by Ellen Kozisek
Our plane left Kansas City at 12 noon. We flew to Newark, where we switched planes and continued on to Prague. The scenery when landing in Newark was really interesting. I'm used to seeing farmland and cities. No farmland in sight in Newark. Instead there are large tracks of forests. Makes me more appreciate deforestation seeing forestation from the air like that. It's all trees and buildings. During the whole flight from Newark to Prague it was cloudy, so we didn't get to see anything. It was a long flight, 7 1/2 hours. We tried to get some sleep on the plane. We arrived in Prague around 7:30 a.m. The landing in Prague wasn't that spectacular. From the air it didn't look all that different from Kansas City. We didn't do much on Tuesday. Relaxed in the hotel. Four of us went for a walk in the afternoon to find a bank to get money. I used the ATM with my Visa check card. The ATMs ask you what language. There was a choice of Czech, German, English, and one other language. Tuesday night we spent in Prague.
On Wednesday we drove to Olomouc (we had 2 rented cars). We spent 2 nights there. Olomouc is in Moravia, which is the Easternmost part of the Czech Republic. In the afternoon we saw some of the sights in Olomouc. This was our first taste of an old section of a Czech city. Thursday we went up to Opava, near the Polish border. Friday was our day for driving from Olomouc to Hluboka, which is north of Ceske Budejovice in Southern Bohemia. It was a very full day. We left after breakfast. In early afternoon we went to Punkva Cave. We had to drive off the major highways to get there. There was also an abyss by the cave, and from the cave we were able to see the abyss from the bottom. After the cave we had a late lunch (or early dinner) and then drove through Blatnice, where one of Mike's ancestors is from, and then went to Hluboka. An interesting and unexpected thing was driving by a nuclear power plant on our way to Blatnice. We were out in the country, and then there's the power plant, out there in the middle of nowhere.
On Saturday we went to see the castle in Hluboka. The castle was originally built in the 13th century. It was renovated in the 1800s, and modeled after Windsor Castle. It is a beautiful castle. At least on the outside, it is not at all typical of a Czech castle. Most Czech castles are quite plain on the outside. After that we went down to Ceske Budejovice. We climbed up in the Black Tower to see the view, and we shopped. In the evening we relaxed.
Sunday morning we went to church. It sounded like the priest gave a really good sermon. Unfortunately, since it was in Czech and I didn't understand a bit of it, it was quite boring to sit through. The mass itself was easy enough to follow. They didn't ring bells at the consecration, so, since I don't understand Czech there were no audio cues to the consecration. Luckily I managed not to miss it.
After mass we headed out for some driving. We drove up to Pisek and ate lunch there. Pisek is where Jan Benedix was from. After that we went to visit someone a friend of Ed's had stayed with. We chatted for a while (or rather, Ed and the lady did) and ate strudel. Then we toured the farm yard (with Ed translating for us). Afterwards we drove through Zbesicky, were the Vistejns were from, and Bojenice, were the Stejskals were from. We returned to Pisek and visited the cemetery where Jan Benedix's parents are buried (if they had a tombstone it is no longer there). Then we returned to our hotel.
The next day we returned to Prague. Most of the group just used it as a day to relax, but Mike, Ed, and I headed for the State Regional Archives for the Central region in the afternoon. We took the Metro (subway) into town and then walked the rest of the way. Mike found the birth record of one of his ancestors, Katherine Milacek.
On Tuesday we went to Plzen (now with a rented van with a driver). Mike spent the whole day in the archives researching Frank Kozisek/Flemming. In the morning Ed went with him. The rest of us saw the church, climbed the tower, and went shopping in the town square. Ed and Mike joined us for lunch and in the afternoon I went with Mike to the archives. We did not find a record for Frank Flemming before the day was up, but we did find a birth record for a Frank Kozisek whom we believe is related. Mike plans to write to the archives to check that town for a birth record for his ancestor Frank Flemming.
On Wednesday we headed east. First we went to Podrebrady to visit the glass factory. We toured the factory and then went shopping at the factory store. Then we went down to Kutna Hora, where we visited St. Barbora's church and an ossuary (place with people's bones). We concluded our day with a drive through Strampouch and Bratcice.
Thursday morning we had a tour of Prague. We saw Prague Castle and St. Vitus Cathedral--which was filled with tourists. Then we walked down through lesser town, across the Charles bridge, and into old town. We ate lunch at Planet Hollywood (an American restaurant, and quite expensive by Czech standards). After lunch some of the group stayed in central Prague, however Mike and Janet and I returned to the hotel to relax for a while (and Janet to change). We returned to old town in the evening for a boat cruise (which included dinner). The boat cruise was really nice.
On Friday it was time to head back. We had a long day. (31 hours to be precise, with 20 hours of traveling.) We left the hotel about 9:30. Our plane left for Newark at Noon, a 10 1/2 hour flight. On the way to Newark we got to see Greenland. Greenland is beautiful from the air. Because of the timing of the flights we had to wait in the Newark airport about 2 1/2 hours (after getting through immigration and customs) for our flight to Kansas City. The plane was boarded on time, but then it was an hour before we got off the ground, making our return to Kansas City even later than we expected.