August 18, 2009 - Military maps and fresh strawberries

This morning we had what was originally going to be an optional outing to the military cartography and meteorology center in Dobruška. Not very many people wanted to go, so it became a manditory outing lasting two hours. While much of the presentation was not very interesting, they have an archive of 750,000 ariel photos, mostly of the Czech Republic from 1935 to the present. Several were set out for us, which were particularly interesting. One was of a village and surrounding farmland before communism, showing all the many small farm plots and then the same village thirty years later, when there were only several huge collective farms with giant fields. The other set of three was of the village of Lidice, remembered as one of the two villages that were liquidated (all men, women and children) and razed by Hitler in relatiation for the Czech resistance fighters fatally wounding the man he had installed as his leader of occupied Czechoslovakia. There was an ariel photo of the village before the occupation; the barren spot after it had been erradicated; and then thirty years later when rebuilding had begun again. Almost living history!

Lidice 1938

Lidice 1946

Lidice 1989

This afternoon I stumbled on the Tuesday farmers' market in the village square where for $1.50 I got a quart of very ripe strawberries grown for flavor, not for their ability to travel cross country. This brought back memories of my grandmother's strawberries fresh from her garden. I shared some, but before I knew it they had all been devoured. Can't wait until next Tuesday!

More on the Military Cartography Center in Dobruška