Leah Chen's Album

I made a Bar Mitzvah album for Gavriel back in 2021 and another for his brother Yair in 2024. In September, it was their sister's turn to celebrate her Bat Mitzvah.
Leah Chen's mum told me that her daughter enjoys singing and dancing. She's a huge Potterhead, proudly Ravenclaw, and even dressed up as Luna Lovegood for Purim. She also loves sushi.

Leah Chen's favourite colour is blue, so different shades of blue were chosen as the colour scheme for her Bat Mitzvah celebration. Mum sent me the Save the Date and the logo to show me the shades they were using.

I created an album cover showing a bespectacled Leah Chen surrounded by all the things she loves. On her right, I added the Bat Mitzvah butterfly logo, a couple more butterflies, and some teeny-tiny sushi and chopsticks. On her left, I added more butterflies in shades of blue, musical notes to represent her love of music, and finally the Ravenclaw logo below them.

The album opens the English way, from left to right, but Mum asked for the wording to be in both English and Hebrew. The English lettering on the cover reads "Leah Chen's Batmitzvah September 2026", while the Hebrew gives the wording as "Leah Chen's Batmitzvah 2026". I generally write "Bat Mitzvah" as two words, but this customer had requested it as one word, "Batmitzvah". Flowers in different shades of blue add a pretty, feminine touch to the cover.

I decorated five pages inside the album. On the opening page, I added the Bat Mitzvah butterfly logo, followed by a page with musical notes in the corner. The Ravenclaw logo featured on the next page, with butterflies and flowers completing the set.
"The book is stunning. Thank you," Mum wrote to me. I hope that Leah Chen loved it too.

* This post has been shared on Happiness is Homemade, Monday Morning Blog Club, Busy Monday, Will Blog for Comments, Inspire Me Monday, Wonderful Wednesday Blog Hop and Creatively Crafty Link Party.

Hluboká Castle and Holašovice Historic Village

On a day trip from our base in České Budějovice, a short drive brought us to the beautiful Hluboká Castle, one of the most famous castles in the Czech Republic. Originally built as a royal Gothic castle in the 13th century, it was rebuilt several times over the centuries before becoming the property of the Schwarzenberg family in 1661. The castle was given its present romantic Neo-Gothic appearance between 1840 and 1871, inspired by the Schwarzenbergs' travels in England and particularly by Windsor Castle.

With its white walls, turrets, battlements, balconies and elaborate carved details, Hluboká looks almost like something from a fairy tale. We took the English-language Representative Rooms tour (though once again our guide's English was difficult to understand), which took us through the lavishly furnished rooms of the castle, filled with beautiful woodwork, paintings, chandeliers and other decorative details.
After the tour, we wandered around the courtyards and castle grounds. The views over the surrounding countryside from behind the castle were wonderful! We decided to skip the castle tower, though. After all the climbing we had already done in Prague and České Budějovice, I had had quite enough of great heights for one holiday!

A 30-minute drive from Hluboká Castle brought us to Holašovice Historic Village, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and one of the most picturesque villages in South Bohemia. The village dates back to the middle of the 13th century, and its original layout has remained remarkably unchanged, with 17 farmsteads still arranged around the large village green, just as they were when they were recorded here nearly 500 years ago.

Holašovice is particularly famous for its beautifully preserved rural architecture, known as "peasant Baroque". The farmhouses have white-painted façades with ornate, colourful gables, arched gateways and red-tiled roofs, with large barns and courtyards behind them. Most of the buildings have been well preserved, largely untouched by the developments of the communist era, giving the village a wonderfully old-fashioned feel. Together, they create a picture-postcard scene that feels quintessentially South Bohemian.

We wandered around the village green, admiring the beautiful façades and all the little details, including the small chapel and wayside cross, as well as the historic blacksmith's workshop. The village pond and old water pumps added to the charm. We stopped for an ice cream along the way.

It was such a peaceful and photogenic little village, and I was very happy to have my camera with me!

* This post has been shared on Thinking Out Loud Thursday, Skywatch Friday and Mosaic Monday.

České Budějovice

After a busy week in Prague and a couple of days of rest at Resort Čapí hnízdo, we drove less than an hour south to the city of České Budějovice, the largest city in the South Bohemian Region. The name České Budějovice means "Czech Budějovice", distinguishing it from the town of Moravské Budějovice, or "Moravian Budějovice", with český referring to the Czech people or nation.

We soon discovered a lovely historic city with an impressive main square surrounded by colourful old buildings and a maze of quieter streets to explore. Founded in the 13th century, it has a long and interesting history, as well as a famous brewing tradition – it is, after all, the home of Budweiser Budvar, one of the Czech Republic's best-known beers. And, appropriately enough, we were staying at Hotel Budweis, which takes its name from the city's historic German name, Budweis! We enjoyed wandering around the old town and discovering some of its beautiful architecture.

We had just one day to explore České Budějovice since I had made plans for the rest of our stay, so we packed quite a lot into it. We began at Piarist Square, with its former Dominican monastery, old Salt Store and nearby Baroque terrace houses, before making our way to the Memorial to the Synagogue and Holocaust Victims, marking the site where the city's grand 1868 synagogue once stood before the Nazis blew it up in July 1942. Of the approximately 1,200 Jews who lived in České Budějovice prior to the break-up of Czechoslovakia, only very few survived the ghetto camp of Terezín or the subsequent deportation to Auschwitz. It was important to us to stop here and pay our respects, remembering the Jewish community that had once been such an important part of the city. We also learnt that there were Stolpersteine around the city marking the homes of murdered Jews, so we did our best to find some of them.

From the Stolpersteine along Krajinská Street, just a short walk from the main square, we continued to Přemysl Otakar II Square, the heart of the old town, where we saw the impressive Samson Fountain and nearby, the Wandering Stone, a small, cross-marked paving stone commemorating the site of a medieval execution ground. It is said that whoever unknowingly crosses the stone after 10 pm will never find his way home and will have to wander the streets of České Budějovice until morning!
The Town Hall is a magnificent Baroque landmark located on the southwest corner of the grand square. Its striking facade features three elegant towers, dragon-shaped gargoyles, the city coat of arms, and four rooftop allegorical statues representing civic virtues: Justice, Courage, Wisdom and Caution. The iron belt, which is located in the corner pillar of the Town Hall, dates back to 1765, and served for more than 100 years as a standard measure for selling cloth at markets on the main square.

We finished the day with a climb up the 225 steps to the viewing gallery at the top of the Black Tower (Černá věž). I'm a little afraid of heights, so I wasn't entirely sure I was going to enjoy it, but thankfully the wonderful views over the city made it all worthwhile!

Another day, on our way to the historic town of Třeboň, we stopped at České Budějovice's Jewish Cemetery and Memorial Hall. The cemetery was established in 1867 and was badly damaged by the Nazis in World War Two, following the deportation of local residents to concentration camps. At the entrance stands a sandstone memorial in the shape of a tomb with a Hebrew and Czech inscription remembering victims of the Holocaust. It was erected in 1950 by the Jewish community, which continued to exist in the city until the 1970s.
The cemetery is cared for by the Jewish Community of Prague. The gates are locked, but I had arranged to pick up the key from the nearby Jihotrans gatehouse. I was able to open the main gate but, unfortunately, could not unlock the door to the Memorial Hall, which displays an exhibition on the history of Jews in České Budějovice. I had to make do with peeking through the window.
The cemetery once contained more than 1,300 graves, but roughly half of the tombstones were destroyed or stolen, and only around 350 of them remain. Visitors will find tombstones in Hebrew, German and Czech. We were glad that we had been able to visit and remember a Jewish community that was almost entirely lost in the Holocaust.

* This post has been shared on Mosaic Monday, Monday Morning Blog Club, Busy Monday, Through My Lens and Talking About It Tuesdays.