Yesterday, we went to see the Museum of Romani (formerly labelled "gypsi") Culture in Brno. We've been interested in going for some time, and we finally got around to the trip. This is a museum in progress which has been open for 5 years but which is very much still in the development stages. However, there are several permanent exhibits regarding Roma cultural history and traditions that are worth seeing if you don't mind very non-linear museum design. This museum is not on the main drag in Brno. It's about a 20 minute minute walk from the center, in the Roma quarter of the city. It was interesting to us to note that we knew immediately when we were in the right place. Suddenly, almost everyone we passed had the darker skin tone of many Roma Czechs and the fairer-skinned Czechs seemed to have disappeared, and sadly, the buildings and streets were in considerably worse disrepair, an unfortunate sign of the modern difficulties faced by the Roma people in this, and other, countries. We thoroughly enjoyed learning more about the Roma culture in the Czech Republic, and we highly recommend you visit this museum if you find yourself in Brno with some time to spare.

For 3 days this week, we were at the Fulbright Mid-Year Conference, a joint venture between the Czech and Slovak Commissions at which all current Fulbrighters have the opportunity to share their teaching, research, and cultural experiences and touch base with one another. The location rotates each year, and this year's conference was held in the Moravian town of Velke Bilovice, in the heart of our wine country. Although we spent most of our time listening to one another's presentations, it seemed only right that we went on a tour of a wine cellar as our first of two cultural expeditions. Fulbright took the group to the famous Templarske sklepy Cejkovice (Cellars of the Templar Knights in Cejkovice) to both tour the facility and, of course, sample the wine. "The first written mention about Cejkovice dates back to 1248 and is connected with the keep, built by the members of the Templar Knights Order. Together with the keep built were the Templar cellars, legendary for their size, which were and still are used for storage and maturing of wines."

http://www.jizni-morava.cz/index.php/public/page.php?lang=en&region=slovacko&theme=folklor.vino&pgid=85

This is just one of the barrels used to store white wine (marked by the green rim running around the barrel). Although you cannot estimate size very well from the photograph, this barrel stands well over 6 feet tall. We did buy one bottle of the cellar's most famous red wines, but we can actually find the vineyard's wines in our local grocery store as well!

Our second excursion (in a massive snow storm) was to see the Lednice Chateau. "The name of 'Lednice' first appears in written sources that date back to the 13th century, when the place was ruled by the powerful Austrian family of Sirotek. A considerable part of the area then belonged to the Liechtenstein family during the 14th century. It was this family that transformed the local frontier castle into a grand Renaissance residence, which was later redeveloped in the spirit of English neo-Gothicism during the 19th century and is now considered to be one of the pearls of South Moravia." http://www.turistik.cz/en/pruvodce/oblast/lednice-valtice-and-dyje-area/

The aptly named Lednice Chateau (Lednice meaning icehouse in English) also boasts large gardens and an extensive park on the grounds, but as you can imagine, we decided to skip that part this time around.

Needless to say, we were glad to get out of the snowstorm, even if only to find shelter and not warmth inside the chateau. Not surprisingly, we were told that this chateau served only as a summer residence since it was impossible to heat through the winter....which we became accutely aware of in the course of our hour-long tour.

One of the most interesting aspects of this particular chateau, and which we have not seen in others, is the incredible woodwork throughout the house. The staircase here leads from a 1st floor parlor to the ground floor library and is made from one tree. This woodwork was also present as wall panelling and even ceiling decoration in several other rooms.

After finishing our tour of the chateau proper, we also had a chance to tour its extensive...and warm...greenhouse.

It was welcome relief from the cold inside the chateau, and despite the wintery season, we saw some interesting plants and flowers.