Czech Advertising.

A couple of ads, straight from the bottom of the barrel (at Prague Airport, which by the way, is a really flash place). Air France bought it a while back and sunk some coin into it, no doubt predicting the tourist boom. I’m sure it’s since passed to local ownership but who really owns what these days anyway? Czech Airlines were pretty stellar, great service, good atmosphere. About as far from our experience with Austria’s national carrier as you can imagine. Nothing, however, can excuse these two gems:

More cats.

So we’re watching Notting Hill in London at the moment, as it happens we’re only a couple of streets from where it was filmed… Anyway, i’ve got a few days to make up for on the blog writing front! Ok so the dogs, really it must be a western affluence thing…. It does amaze me what excuses we can find for not looking after our fellow man first. This one from Rome:

Czeching Out

Ok, i know its a trite pun Anyway, we’re off to Rome in the morning, so i’ll leave you with some snaps from our time here in Praha:

Trumped By One

So there’s a stumpy little tower on the top of a hill in Prague which is modelled after a certain famous beret-toting nation’s heavenward erection. With the height of the hill included, the Prague tower beats the Paris one by a whopping 1000mm. Take that one, frenchy. Man it was cold up there, must have been close to minus 10, which made climbing the 373 (ish) outdoor steps a bit of a chore. When we got to the top, the viewing windows had frosted over, so there wasn’t a whole lot to see!

While we were up there, this is about as close as it’s got to snowing on our trip so far - a thin dusting of frost on the ground. Anyone in meterology want to explain how it can be below freezing for a week and not snow?? I’m baffled!

Cosmic.

We have laws about this back home.

The Prague List

Country: Czech Republic
Language: Czech, English, German, Italian, Klingon.
Beer: It’s the home of beer, but it seems they prefer Absinth.
Food: Pork Goulash with dumplings (Bowel Cement).
Currency: Crowns (Koruny).

• Absolutely everything is tagged. It was the first thing that struck me getting off the train, and it’s just everywhere. All the walls, subways, escalators, cars, trains, shops… Since the collapse of communism, people have really taken freedom of expression to the extreme.
• Its COLD! The day starts at about -3º and steadily chills down to -5º, and the sun doesn’t make it far above the horizon. Apparently they average one full hour of daylight, the rest is perpetual sunrise and sunset.
• The christmas markets are better than the ones in Vienna. They sell this awesome doughnut type thing that gets baked on a stick. Yummy.
• Dogs are commonplace in public here as well, but I haven’t seen any inside at shops. There’s plenty of frozen dog poo on the footpath though. Anyone for golf? Also, the street beggars (it seems to be a vocation for a few people) hug dogs to keep warm.
• Along with police there’s private security contractors with the blessing of the state. Apparently they’re all ex KGB, so we steered well clear. The sight of sub-machine guns first thing in the morning is sobering. In saying that, we never had any trouble, everyone we met was friendly and generally helpful.
• The original Czech Budweiser is much nicer than the knock-off American one.
• All the bread we found was tough and slightly stale, it seems to be how it’s eaten.
• Everything is flavoured with Caraway Seed. Great, if you like it.
• The city is a maze of tight alleyways, there’s a pub or bar or restaurant every 50 metres it seems. Pays to explore, we found some really quality little places tucked away.
• There’s a vibrant music scene, today we ate at a place where ‘Jazz for One’ was on the menu!
• People smile more here, but I wonder if they still walk with the weight of the socialist era on their shoulders…
• The architecture is truly stunning, Prague was never bombed in either of the little continental altercations last century, so there’s buildings here from 800 years ago and they’re all adorned with statues of naked people.

Tor!

‘Tor’ is the German word for ‘goal’. Which you can score if you’re lucky enough to dine at this particular restaurant, and are of the male persuasion. Wouldn’t want to try a penalty shot from the nine yard box, though….

Irrefutable proof…

…  that at least one Austrian is funny.

Vienna Photos

Finally got a chance to get on the laptop and upload some shots!

You can find the whole lot in the gallery right here :