On the cottage, in the nature, Part I: Overview

Of all my weekends in the Czech Republic, this one was most likely my Czechiest. I left Prague for a three-day holiday "on the cottage, in the nature," as Czechs, God bless 'em, like to say. (Although, to be fair, I once, while trying to show off my elementary level of Czech, told a young boy on the bus that his name was Baldy.)

The cottage, which belongs to the Special Assistant to the Blogger for a few more weeks, is in a village called Lhota, which boasts a population of seven. Located in the southern part of the country, a short jog from a town named after a lime tree, the cottage is where time stands still, and not just because the clock in the kitchen is stuck at 8:20.

The church across the street from the cottage.

We began the weekend by moving concrete slabs so the SAB could sink into the hole and turn on the water. The kitchen was heated by a stove that runs on wood and coal. If we needed hot water, we poured it from a kettle on the stove -- and that meant any warm shower was taken at a swimming pool 20 minutes away. The church across the street wasn't big enough to hold a basketball court. The local grocery store closed at 8. There was no Internet (OK, except on our cell phones ... we cheated), no TV, just us, Baldy, a visit from the Special Assistant's family, and constant visits from a friendly brown dog who bolted into the cottage the first chance he got. In other words, it was exactly what I needed.

The Special Assistant to the Blogger fires up the wood stove, which I guess made
me the Special Assistant to the Wood Stove Firer-Upper.

We used our base to visit several historic areas, including:

• Telč, a UNESCO World Heritage site with its colorful and well-preserved 16th-century housing in the city center.
• Kamenice nad Lipou, the closest town. It's named after a lime tree that remains in the castle garden.
• Jindřichův Hradec, home of the third-largest castle in the Czech Republic, although all we did was walk around the outside of it.
• Červená Lhota, a red chateau surrounded by a pond.
• České Budějovice, with its massive town square, distinct blue town hall and restaurant that dates to the middle ages.

Further posts and photos will follow, but I can't complete this post without mentioning Easter Monday, which is a national holiday here and other European countries (but not in the U.S.). Here, tradition dictates that men walk around holding sticks with decorative ribbons on the end. They seek out women and whack them on the butt with the stick. In return, they get eggs. I saw little boys out for a bit of fun holding sticks, I saw some women doing the same, as well as men who just looked like they waited all year for a day to smack a woman on the derriere with no reprisal. But most distinct of all is that the Czechs love this holiday despite being distinctly non-religious.

So anyway, that's the overview of my first weekend in the Czech countryside. More to come.

Baldy and his new friend.

Spring has unsprung, or recoiled, or whatever it is
you say when it starts snowing in April.