from Bird:
We are in Jindřichův Hradec, about thirty miles or fifty kilometers from Tábor. We rode here yesterday and found a great Pension near the main square. Today is July 27, 2008 and it has been days since our last posting. After our escape from Benešov by plasticky bike into Votice we took a train the next day to Tábor. I will never forget the feeling of getting off the train after a long cold rainy day and the sun coming out on the main street in Tábor with its winding cobblestone streets and modern artsy wares. Tábor was originally an effective fortress established by the Hussites, a Christian sect started by Jan Hus. Later it was renovated into a town with amazing architecture but the underground tunnels and individualistic flare remain.
We found a wonderful Pension near the main square with a Native American motif and for three mornings after our breakfast of bread, cheese and ham we would ask to rent our room for another night. On our first day in Tábor I bought a phone card and called my parents for the first time. It was two in the afternoon here and they were diligently getting ready for work at eight in the morning. They almost did not pick up because of the weird number but it was a fun ten minute call that cost a little over a dollar a minute. After this we went to a restaurancé on the square, The Havana Club, and met Mía and Charlie. They are friends who were both born in Czech. Mía and her husband (a cinematographer who died several years ago) lived in L.A. for 30 years while he taught at UCLA and she worked with the international students. Charlie traveled around living in different countries and came back after the Soviet period of "impotence" to open a lovely jazz bar called, of course, Charlie´s Jazz Club, down an alley from the main square. Mía invited us to her cottage the next day located in a village about six miles from Tábor. We were delighted by the invitation but got lost during our half-hearted attempt to bike there and so ended up taking the flowers we bought for her to Charlie´s Jazz Club. Charlie was very happy to see us and some others joined us at our table so that in the end we were a table of "global citizens." Charlie and Michael jammed a bit and Charlie told us stories about all of the famous musicians he has met. We had lively discussions as all present spoke at least a little English and there was another American present from California. We were all able to agree on one thing ... the music program in the square was "bullshit." After several hours and rounds of mad dog shots we became "galactic citizens" and Charlie told us he was really "a negro," because he has jazz in his blood. We left Charlie´s and somehow ended up paying for the all of the citizens at our table ... maybe they will make a statue for us in the town square.
We planned to leave the morning after Charlie´s and had only stayed because of the rain that day but in the morning curiosity and a strange sense of duty got the better of us and we took a round trip to Pišec to see the Bohemian Bluegrass Festival. It was poorly attended and expensive but worth the trip for the brief video clip we got of our favorite band.
That brings us back to Jindřchúv Hradec, where we are in need of lunch. The most amazing thing here to me are the Storks in a giant nest on a very tall chimney in the center of town. I am off to continue my search for a post card of the Storks as our camera will not focus that far.
Tomorrow we bike again!
