Visiting my mother's birth place - Urspitz, Czech Republic

We met Karel (a friend of a friend of my mother) in front of the Ve Cafe where we stayed the night. He had asked the front desk man/waiter if we were there. I think he asked for a Schutz. He did not know our names. Regardless, we still met up. He was very concerned with our travels to Vienna and wanted to help us out. It was very difficult to explain to him that we bought a train pass (the Eurail Pass). He kept saying what I think was that the train was more expensive than the bus. He drove us to his house in his car that is a lot like my old Geo Metro. We met his Frau (wife) who was very nice. We tried very hard to communicate in German. It seemed like there was not a single person in the whole town who spoke any English. Not everyone spoke German and we definitely do not know Czech.

Finally, they found a college student off of the street who helped us explain to them that we do have a train ticket. He explained to us that Karel would drive us to Brno. Unfortunately, he was impatient to go somewhere and ran out the door.

We walked to the river and said, "Dobry den" to the fishermen. We went back to the house for a delicious lunch of pork meat loaf, mashed potatoes, and canned bell peppers. I showed some pictures of my family and they showed us some of their pictures.

He then drove us to the cemetery and we looked for a Schutz grave. There were a lot of new stones and a few unreadable old stones. Unfortunately, we did not find my uncle Reinfried Schutz’s grave.

We went to mass in the church that my mother attended when she was young. It was a wonderful feeling being there. We met the priest and were able to communicate to him that my mother was from here and that we were from California. He was very kind and happy to meet us.

After mass we walked over to the house that my mother was born in. The lady was very happy to show us the house and let me take photos for Mama. The house changed a bit but we found out that the kitchen where my mother was born was now the dining room. I was most touched when I saw the old well in the back yard. I could see Mama drawing water from it as a little girl.

Tomorrow we are off to Vienna to visit my second cousin and explore the city.

Dobry den.

Where in the world is Bernie’s birthday party? (Insert Carmen San Diego theme song)

Continuing with the clues to were we are going for Bernie’s birthday, here is the next clue;

1.) This place has been inhabited since prehistoric time. Over 6,500 dwellings have been identified.
2.) This place is home to a colony of miniature albino donkeys.
3.) The language is based on Latin but still bears the influence of the ancient languages of the Nuraghic period (such as the word Nuraghe itself) as well as smatterings of Catalan, Corsican, Arabic, Phonecian and Genoese... legacies left by the many invaders.

One person so far has guessed correctly! Congratulations to Martha Fosnaugh.