You are rich when your stable makes twenty-first century tourists think it might be your actual chateau, but you add some money sauce to the cash stew when your grounds are so large, with so many things to see on those grounds, that those poor confused tourists can walk over ten miles on your estate AND take a bout tour on your river, and still not see everything. Such is the wealth of the Liechtenstein family and the wonder that is the Lednice Chateau.

We began in the greenhouse, which at three hundred feet long was quite big – we think the staff member said it was the second oldest greenhouse in all of Europe, after only the one in Kew Gardens in London, but I think that may be the second oldest cast iron greenhouse or some sub-category. Nevertheless, it was impressive:  big and airy-feeling inside, with pleasant views of the French garden on one side. We circled the perimeter twice, once to see it, and once to see it again as a rain shower passed over outside. Mer loved the striped and speckled-leaf plants; I went for the clover and the ferns.

After the shower passed, Mer wanted to find the location of the birds of prey show that was going to happen at noon. On the way there, we passed an archery booth being set up; it was not quite ready yet, so we told the guy we would be back, and we went on to the birds. We passed two handlers with birds coming the other way, to go entice the crowds. We found the show area, and the birds were all there on their perches. There were over thirty different kinds – eagles and buzzards and kestrels and owls and falcons and more. The show helped the group fund programs to rehabilitate wounded birds to be released back into the wild, or so the English signs told us. Satisfied we could get back, we went to shoot things.

Mer wanted me to go first, so I shot a basic bow four times before switching to what I wanted to shoot – a replica of a medieval crossbow. It was fun, and of the three real shots I took (not counting the misfire that happened as I was adjusting my hands), I hit the target twice and just missed the third time. The young man said he was impressed.

Next, Mer had a go. She was quite good with the bow, hitting the target well with three shots. She then really nailed it with the modern crossbow after being too high with her first shot. We both voted Mer “most improved” with the medieval crossbow, just barely missing with her last shot.

After we took a short stroll in the grounds, Mer went to the bird show to get a spot and I ran back to the car to get our umbrellas – the sky was looking threatening. It ended up lightly raining two or three times during the show, and once later as we walked, so having the umbrellas proved useful. On the whole, though, we had good weather all day.

The birds of prey show was pretty great. It lasted a full hour, and the handlers pulled two little kids down to help with the birds at various points. We saw an eagle glide over the field and over us, we saw some smaller hawk-like birds dive-bomb fake rodents being pulled around on strings, we saw a bird knock a remote-control bird out of the air, and more. Most of the birds we saw were very beautiful, although it was hard to see them gulping down raw meat, or, in one case, a whole foot of some kind of bird. Ugh.

From the bird show, we had a quick snack break, since it was after 1:00. We then followed the path thought the ponds and lakes, out past the fake Roman aqueduct, over a couple of pretty wooden bridges, up to the Turkish minaret. According to Rick Steves, the rumor is that the prince wanted to build a church, but the locals could not make up their minds, so he got frustrated and started to build a mosque instead. He did at least build a very tall minaret, which we climbed. Sort of. I bravely made it up to and out on levels one and two (of three), but two was pushing it, so I went back down while Mer went up to three. She said I had made a good choice for my fear of heights, since level three did not add much to the level-two view.

From the minaret, Mer wanted to take a boat ride along the small river on the edge of the estate, which takes a slow and mellow forty minutes to get out to the artificially “ruined” castle on the estate, which our boat guide said was used as a hunting lodge. He also told us the river used to flood the area, so in the 1980s, the main river was rerouted, which caused the floodplain to dry up, killing off many of the trees. So, instead, artificial ways to flood the area were installed at great expense. Progress.

Mer’s plan was to get off the boat at the castle, then take a horse-drawn carriage ride back, but we missed the last one by fifteen minutes. We walked back, about a mile and a half. By then, I was quite ready for supper, so we went back to the car. That meant we left a large portion of the formal gardens unexplored, and we never found several buildings of which we had seen pictures. Next time, I guess.

We drove to the nearby town of Mikulov, which was a postcard of a town wedged between two hills, with a ruin on one and a church on the other. The main square is cozy, colorful, and inviting. The only issue, which keeps being an issue on this trip, was trying to figure out where we could park; I almost left the town because I was getting so frustrated, but then  Mer finally saw a pay-for-parking machine. I bought about $1.50 worth of parking, that gave me the right to park until 8:00. Great! Until I remembered that in Europe, 8:00 pm is 20:00, so my ticket was for 8:00 am. Tomorrow. It turns out parking was free in the evening.

We had some trouble finding a restaurant that was open and still serving dinner, which was odd, because it was only 6:30. Several places were closed, and one was only serving dessert. We did get a good meal at a bistro on one end of the square.

Mikulov was a wonderful-seeming town, and I would have loved to have hiked the two hills and toured the convent in the old town. We had to settle for dinner. Tomorrow we move on to another part of this wonderful little country. Even with two full weeks, we can’t even see all of a chateau estate, let alone all the beautiful places around. That is why we always tell ourselves, “Next time!”