By Ricky, on January 28th, 2011
Mindless graffiti in the centre of Prague © Ricky Yates
At the end of my first post of 2011 entitled ‘Why I like living in Prague’, I did say that there were a small number of things that I don’t like about living here but referred to them as ‘minor irritants’. At least two commenters have since remarked that they would really like to know what these things are. So for Karen and Vance, together with everyone else who read that post and thought the same but didn’t leave a comment, here goes!
Mindless graffiti – The picture on the left, together with the two below, illustrate far more clearly what I mean than anything I can write. This is mindless, pointless graffiti. Please don’t let anybody try to tell me that it is art – it isn’t! And sadly, it is very widespread right . . . → Read More: My Prague dislikes and minor irritants
By Ricky, on January 17th, 2011
The Vltava River and Charles Bridge © Ricky Yates
A really pleasant sight here in the Czech Republic is to see children, some probably no more than seven years old, making their way from home to school and back again on their own! They do this on foot or combine it with the use of public transport. It is such a throwback to my own childhood when I too nearly always took myself to primary school either by walking there or travelling on the bus. Yet now in the UK, (and I gather also in the USA and many other western countries), hardly any parents allow this to happen because of fears regarding their children’s safety.
It isn’t just to school and back. Here in Prague, I often see children and young people in the late afternoon or early evening, making their own way back home . . . → Read More: The sensible Czech attitude to children and their safety
By Ricky, on January 12th, 2011
St. Vitus Cathedral, Prague photographed from Petrín Hill on New Year's Day 2011 © Ricky Yates
“Do you like living in Prague?” This is a question I’m frequently asked by Czech people once they discover that I’m not a tourist but that I’ve actually chosen to live and work here. Many Czechs cannot understand why someone from Western Europe might actually want to come and permanently reside in their country.
The same question is also frequently posed by English-speaking visitors who join us for worship at St. Clement’s Anglican Episcopal Church and by family and friends when they write or speak with me. So for my first post of 2011, I’m going to set out some of the reasons why I enjoy living particularly here in Prague and more widely in the Czech Republic. Some of these I’ve mentioned in previous posts so there are . . . → Read More: Why I like living in Prague
By Ricky, on December 31st, 2010
In the bleak mid-winter….. © Ricky Yates
Today is 31st December – New Year’s Eve. In Czech it is known as Silvestr as we discovered last year when the car park attendant at our local Billa supermarket wished us ‘hezky Silvestr’ as we gave him our ticket at the barrier. Sybille immediately knew what he meant as today is Silvester in German. And the reason for the name? In the Roman Catholic Church, today is the feast day of St. Sylvester/Pope Sylvester I who died on 31st December 335.
This post is really just a quick update on the things I’ve written about in my three previous December blog posts.
Weather
Not only did winter, with considerable snowfall, come early to Prague this year – it hasn’t gone away! We had a white Christmas with snow already on the ground and more fine powdery snow falling as . . . → Read More: Silvestr – New Year’s Eve
By Ricky, on December 27th, 2010
Street stall selling Christmas carp © Ricky Yates
This post should have two sub-titles. One is the well known English saying that ‘Truth is stranger than fiction’. The second is ‘It could only happen in the Czech Republic’.
The traditional Czech Christmas delicacy is carp. They are raised in fish ponds, particularly around the town of Trebon in southern Bohemia. Then in the week before Christmas, carp sellers set up stalls in the streets of Prague where you can choose and purchase your carp as they swim around in large tubs of water. The picture above is of one such stall and you can see from the picture on the left that the price this year was 79 Kc per kilo.
Display board showing the price per kilo of Christmas carp © Ricky Yates
You can have your chosen carp killed and gutted on the . . . → Read More: Christmas Carp induced flooding
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