Czechmatediary

The Ceske Noviny newspaper (on-line) had a photo contest regarding the most interesting places in the Czech Republic. There are bunch of contestants and vast of amazing pictures to chose from. Check them out! The names are pretty self-explanatory (usually it is a name of a city) but if you need something to translate, let me know.

View the pictures here (click here).

CZ: Ceske Noviny poradaji fotosoutez nejzajimavejsich mist Ceske Republiky a soutezici se opravdu vytahli. Vyber je obrovsky a temata se blyskaji ruznorodosti. Nebudete se nudit! Prohlednete si je zde (kliknete zde).

The Lednice-Valtice Cultural Landscape is a lesser known part of the Czech UNESCO heritage, which is spread over the vast area of a beautiful Southern part of Moravia. It contains a romantic château (Lednice), a picturesque village (Valtice) and the largest park in the country. ‘Since Lednice was first passed into the hands of the House of Liechtenstein in the mid-13th century, its fortunes had been tied inseparably to those of that noble family.’  The current area of Lednice is laid out in a beautiful English garden style, covering almost 300 kilometers squared. Not only can visitors encounter unique types of trees and flowers but the park is also filled with serene ponds, luscious meadows, fancy sculptures and even replicas of ancient Greece ruins. (more…)

Remember when we were voting on 7 wonders of the Czech Republic? Well, the votes have been counted and the results are in. Here they are:

1. Czech Beer

• it has its trademark in EU now
• the Czechs drink annually about 160 liters per person, which makes them the world winners
• the historical records of Czech beer reach all the way to 1088 (during the reign of king Vratislav II.)
• year 1842 welcomes the birth of Pilsener Urquell, the most popular Czech beer ever

2. Czech glass

• known for its high quality (on the home front and worldwide)
• it has been around since the 13th century
• Czech crystal chandeliers decorate the opera house in Rome, Milan’s La Scala or Versailles
• 19th century Czech artist Bedrich Egermann pushed ahead the ‘crazy’ thought of glass becoming a new form or sculpturing material

3. Charles the Fourth (1316 – 1378)

• The most well-known Czech king ever, known as the Father of the Land
• He took over the Czech lands when they were in a terrible shape and made them out to be the most powerful state (Roman Empire) in Europe
• A founder of the first university in Central Europe (Charles University in Prague), Prague’s Charles Bridge and other magnificent structures (more…)

We all know what the Seven wonders of the world are. But what would you pick to be the seven wonders in the Czech Republic? The Czech citizens are able to vote until the end of this month and the results will be announced on the 12th of June. There are five categories to pick from:

I personally vote for:  Kutna Hora, Otto Wichterle (because he invented contacts and I am blind), Alphonse Mucha, Czech beer, Czech cubism, Tomas Bata and Emil Zatopek.

Cast your vote here (click here).

CZ: Pozor! Cesi maji moznost zaperlit a vybrat sedm divu Ceska. Vybira se z peti kategorii a vysledky budou vyhlaseny 12.cervna na programu CT1. Co byste vybrali vy? Ja osobne volim: Kutnou Horu, Ottika Wichterle (jsem pekne slepa), Muchu, ceske pivo, cesky kubismus, Batu a Zatopka.
Oficialne muzete volit ne webovkach Ceske televize.
(more…)

The Czech city of Frantiskovy Lazne has the wittiest meteorologists. Read this board which is hanging off of the Bismark observation tower.

-translation follows

CZ: Jak se zda, tak Frantiskovy Lazne maji velmi vtipne meteorology. Prectete si nasledujici nastenku, ktera je povesena hned vedle jakehosi vseznameho lana.
(more…)

You are not going to believe this. A certain Prague traveling agency is launching world’s first holidays for stuffed animal toys! For only 90 euros (and up) you can send your favorite teddy bear for a week trip to Prague. You know how boring it is for him to sit in the same bed for years? The poor thing wants to live a little too!

So once you send your dear one off to Prague you get a daily e-mail updates from him with pictures attached: teddy at the Prague Castle, teddy sitting by the Jan Hus statue at the Old Town Square, teddy having a typical Czech dinner…..

The creator of this ‘teddy bear tourism’ is a half-Czech, Prague-based enterpreneur, Tomio Okamura. “There are 1.2 billion teddy bears around the world, which is of course a very big group of potential clients,” says Tomio. (more…)

One of my Facebook friends posted this while I was aimlessly browsing FB. Since I am a Prague girl I found these little facts quite interesting ;0)

CZ: Jestlize pochazite z Prahy (nebo jste pouhym milovnikem Prahy) a ztravili jste v Prazskem metru nekolik hodin denne, tyto fakta vas bodou zajimat.

PRAGUE METRO – SURVIVAL CHAMBER FOR 325,000 PEOPLE!!
The Prague Metro serves about 1,5 million passengers a day, which makes it the seventh busiest metro system in Europe.
But it is a piece of history as well. When communism collapsed in 1989 revolution 14 stations with names reflecting Communist ideology were changed to be politically neutral. “Lenin station” was renamed „Dejvická“ after a surrounding neighbourhood. „Anděl“ station was known as „Moscow Station“ – until now you can find there several pieces of propaganda art promoting Soviet-Czechoslovak „friendship“ (Czechoslovakia was occupied by Soviet army in 1968..)

INTERESTING FACTS
The line A of the Prague metro is a giant “survival chamber” built for thousands of people in the case of a nuclear attack. You can see the giant metal doors at every entrance. (more…)

OK, here is yet another addition to our photo-gallery of Prague-under-snow. The My Czech Republic blog took some awesome pictures of the Czech capital (and other places) just a few hours after it stopped snowing earlier this past month. Click here to view all of the images – it really looks like it’s from some kind of a fairy-tale.

CZ: Jestlize jste ve snehove nalade, My Czech Republic blog zverejnil nekolik naaaadhernych, pohadkovych fotek zasnezene Prahy a okoli! Kliknete zde.

You know how much they all talk about how much snow is in the Czech Republic now? I got a proof! These wonderful Prague pictures (taken by a generous donor – Peter) were taken just a few days ago. And if Prague is snowed-in, you know that the rest of the Czech Republic is REALLY snowed in.

CZ: Vite, jak se vsude stebeta o tom, kolik v Cechach napadlo snehu. No, a ja mam dukaz! Fotky (velkodusne darovane panem Petrem) zasnezene Prahy! A vime preci, ze jestlize je Praha zasnezena, tak zbytek cele Ceske republiky je opravdu zapadly pod horami snehu.

Kampa

Do you know Anthony’s Bourdain’s show called “No reservations”? If not, now is the perfect time to start watching it because this daring culinary chef  will be introducing Prague and its ‘crazy’ culinary art! Catch this episode  on Travel Chanel Monday, Feb 1 at 10 PM E/P.

CZ: Anthony Bourdainova show zvana “No rezervations” bude pristi tyden o Praze! Uvidime, jaky ‘blaznivy’ chod objevi v ‘te nasii kuchyniiii ceskeeeeeee…” ;0)

Divejte se v pondeli, 1. unora na Travel Channel a to ve 22:00 E/P.