Was he or wasn't he?  read more »

Burčák the young wine (stum) popular in the Czech lands in the early autumn came earlier this year appearing in early August. Burčák sales in Prague kiosks around September and October is one of the joys of the Czech 'babí léto' and reminds Bohemians to remember how good it is to have Moravians part of the nation.
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Hlavním obchodním centrem je Londýn, Praha je 41. Nejvýznamnějším městem ovlivňujícím globální ekonomiku je Londýn, za kterým následují New York, Tokio, Chicago a Hongkong. V první desítce se dále umístily Singapur, Frankfurt, Paříž, Soul a Los Angeles. Praha skončila v porovnání se všemi světovými městy na 41. místě, v Evropě obsadila 18. příčku.

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MF DNES Praha - Pražský hotel Riverside je osmý nejluxusnější na celém světě. Na osmé místo se dostal v prestižní anketě portálu Tripadvisor, který každý rok oceňuje nejlepší hotely z celého světa.

Two hotels in Prague made it to the top 10 in a survey of hotel visitors from around the world conducted by Tripadvisor. Riverside is 8th (4th in Europe) and Le Palais 10th. It should be of note that neither of these hotels has a Czech or even Czech sounding name and that one  read more »

MF DNES Praha - Praha je šestým nejnavštěvovanějším místem v Evropě. „Ale když se podíváme na počet obyvatel, tak z první desítky turisticky atraktivních destinací je Praha suverénně nejmenší, proto je v centru několikanásobně vyšší koncentrace lidí než v jiných metropolích,“ vysvětluje Tomio Okamura z Asociace cestovních kanceláří a agentur.

Prague is the sixth most visited place in Europe, it seems (behind places like Paris, Rome, London, probably, the article doesn't say). But it is the smallest of the top ten most visited places and as a result most crowded. The one million three hundred thousand inhabitants are joined by another four million visitors every year who mostly come to visit the historic center which has one of the narrowest streets of the popular destinations. Part of the problem is the fact that the outskirts of Prague are not particularly appealing, ringed as it is by bland-looking apartment housing blocks (Note: which I personally find beautiful on many levels) so the tourists have no other outlets. (Note: this is not strictly speaking true there many places off the beaten track in Prague worth visiting but the concentrated beauty of the architectural Disneyland of the historic center makes them not as attractive.)  read more »

Tiscali Europa It's not all beer and the Vltava you know... Ten countries in Central Europe and the Mediterranean joined the European Union in 2004 - how well do you know them? Can you tell a Becherovka from a Jan Huss? Or a Škoda from a Schroeder? Try your luck with our great photo quizzes... but make a mistake and you get sent back to the beginning!

Tiscali Europe has provided this fun quiz on what is important to know about the Czech Republic. They hit many of the major points (although they  read more »

MF DNES 1. ledna 1912 přestal platit pražský čas, který se od středoevropského lišil o 2 minuty a 18 vteřin

95 years ago, Prague ran to its own time. Yes, not that long ago Prague clocks were attuned to their own time which was 2 minutes and 18 seconds faster than Central European time but was accurate according to the Prague meridian which is designated by a plaque on the ground of Staroměstské náměstí (Old Town Square). The change was made to make synchronization of train  read more »

In May 1911, after arriving in Prague to take up his appointment to the physics department of the German University, Albert Einstein wrote to his friend Michele Besso: "Incidentally, the city of Prague is wonderful, so beautiful, that it alone would be worth a journey." (Einstein and Besso 1972: 20). from Toman, J. (1995). The magic of a common language: Jakobson, Mathesius, Trubetzkoy, and the Prague Linguistic Circle. Cambridge, Mass; London: The MIT Press.

I came across this quote recently in a book by a Czech linguist on the Prague Linguistic Circle which  celebrated its 80th anniversary this year. It should also be added that Einstein who only spent three semesters teaching at the university, found it to be an "intellectual desert without conviction". This certainly wasn't the case 15 years later when Prague became one of the centers of world linguistics known today as the Prague school.  read more »