvur in background)

as the Delaware State Fair, Czech style.  It was a bit shy on animals - there was a pony ride for the kids- but heavy on the usual carnival rides and 'nourishing' food and various sweets.  We were told this is the second largest fair in the Czech Republic outside of Prague; it seems there is a lot of open space here available for all the attractions and has been a tradition for many years.  Hoards of people from the surrounding areas come by car, train and bus for the fun.  In that the fair paralyzed the entire town, it was a bit like Boat Show in Annapolis; the locals decried

The town was closed for the three days.

the congestion, closed streets and hassle while the attendees relished in a weekend of screaming kids, strutting teenagers and blaring speakers.  I was quite amazed at the size of the crowds that transformed the usual rural town into a bustling small city. Over the course of the three days that the fair was here, B.J. and I joined several of the church members in beverages, food and the various rides.  The rides were very impressive, ranging from

The 'dangerous' Swan Ride
(with 5G Bungee
 and Petr, Katka & Johanka in background)

those for quite young kids to the challenging 5G force giant bungee.  B.J. ventured on the 'frightening' swan ride in conspiracy with Johanka accompanied by Katka and Petr.  I, on the other hand, suffered through the bumper cars, the sky rider, some knee-weakening swinging contraption, the swinging pirate ship and the roller coaster.   The entire downtown was converted into a carnival midway.   And every square meter of the main street was packed with sales booths for various nick-knacks, food and beer.   Of particular interest was the logistics and sheer engineering that went into the setup/teardown.  Some of the rides were like movie Transformers that morphed from a large truck

The Castle from the Swan

into a merry-go-round or some other attraction.  The larger rides did require some external equipment (like semi-trucks and a sky crane to put up two of the taller adult rides) but they appeared and disappeared magically.  Some rides were still in operation late Sunday afternoon but all were gone and the streets clean by 9:30 the next morning.





The Bands at the Chapel
Last night, Monday, the day after the Festival, we ventured up the hill (I mean up!) to the mid-18th

Vaclav (left) & Sisters/Brother-in-Law

A Great Venue

century chapel of St. Jana Nepomuckého.  I mentioned this place in an earlier blog when we had a chance to go inside to see the 5-sided alter.  There has been a tradition for the past few years that immediately after the funfair, there is an evening of band concerts in the chapel.  The chapel itself is surrounded by a semi-covered courtyard  - an ideal site for a small venue.  Benches were set up in the covered and uncovered areas and four bands played beginning at 5:30 until around 10:30.  The story we got was that

Bluegrass Czech Style

traditionally the concerts were held on consecutive days prior to the Festival but that became too cumbersome and now all bands play one evening immediately after the fair.  Of interest, the first band was composed of a single family unit; one brother, two sisters and one brother-in-law. The brother in the group turned out to be Vaclav Vychytil, Petra's husband (formerly Faltejsková) who played bass and sang.  They were very good!  Of the four bands, however, our very favorite was number three which featured Czech language Bluegrass.  Jim Botluck, you would have loved them!! A marvelous tradition and a wonderful night out.