Czechmatediary

My friend Iva just told me a big secret: did you know that if you have a T-mobile account and live in the US you can text message to Czech/Slovakia for $0.20 per message (both incoming and outgoing messages)? The bad news is that I don’t have a T-mobile account but I thought some of you would find this information helpful….or maybe everyone but me knows about this already??

For further information visit T-mobile website.

CZ: Ma kamaradka Iva mi prozradila velike tajemstvi: vite, ze kdyz mate mobilovy ucet s T-mobile a zijete v USA, tak muzete textovat do Cech nebo na Slovensko za velmi nizke ceny? Prichozi a odeslane sms stoji pouhych $0.20! Spatna zprava je ta, ze ja T-mobile nemam, ale rikala jsem si, ze by tuto informaci nekdo z vas, ctenaru, ocenil….nebo to uz vsichni, krome mne, vi???

Pro blizsi informace se obratte na webove stranky T-mobilu.

Only about 7 years ago (2002) Prague underwent one of the most horrendous floods in the city’s history. Besides the historical downtown completely disappearing under water, the Prague’s zoo was flooded as well. The zoo staff managed to evacuate more than 1,000 animals, 800 birds, 150 reptiles and 100 mammals prior to the upcoming flood (making it the largest and the fastest evacuation of animals in the history of zoological gardens). Unfortunately, 14 mammals and 130 birds died during the floods, including the male seal Gastron, who swam more than 186 miles down the Vltava river to Germany, was resuced days later but died on the way back home thanks to exhaustion, stress and infection. Among the animals that had to be put down was 35-year-old Kadir (see image bellow), an elephant popular with zoo-goers, who became trapped by rising waters and could not be rescued. (more…)

I found a really nice report about Brno, written by this guy who is originally from there and recently came back to Brno for a short visit as a tourist. The article is short, sweet and entertaining (read the article right here). Now, all of you Moravians out there, tell me if you agree with him!

CZ: Nasla jsem vam moc hezkou reportaz o Brne, napsanou clovekem, ktery v tomto meste vyrostl a po dlouhe dobe se do nej  vratil na par dni jako turista (clanek si prectete zde). Ted mi, vsici Moravaci, musite rict, jestli s nim souhlasite!

This video is hilarious (thanks for the tip Jamie)! It makes fun of Prague’s International Airport, calling it the Franz Kafka Airport, “a place of suspicion and confusion, where time simply disappears”.

CZ: Toto video je opravdu vyborne. Dela si totiz srandu z naseho Ruzynskeho letiste a z jistych duvodu ho nazyva Letiste Franze Kafky - “misto neustaleho podezreni a zmatku, kde se cas jednoduse vypari do vzduchu…”

(more…)

If you are planning a trip to Czech or just have not been back for a while and would you like to reminisce in your living-room this is a good site for you. Virtual Czech (click here) allows you to travel virtually all over this beautiful country! This way you can decide which Czech  town/city is prettier to sight-see (a very hard task) or you can just visit the places where you grew up - everything over the Internet (crazy, huh?).

CZ: Jestlize se chystate na vylet do Ceske Republiky nebo jste tam zkratka jiz dlouho nezavitali a chcete si zavzpominat primo ve vasem obyvaku, tak pro vas mam prijemne prekvapeni. Pomoci Virtual Czech (kliknete zde) totiz muzete virtualne cestovat po celych Cechach. Kdo vi, mozna ze tam na tech satelitnich mapach uvidite sveho kamarada? Nebo sami sebe???

Telc, also called the “Moravian Venice” is a true pearl of Moravia, the south-east region of the Czech Republic. Reflected in the surface of peaceful ponds, the royal city was founded at the beginning of 12th century, located on the crossroads of busy merchant routes. Its very beginnings are connected with the victory of the fearless Moravian Duke Otto II who, in order to commemorate his victory, built a chapel and later also a local church with its surrounding buildings, which is the Old Town of today. Later it was bought out by the most famous Czech king, Charles IV  who later exchanged it with Jindrich of Hradec for another (probably more exciting?) castle. The Hradec family is the one who made the city as beautiful as it is today. They build the Telc castle, the water fortifications and the beautiful Gothic houses around the large marketplace. Unfortunately half of it was burnt to the ground in 1368 and later burnt some more by the Hussites who conquered the whole town except for the castle. (more…)

The thought of flying with my little daughter has always terrified me to death. What the heck do you do with a baby/toddler during an 18-hour (overseas) flight? Do you just get drunk while  your 2-year-old runs in the aisles and climbs all over everyone until he burns himself out? The more I researched on how to fly with small kids the more calm I started to feel. There are actually a lot of tools you just have to be prepared to use them.

CZ: Kdyz jsem si v nedavne minulosti jenom pomyslela na letani s mou 2 letou dcerou, zacli se mi uzkosti potit ruce a chtelo se mi zvracet. “Co clovek vubec dela s batoletem behem 18-ti hodinoveho letu?”, pomyslela jsem si. “Proste se opije a necha milou ratolest behat mezi ulickami az mu dojde energie?”. Cim dele jsem toto tema ale studovala, tim sebejisteji jsem se zacala citit; vzdyt to nic neni!  Doufam, ze vam tyto cestovni rady alespon trosku ulehci na mysli, jako se to stalo mne.

Things to think about prior to your trip:

• Airline regulations currently allow children under the age of 2 to fly free as “lap children” (i.e. not required to have their own seat). International flights charge a 10% fee for lap children. Try to book a bulkhead (front) seat where there is more room and hopefully also a bassinet present (they are not available on every flight). You cannot use bassinets during take offs, landings and turbulence. This is NOT the safest way to travel, however. Many airlines offer half-price tickets for children under 2 so you should consider that option as well. (more…)
  
  If you liked this post buy me a coffee! (Suggested:$3 a latte $8 for a pound) Thanks!

Someone once asked me: “Do you think it’s a good idea to vacation in the Czech Republic during the winter?” Without any hesitation, I said “yes! There is so much to do all year long especially during the winter!” I talked to that person  for a little while longer and then we parted ways. I never actually found out if she even went to Czech that winter or if she just got cold feet and gave up on that whole “crazy” idea. If I were to meet her again I would give her a week-long schedule of things to-do, whether she liked it or not. This is what would the “Nazi” list look like:

CZ: Jednou se me nekdo zeptal, jestli pry je dobry napad stravit v Cechach zimmni prazdniny. Bez rozmysleni jsem vyhrkla “No samozrejmne! V Cechach se da delat tolik veci po cely rok, natoz v zime!” Jeste jsme si spolu chvilku povidaly, a pak ta osoba nekam zmizela, aniz bych se kdy dozvedela, jestli vubec do te krasne ceske zimni krajiny zavitala. Kdybych mela sanci vratit cas a ta dotycna osoba by se me zeptala tu samou otazku znovu, beze slov bych ji podala striktni rozvrh aktivit na cely mesic. Vypadalo by to asi takto: (more…)

Pavel Maurer, a celebrity Czech gourmet cook, recently released his list of the best restaurants in the Czech Republic for the year 2009. This may be a very valuable information for those of us who are planning on visiting Czech next year (which is next month!!) . Prague has currently about zillion of restaurants so it is good to have a little guide:

1. Radisson SAS hotel, Alcron Prague 1
2. La Degustation Boheme Bourgeoisie, Prague 1
3. Obecni Dum, Francouzska restaurace, Prague 1 (more…)

Prague itself has about million coffee shops and and another million of bars and the numbers are growing every day. How do you know which one of these places is worth visiting? In case you are wondering the same question, the Czech Bar Awards for 2009 should make the choice easier for you. Within the last 6 months about 2,030 Czechs  voted on-line or via text messaging on their favorite hang out and beer-drinking spot. Here are the results:

• The best coffee shop: Cafe Savoy (Parizska Street,Prague)
  
• The best pub: Potrefena Husa Na Verandach (Prague)
  
• The best bar as far as interior design goes: Coctail Bar Zluta ponorka (Ceske Budejovice) (more…)
  
  If you liked this post buy me a coffee! (Suggested:$3 a latte $8 for a pound) Thanks!