Maria & Brett's HUGE Trip 06-07-08-09-?

ok, so the Socceroos lost in 'that' penalty against Italy; Adriatic summers aren't long enough (bliss!); and we found that you should never use the term "Eastern Bloc" when talking to a Czech (Central Europe, please).

Kobyli winter ball

There are [41] photos in this gallery.

Invited by Ales, whom we met at Cejkovice during the Brno MotoGP, we headed off to his home town for a night of dance, traditional costumes and one or two drinks. Ouch, my head hurts.

Chilling out on the way to Kobyli Views[28] Fresh dump on the D1 from Prague to Brno Views[26] Ales - our host for the weekend. Nice young Czech lad with a real keenness to speak with us in English. His dance partner only seemed to growl at us when they danced past! Views[27] Incredible costumes. You could hide an elephant up there. Maybe that's what it's.... nah, couldn't be! Views[24] Promenading - love the embroidery. Views[31]
 
These dancers are mostly up to 25 years old for the boys and 22 for the girls. Views[30] When this girl started dancing, all her weekly grocery shopping started dropping out. Talk about resourceful! Views[27] This girl was about 5-foot-nothing, but if you bumped into her on the dancefloor you'd ricochet across to the other side, into a group of toothless grannies. Views[25] There's one guy in the village who makes these custom boots. Views[27] Action! Views[25]
 
Girls' costumes go for around 17000 Czech Korunas - about AUD$1200. Wouldn't you hate to spill a glass of local red all over it. Views[27] Did we mention the girls can't even sit down in costume??? Views[27] Ole! Views[27] Greetings, m'lord! Greetings, m'lady! Views[25] Czech version of the Nutbush. Views[26]
 
One of the boys - he was hell bent on getting Brett drunk. Almost succeeded. Views[28] Ales in deep contemplation - or fear of his dance partner! Views[31] Turns out our young Ales is a bit of a local leader - here he is giving the prize for the split-est dress competition to an appreciative woman who flew in from Ukraine thinking she had a good shot at it. Not really, but we had to fill in the (Czech) blanks somehow! Views[26] Ales' brother Jirka - or Ales' family - his mum and dad are both from the local area and run a hobby winery in their spare time in addition to working locally. Views[22]
 
Get Brett Drunk mission in full swing: each pint of beer was drunk with a chaser (or leader!) of vodka. Had the same effect of dulling the suspicion sensors too! Views[22] Did we mention that the gents' costumes are worth over 10,000kc? (about $750) Arrrgh, take it away!!! We're not worthy!!! Views[23] ... though we did find secret pockets buzzing of mobile phones and jinging of beer money. Views[27] Views[21] This is the only comfy position for a girl to rest her hands when not dancing or preparing a meal for the menfolk. Oops, strike that last point! Views[27]
 
Extreme closeup Views[23] We're not gonna caption this one. It's your turn to tell us what Maria's clutching with dear life :) Views[24] Ok, so the dancing started off ok during a straightforward side-to-side routine, but then when things got So You Think You Can Dance complicated some of the lads took me outside in the snow to give me instruction. Must've been real bad! Views[24] Ales and Maria had everything under control, however. Their SYTYCD chemistry was very much natural flair. Top 20 for you two! Views[24]
 
One of the SYTYCD judges was even quoted as saying In the end, only 2 couples could go through to the final - a sudden death dance-off for the Ford Festiva! Views[24] Maria and Ales invoke a move that has never been tried before on national television. This will spark an all-out war! Views[26] Brett and Maria were last seen having an off-stage hissifit - unfortunately our cameras couldn't follow them further than the power cables allowed... Views[29] Let's remind our viewers that we're all here to celebrate Kobyli tradition, dance and song... A certain decorum is in order. Views[148]
 
So it's entirely appropriate to come in swinging a 10ft man-made salami that weighs a tonne (ok, emphasis added), nearly knocking a babička custodian-of-tombola-prizes off her feet. Views[28] After winning a huge loaf of traditional, handmade knedliky (see http://www.lesnanka.cz/images/knedliky.jpg), Maria, not one to sit down and hoe down a tractor-load of carbs in one sitting, somehow walks away from the night with a pair of prized Kobyli wines. Nice one Maria!! Very subtle. Views[24] Nice to see some different scenery along the D1 for a change. Helps with the hangover. Views[23] We popped in to Cesky Sternberk on our way back the next day (about 40ks out of Prague) and found the river entirely frozen over. Views[25] Fresh dump. Nice. Views[24]
 
Beauty of time-delay photography. A touch of sub-zero outside temp helps! Views[27]     

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