Whoever wasn’t there seriously missed out!

Shortly after noon, we gathered from all across the Czech Republic and Slovakia and promptly proceeded to toast our reunion, health, success and prosperity with some fiery local schnapps.

The official start was a delicious lunch, during which most of us enjoyed pork tenderloin with peppercorn sauce and potato gratin. The tarhonya with goat cheese, which was also on the menu, was the definite loser, even though it was fantastic. During lunch we discovered the hidden profession of our sales director of Amur Břetislav Svoboda - paparazzo. The first person he surprised with his lens was the owner of Aspena herself, Petra Cupáková. He thus managed to unnerve the seasoned speaker during her short opening speech. Amur’s viewfinder accompanied and ambushed throughout the day, except for the afternoon program, when together with “twelve other brave men” he left to hone his sporting skills and compete in floorball, badminton and table tennis.

The rest of us chose a relaxing, but equally interesting program near the hotel - a tour of Živá voda and the terrarium. Everyone was surprised not only by the number of fish and turtles in the local aquarium, but especially by the size of the carp, sturgeon and catfish.

The last part of the afternoon program was rounded off by a breathtaking organ concert in the monumental Velehrad Basilica of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary and Saints Cyril and Methodius.

Quite unusually, we replaced the buffet dinner with a banquet served separately at each table. Roasted pigeons flew from the board served in the middle of the table directly onto the plates. We thoroughly enjoyed the medieval feast in the comfort of our chairs.

The main surprise awaited us after dinner. Petra Cupáková kept us in suspense all day. She revealed a few supposed clues, but they confused us even more, so our imagination ran wild. The main hint, that “it's going to be quite the ride”, made some of us hope that the great Karel Gott himself might visit us. He didn't, but we toasted his health while tasting wines and spirits along the wine and spirit obstacle course built in the hotel’s cellar. The clue didn't lie. It was indeed a ride that kicked off the most important part of the whole stay: getting to know each other, chatting, drinking and partying on the dance floor.

I don't think anyone had time to be bored at the event. A pleasantly packed program and plenty of great food and drink was complemented by superb weather. That was actually one of the surprises. Instead of the predicted rain, we enjoyed a cool but beautiful autumn day.

I don't want to repeat myself, but as I mentioned in the introduction: those who didn’t attend really missed out!