Hello I am looking for information regarding a town northwest of Prague called Vrbicany. It is the ancestral home of my husband's paternal family. We will be in Prague in December and would like to take a day trip there. Any information on Vrbicany such as how far it is from Prague, etc . would be very much appreciated. Sicula
Hi Sicula, I've never been to Vrbicany, but you may at least want to check out the following online map: http://www.mapy.cz/handler.py?actio...20&tablename=obec_web&objecttype=0&key=571431 Jirka
Thank you very much, Jirka. The map is good. It looks as though there may be train service to Vrbicany. In any case, the town appears to be close enough to Prague for easy access. Thank you again. Ciao. Sicula
Hi Sicula, indeed, there appears to be a railroad line to Vrbičany from Prague. Looking at a map I see you would have to go via the town of Slaný. Careful, there's another Vrbičany near Litoměřice. Yours is referred to as near Kladno or, more correctly, in "okres Kladno". If you want to go by train, you will probably want to find out about the departures and arrivals while you're in Prague, but it's also possible online. Are you interested? Jirka
Jirka How interesting that there are two Czech towns by the same name. I trust that they are not located in the same region, however. My husband's father was born in Bohemia not far from Praque when it was under the rule of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Nevertheless, we know that he was Czech and was fluent in the language as he was already 6 years old when he immigrated. Port of entry (Ellis Island) documents show his ethnicity as Bohemian and his place of birth as Vrbicany, Austria. Your caution that there are two Vrbicany has put us into the quandry of not knowing which Vrbicany merits a visit the purpose of rediscovering an ancestal home. As for train schedules on line, it would be very kind of you to post a link. Ciao Sicula
Hi sikula, The other Vrbicany is here: http://www.mapy.cz/handler.py?actio...20&tablename=obec_web&objecttype=0&key=565903. As a matter of fact, not very far from the one I wrote about first. It's near Lovosice and the closest railroad stop is probably Upohlavy (west of Vrbicany). There seems to be an intercity bus stop there though. I'm afraid I can't help you identifying the right one unless you can provide some specific details. The situation makes me think of a common Czech oneliner which goes somehow like "You're crying nicely, but at the wrong grave.". Well, it's used when someone is complaining to a person who can't do anything about the complaint. I got a whole bunch of links togehter with a Page Not Found error when using my old bookmark to find the online train schedule utility. The erros page is at http://www.jizdnirady.cz/mypages/jr/html1250/Default.htm. They will probably all take you to the same one or a couple of places; I didn't check them all. Let me know if you have problems using them. By the way, the Union Jack icon at the bottom right is a link to the English version, however strange you may find it as an American. Good luck... Jirka
Jirka There is a similiar English adage: "You're barking up the wrong tree". In this case unfortunately, the metaphor of the wrong grave will prove quite appropriate if we cannot determine which Vbricany is "our" Vbricany. Incidently, the exisitence of two Vbricany so close together is very interesting to me. How did this happen? What does the word Vbricany mean? What is its derivation? Except for the ship log from the Ellis Island archives, the only other extant physical clue is a very old slip of paper that looks like it might be a birth record. We will bring it with us in December and perhaps have someone who can read the old style script tell us what it says. Meanwhile, thank you for the links. I will refer to them shortly. By the way, I've duly noted that you must recognize the classical origin of my screen name inasmuch as you have spelled it with a k in place of a c. Ciao Sicula [/quote]
Hi Sicula, I didn't really realize I was using 'k' in place of 'c' in your nickname. It was at the subconscious level, but yes, of course, it can't but remind of the Czech word "šikula" (dunno if you can read the diacritics on your system). As regards Vrbicany's etimology, the name is primarily derived from the Czech word "vrba" meaning 'willow'. Some placenames are much more frequent than having been used for only two places in the Czech Republic. The notorious example is "Lhota", many of which have an attributive. One of them, as an example, is a popular tourist destination, the chateau of "Červená Lhota". There are tens of Lhotas. If such a place needs referring to it unambiguously, like in a birth certificate, not having a unique attributive, there's usually an established reference to a larger place included that the small one is near to. The preposition 'near' is only a "u" in Czech followed by the large placename's genitive form. For example "Lhota u Prahy", which doesn't actually exist -- it's just my example of the form. Other prepositions are used too, especially if the reference is to a mountain or river. They may be "pod" or "nad" or "za"... If you locate "Vrbicany" in your ancestor's birth certificate, you may be able to find this kind of 'full reference'. Jirka
Hello Jirka Thanks to you we found the right Vrbicany and were lucky enough to meet some relatives who still live there. In fact the mayor happens to be a cousin of some degree. Please look for a private message from me. I would like to show you some of the photos taken during our December trip to the Czech Republic. My first love is Italy but I must confess that your country has found a special place in my heart too. Sicula
