June 6

Today we visited a little slice of heaven!

One of my cousin's daughters (he has two) and her significant other have a small cabin on the confluence of Vltava and Sázava rivers. They have been refurbishing it for the last four years and it looks lovely.

The cabin has no electricity, water, sewer, phone and no internet (unless you use your cellphone) The fridge is fuelled by propane and so is the stove, what little electricity they use is made with the solar panels on the roof which seems to be adequate for the lights and even some power-tools as the cabin is constantly being updated. And, of course, a real outhouse. The family can use this cabin year round. 

The cabin is located within a hundred meters of the point of land where the two rivers meet in a very nice valley full of holiday retreats, cabins and pensions (B&Bs).

To get there one parks his vehicle in a parking lot on the other side of the river and takes a boat across the river to the cabin. There are no roads so everything needs to come over water. We were joined later by my cousin's other daughter and her two girls and below you can see the local river transport.

As there is no traffic and abundant fishing in the rivers, the area is home to some interesting wildlife. Apparently they are frequently visited by wild pigs, otters, ducks, swans and a myriad of song birds.

A couple of Swans with a bunch of signets

A river otter

These animals are so used to humans they seem to have no fear of people at all. 

We have spent a very nice afternoon with family and some new friends and the day was capped off by a camp fire and roasting of smokies from a local butcher.

As the afternoon changed into an evening we took a stroll to the point where the two rivers meet and saw some very nice cabins there.

One of the neighbours had a couple of fibreglass boats which he joined together with some decking and turned it into a sort of catamaran boat. it was big enough to transport all of us across the river.

This was our last outing of our holidays. Tomorrow we will be cleaning the apartment so we can "return" it in the same state we found it when we moved in almost two months ago, cancel the internet, pack and get ready to fly home on Monday. I will be leaving this place with a heavy heart as there are still many memories of my youth here. 

Already started making plans for next year!

June 2

Yesterday was a bit of a sentimental and nostalgic journey. My grandparents on my father's side lived in a small village of Nová Ves and as a kid I used to ride a train there just about every weekend in the spring and summer. The railway line is one of those single track country spurs that runs about 60Km south east of Prague partly through the beautiful Vltava river valley and then climbs up to the top of the ridge where it continues along the top of the range through a bunch of small settlements and villages.

Cathie and I bought tickets and boarded the train at the Branik train station in Prague

and rode it to the end point at Dobříš.

The yellow train on the right was our train. A little three car diesel powered unit. The train did make a whistle stop at Nová Ves, however, I wasn't able to see my old grandparent's house from the train. 

This is some of the scenery that the train rolls through. The last time I rode this this line was when I was twelve! The train got a little newer and the tracks got a little bumpier. Other than that nothing much changed.

As a point of interest, the tickets cost us 196.00 CK return for both of us together. That wold be the equivalent of about five bucks each!

In the next couple of days we are going to do some last minute sightseeing in Prague, visit with my cousin's daughter at their cabin on the Vltava River, settle my internet bill, cancel my phone service, clean-up the apartment use of which was so graciously donated by my cousin"s friend whose mom owns the apartment but lives in Sweden, take my cousins to a farewell dinner to thank them for all they've done for us, pack and get ready to fly home on Monday. Not looking forward to the goodbyes.