GENERAL INFO ABOUT PRAGUE & CZECH REPUBLIC
by LoriPori
Located in central Europe, the CZECH REPUBLIC has boundaries with Poland to the north, Austria to the south, Germany to the west and the Slovak Republic to the east. Tourist facilities are rapidly approaching the level of those found in most European countries. Outside of Prague, these facilities are less developed.
CLIMATE:
The Czech Republic experiences all four seasons and has a mixture of oceanic and continental climates with the coastal influences prevailing. Heavy showers are frequent in summer (tell me about it),.
CURRENCY:
Czech Korun (crown ) (CZK) =100 haleru.
Never change money with anyone on the street - it is illegal, the rate of exchange is not much better and you can easily be swindled. ATMS are located throughout Prague. Shops and restaurants, especially in Prague, will accept most major credit cards.
ELECTRICITY:
220 volts, 50 cycles. A converter and a plug adapter (plugs have two rounded prongs) is required for us Canadians.
Trabbies - Symbols of a recent past...
by M0B1US
The famous East German Trabant is a symbol of the old East Bloc order of things for Central Europe in much the same way as the Lada is synonymous with the Soviet Union...
To buy one, families had to join a waiting list and had to wait an average of nine years before finally getting them (in many cases the Communist State had fallen before they had been received!!!).
They were noisy, unreliable and heavy polluters but they were easy to maintain and fix and even made of plastic!
I remember hearing a rumour that there were some amphibious models produced as well... ;-) A Trabi joke:
A Texas oil man heard that there were cars in East Germany so popular that buyers had to wait years to take delivery of one. He immediately sent a check to the Trabi factory.
The directors, sensing a propaganda coup in the making, arranged to send him the very next car off the line.
Two weeks later the oil man was in a bar, speaking with some friends.
"Ah ordered me one o' them Trabis them folks over there in East Germany wait 12 years to get", he drawled.
"And you know what? Them East Germans are so efficient. Whah, just last week they sent me over a little plastic model so I can know what to expect!"
:-D
Drink Beer!
by M0B1US
Or to quote my favourite drinking song: "Beer! Beer! Beer!"...
Well? What else do you do in a foreign city but sample its culture!? ;-)
And yes I have to say that I took this particular cultural exchange very seriously indeed with an extremely exhaustive research programme right up to almost the moment I flew home...
I'm no stranger to Czech beers having already tried Budweiser (the real stuff - not the rip-off backstabbing US kind!), Pilsner Urquell, Staropramen, Gambrinus and Kozel here in the UK - however I knew that it would be far more enjoyable sampling these amber nectars in their country of origin. I was not let down I can tell you!
To this dependable stable of beers I was able to add Starobrno (the cheapest at 18kr), Radegast (winner of Czech beer of the year three times in a row and my favourite) and Krusovice which was also an excellent drop - oh heaven!
The best places to enjoy Czech beer are the fabulous underground or out of the way beer halls dotted throughout the city though usually away from the main tourist thoroughfares - beware though as Czechs seem to smoke at least as much as they drink!
As for prices, I would say that the extremely low prices of the past are well and truly over - sadly...
The cheapest I found was in a very rough around the edges bar selling Starobrno for 18kr, but generally expect to pay low 20s and anything over 30 and you are being taken for a ride!
Now have fun and remember, if you only ever learn one phrase in Czech, make it "Jeden pivo prosim" - which translates to "One beer please"! :-)
For more info on this elixir of life, such as links to all the main breweries in the country, its history in the Republic and fascinating facts and records - check out my website link below...
Cheers! Or should I say Na zdraví... :-)
Post office
by Dabs
If you're going to mail off postcards to all of your VT friends, the post office that is just off Wenceslas Square is notable for 2 reasons. 1st is the opening hours, open for 22 hours a day, closed just from 12am-2am although I can't fathom a reason why anyone would need to buy stamps at 3 am (Frommers says it's open 24 hours a day but I'm pretty sure the sign said it closed for a couple of hours). The other is the amazing decor, although some of the post offices in Chicago have WPA era murals in them, my local post office has a functional, gray, drab interior and that's AFTER a recent renovation.
If you have to buy stamps, you need to take a number at the entrance, the overhead sign will tell you when it is your turn, you can have seat on one of the benches while you wait although if you do go at 3 am I suspect you'll have immediate service
The main post office is located at Jindrisská 14
Petrin Hill observation tower
by hundwalder
This observation tower was the pride and joy of Archduke Franz Ferdinand d'Este ( Ferdie ). The tower was built for the Bohemian exhibition of 1891. The semi modest funds available in the governmental coffers of Bohemia were much too insufficient to build a tower anywhere near as large as the recently completed Eiffel Tower in Paris, but not to be deterred Ferdie went with this 1/3 scale model of the Paris erector set masterpiece. He put one over on his French rivals by locating this one at the highest elevation in old Prague. By doing this, the relative elevation of his tower pinnacle to city center was much greater than that of the Eiffel. The brilliant and very clever Ferdie had indeed outdone his French rivals for a small fraction of the cost.
Shown in front of the tower are the pavillion and some sort of amusement building ( house of mirrors or some such thing ) that were part of the same exhibition.
The small admission price into the tower is well worth it for excellent views of the city. Warning to the out-of-shape: No elevator to carry you to the observation decks. Use the steps. The tower sways in the wind, but worrying about such trivial matters is only for the faint of heart.
To get there take the funicular train or enjoy the hike through some of Prague's finest greenbelt. By the way the train fare is covered by your public transportation pass. Don't visit Prague without one. A 24 hour pass will set you back a whopping 70 koruna.
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Maisel Synagogue
Small window to the street
Absynth shop.
Sport in Letna
