First stop after Prague was to Trebic to visit my mom's oldest brother Joseph. Like my grandfather, he was a doctor and is retired now. He liked to hunt, collected knives and swords and had an impressive collection of antlers on his wall.
We had fun taking these!
See the sword on the right of this picture? He also showed us his pistols! Since that's one major difference between Canada and the USA, we were rather impressed and wondered what in the world he had them for.
There they are, brother and sister. It was funny to be able to relate to my mom not only as mother-daughter but mutually understand our lot in life as youngest children and only girls in our families of origin. I forgot we had this in common!
My uncle Joseph has four sons, only one of which had I met before. This is Pavel (Paul), he now works as an oncologist in London, England and is a member of the prestigious Royal Council of Physicians. He came to Canada when I was still in grade school (I forget how old I was), I just remember being a walking Engish dictionary for him, so I think it is safe to say I had something to do with his success in mastering English!
We went for a walk to the Jewish Quarter.
And so did these ducks.
My uncle took us on a tour of the Basilica (12th century) in Trebic. The basilica is a jewel of European medieval architecture. Its design represents a transition between the Romanesque style and the Gothic style. At some points in its history it was used as a market, beer cellar...even a stable to keep horses, until it was finally restored.
Here we are walking out with the guides, one of whom was just learning how to be a guide. She was from Mongolia and her Czech was great!
We had fun taking these!
See the sword on the right of this picture? He also showed us his pistols! Since that's one major difference between Canada and the USA, we were rather impressed and wondered what in the world he had them for.
There they are, brother and sister. It was funny to be able to relate to my mom not only as mother-daughter but mutually understand our lot in life as youngest children and only girls in our families of origin. I forgot we had this in common!
My uncle Joseph has four sons, only one of which had I met before. This is Pavel (Paul), he now works as an oncologist in London, England and is a member of the prestigious Royal Council of Physicians. He came to Canada when I was still in grade school (I forget how old I was), I just remember being a walking Engish dictionary for him, so I think it is safe to say I had something to do with his success in mastering English! 
We went for a walk to the Jewish Quarter.
And so did these ducks.
My uncle took us on a tour of the Basilica (12th century) in Trebic. The basilica is a jewel of European medieval architecture. Its design represents a transition between the Romanesque style and the Gothic style. At some points in its history it was used as a market, beer cellar...even a stable to keep horses, until it was finally restored.
Here we are walking out with the guides, one of whom was just learning how to be a guide. She was from Mongolia and her Czech was great!