July 9, 2017 - Brno to Veselí nad Lužnicí;

Sunday I took the train from Brno to Veselí nad Lužnicí to spend a couple of days with Trnka/Malecha relatives in nearby Sviny, one of my ancestral villages. This was my fourth visit to Sviny. Each time I got to meet a few more family members, but this was the first time I was invited to stay in the family homestead, which has been in the Malecha family for at least 300 years. 

I also borrowed a bicycle for a morning ride around Sviny and the neighboring countryside. 

One of my Malecha relatives got interested in family history after my visit in 2014 and learned to read the Gothic script in the archival documents. She had told me she had found new information about my Trnka family, but had not had a chance to put this into sharable form. But before I left, she did write up what she had, which added a couple of generations to my tree and solved a couple of mysteries, as my great-great grandparents had come to the US in 1862 with 10 of their children. The oldest son, Vojtěch Trnka (1836-1924), later emigrated after he finished his seven-year term in the Austro-Hungarian army, but one son, Tomaš Trnka (1840-1870), a tailor, remained behind and she found him and some of his descendants, which explained why there were still Trnkas in Sviny in the early 1900s. This is treasured information to me. We also were able to visit the homesteads of my 3^rd and 4^th great-grandparents in nearby Mažice and Zálší.

Train to catch from Brno.

Arrived in Veselí nad Lužnicí.

Lunch and dinner spot in Veselí.

Walking tour of  Tabor – home base of the Hussites – the militant followers of Jan Hus..

Technology meets sgraffito.

Tabor Town Square: 

Jan Žižka (1360-1424)

General in command of the Hussite troops – followers of martyred Jan Hus (1369-1415). 

Luther’s 95 Theses were written in 1517, a hundred years after Hus’ martyrdom. 

A Hussite battle wagon with cannons – 500 years before armored tanks.

Lego Museum.

Purifying tanks for fish.

The old battlement wall.

Symbol of the Hussites - Utraquism, communion in both kinds to the laity.

Fun looking playground.

Tailor shop with very short door. Sign: “Closed for swimming.”

(Michal Sládek, 4th cousin once removed's husband and one of my Sviny hosts)

The real Budweiser.

Swimming in one of the fish ponds.

Map of the fish ponds.