My brother, Henry Thomas Leitke, came to visit me in the Czech Republic. Here is what we did: 1. First, we did all the touristy stuff, but we did it quickly and with full awareness that it was the necessary evil standing in our way of having some fun. We visited the castle, visited a few enormous and awe inspiring cathedrals that were apparently decorated by the same person, and went to the flea markets to rustle through the piles of magnetic bottle openers, offensively labeled t-shirts and iron-on patches that say “Prague Drinking Team‼” (these are for the British cromagnon-fratboys who come over in hordes to drink beer for a bit cheaper than in London.)
2. Next, we went to one of the oldest and best preserved medieval towns in Eastern Europe, Cesky Krumlov. We walked ye olde streets and drank ye olde local ale (500 years olde!) and enjoyed some really beautiful and well kept gardens. There are two bears kept in a pit under the castle bridge. The town has a particular charm to it; it is like all the good parts of Prague with none of the bad ones.
3.We went rafting down the Vltava River for a day and cruised in to various pubs and restaurants on the banks. This is the trip we met Andrew from Nairobi, Kenya, Vanessa from Melbourne, Australia and some British girl. This is also the trip where I contracted a viral infection in my lungs because the river is still polluted from communist (and to a lesser extent, post communist) chemical and sewage dumping (information that came just a little too late).
4. My infection was aggravated by our next day, a completely random and unplanned for 11 hour hike/wander through Southern Bohemia with our new friends from the raft. The first 9 hours were beautiful; it was the last two, the ones during the thunderstorm, that I think put me over the edge. We meandered from small rural town to smaller rural town, up and down the rolling hills; it was really a nice experience of the Czech countryside. The torrential downpour that soaked my body to the bone was only endurable due to the circular cheerfulness Henry and I cultivated. It would be dishonest to take all of the credit for our heartiness in weathering the storm, our upbeat pace through the grey tumult was also due, in no small part, to Paul Simon’s album Graceland, which we sung from beginning to end and back again. Our spirits were definitely not bolstered by the stone faced owner of a roadhouse pub that turned us out into the rain and cold without allowing us to call for a taxi of ever get a shot of whisky to warm our downtrodden souls.
5. We went rock climbing at the local crag.
6. We played Age Of Empires III: The War Chiefs and Age Of Empires III: The Asian Dynasties. I was the war chief Runs-With-Horses of the Sioux Indians who inhabited the American Great Plains and Henry was the mighty Tokugawa shogunate of 1500’s Imperial Japan.
7. We ate 500g steaks (that’s 1.1 pounds of meat) that were served on sizzling pieces of granite and washed them down with fresh and malty Pilsners.
And so, it was a good trip. I hope he can take something back with him, a wider perspective, a new outlook on possibilities for the future, a new appreciation for beer…but all in all it was just good to see my brother.
Stay tuned for new updates soon,
T
