Botonica and its medieval village

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There is a village about forty miles or so from Prague that is carving out a niche to help the village economy. Some really bright people there have started a dual industry. One is producing "home made" soaps, candles and other items which are sold in a store owned by the village in Prague. To compliment this work they have constructed a medieval village, rather like a Czech Williamsburg. Today Nancy and I accompanied a number of the CAT students on a field trip there, making the round trip by train. It is an interesting place, and is especially interesting for children as they can watch old rifles being fired, shoot real arrows at a target, make or watch rope making, paper making, leatherwork, wod work, blacksmithing, as well as a pottery and other activities. In addition there is good food to be had. Nancy- Yumm was the food good. They had a big tent like room with plank tables for us to sit down and eat. The food was cooked over a grill. We had skewers with chicken, onions, pork alternating on it and the flavor was fantastic. Bill had potatoes and I had bread and some 'sauce' that seemed to be sour cream with onions. The food was served on wood planks instead of plates. To keep things clean a piece of waxed paper was over the napkin which was on top of the plank. YOu ate, threw away the waxed paper, cleaned your fingers and mouth with the napkin, turned the plank back in and went on your way. On the way by the way to the place where enormous crepes were being made. I had a large one filled with strawberries which really stuffed me full. Then when we were ready to leave -see the paragraph below- and anxious to spend all our money, I got a filo dough full of a nut mixture. I know better than to eat filo dough. Well, between that and the onions, I got GAS!!!! Not until my friend Cheryl gave me a GasX two days later did I get over that gas attack! Thank God for GasX. Within 5 minutes I was totally without pain.

To make it more authentic, as well as to help the village economy, they have their own currency. You change Czech Kc's into the medieval village money to spend while there. But, and this is a big but, you can not change the village money back into Czech KC's. There are signs up saying, "Change only a little money at a time as you cannot redeem your village money."

We almost missed, what for us, was the best part of the medieval village. They have set aside a large area for the growing of flowers, herbs, and other plants. Many of these plants are used in the soaps and other items they produce for sale. Not only did we find the plants interesting, but they also had a high bush maze for us to get lost in and two labyrinths for us to meditate in as we walked their paths. Nancy- One labyrinth was the standard shape and the other was in the shape of a heart of the Valentine sort. The outline was done with a short growing grass like that we have in our front yard trying to make it mower free. I think we will try to draw a labyrinth in our back yard and plant it in that same grass. NO more mowing! A place for daily quiet devotional/meditative walk. It would be fantastic!

This was a nice trip planned by Greg who is a faculty member, a PhD student, a missionary to this Czech area and a great dad and husband. His little daughter Salina is studying American Sign Language with me and is a very bright and very dear child. Her older brother Nick is learning guitar from one of the sons of a man spending a sabbatical writing a commentary. Their mom Debbie is busy with her missionary work in the community and is helpful in church and campus activities. She is a good musician and makes great use of that talent here. We were fortunate enough to spend an evening with this family last week when they hosted us to another Super Supper. So far we have been hosted at two of these events. We hope the next Super Supper we will be the hosts instead of the guests since it doesn't seem fair for us to always be on the receiving end. But OH boy can Debbie make a delicious meal so we enjoyed it to the fullest. Their family uses Polish tableware. When we first saw Polish tableware for sale in Poland last year we were not positive how we felt about the color and designs. But slowly it grew on us until we just love it. Now we wish we had bought a full set in the first place. I don't know if we will ever be able to do that but it would be such a unique thing to have in Annapolis. We should take some pictures of hers or of our friend Lauren's collection and let you see how lovely it is.

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Photos

Pancakes With Strawberry Filling
Yes, they are big and good.

Good Food Served on a Wooden Plank
I doubt they had waxed paper in medieval times, but I am glad they bowed to current hygenic wishes.

The Drinking Fish
This sign is in the village outside the Botonica park.

Comments

[Bev Dahlman]

Polish table ware
There is an ice cream shop in Bowie that sells some Polish table ware. They use it to serve sundaes. It is run by an African American couple. Your photos are really lovely!!