By Ricky, on July 21st, 2012
A ring-tailed lemur in Prague Zoo © Ricky Yates
Prague Zoo has always been one of our favourite places to visit on my ‘day-off’, ever since we moved to the Czech Republic nearly four years ago. It isn’t really feasible to see everything in one visit and, depending on the time of year, different animals and birds are more willing to show themselves each time we visit. And all the time, there are new developments at the zoo, some being the result of ongoing repairs to the damage caused by severe flooding in August 2002. Realising that we hadn’t visited Prague Zoo at all in 2012, we put it on our ‘staycation to visit list’ and we duly visited once more on Wednesday 18th July.
Prague Zoo is located directly across the Vltava River from where we live. Part of the fun . . . → Read More: Prague Zoo
By Ricky, on June 8th, 2012
Kaufland – Open from 07.00 – 22.00 every day © Ricky Yates
Back in September 2011, I wrote an illustrated post about the building work going on to create a large new supermarket on the site of a former bus depot that lies adjacent to the Rezidence Podbaba estate where we live. It was entitled Kaufland prichází! – Kaufland arrives! Well now it is Kaufland je tady! – Kaufland has arrived! On Thursday 31st May 2012, our long awaited Kaufland supermarket finally opened.
As part of the development, as I illustrated in my earlier post, the main section of the former bus depot with its curved roof has been retained and renovated. Then alongside has been built a wholly new two-storey building. This new building houses the supermarket with the former bus depot building now providing a large undercover parking area.
At the . . . → Read More: Kaufland je tady! – Kaufland has arrived!
By Ricky, on May 8th, 2012
Statue of Soviet Marshall Ivan Konev with floral tributes © Ricky Yates
Inscription alongside the statue © Ricky Yates
Today is a public holiday here in the Czech Republic, as it is in several other European countries. The public holiday marks the ending of World War Two, sixty-seven years ago, on 8th May 1945.
I took the photograph on the left today. It is of a statue that stands in Námestí Interbrigády, a large square on one side of Jugoslávských partyzánu, the main thoroughfare leading from our nearest Metro station at Dejvická, to Podbaba where we live. And the person it portrays is Marshall Ivan Stepanovich Konev of the Soviet Red Army, who led the troops that liberated Prague from Nazi occupation, finally entering the city early on 9th May 1945, just a few hours after the unconditional surrender of all Nazi troops . . . → Read More: Liberation Day – 8th May 2012
By Ricky, on April 15th, 2012
The Vltava River in central Prague © Ricky Yates
The longest river wholly within the Czech Republic is the Vltava, known to Germans as the Moldau. It rises in the Šumava mountains near the Austrian border and then flows north through the centre of Prague going on further north to join the Labe/Elbe at Melník.
The Vltava was portrayed musically, by the nineteenth century Czech composer Bedrich Smetana, in the second of six symphonic poems that form his symphonic cycle called Má vlast – My Fatherland. Click on this link below and listen to the music whilst enjoying my illustrated guide to the river.
The picture at the beginning of this post is the view most tourist visitors to Prague have of the Vltava, overlooked by St Vitus Cathedral and the walls of Prague Castle. On the river in the foreground, is an ancient paddle . . . → Read More: The Vltava River
By Ricky, on February 26th, 2012
Standing on the end of the Baba ridge on my 60th birthday © Sybille Yates
As many readers of my blog will already know, today Sunday 26th February 2012, I celebrated my 60th birthday. As I wrote in a previous post, just like Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, in 2012, I am also celebrating my Diamond Jubilee.
Overall, I have quite positive feelings regarding reaching this landmark. As I wrote previously on this blog, in October 2011, I passed the age my father was when he died. Over the past year, I’ve shed around 10 kg in weight and feel fitter now than I have for a number of years. I can still keep wicket in a forty overs-a-side cricket match and just over half a year ago, I successfully climbed the highest mountain in the Czech Republic.
The one . . . → Read More: Celebrating my 60th birthday
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