InfoTweets

Some philosophical humour:  "Age is an issue of mind over matter.  If you don't mind, it does not matter. :-)"

THE CZECH CROWN JEWELS, on display from Friday, May 10 to May 19, 2013 in the Vladislav Hall of the Prague Castle, are shown to the public only on rare occassions.  The medieval works of art consist of a gold crown decorated with 96 precious stones including rubies and sapphires, along with a sceptre, royal orb and other precious objects.

The 2.5 kg (83-ounce) crown was first worn by Charles IV of Luxembourg, king of Bohemia and Holy Roman emperor, for his Prague coronation in 1347.

The public has only viewed the collection 12 times in the last 100 years.

CZECH STATES:  The Czech Republic is comprised of 3 states.   Bohemia (52,065 km2 /20,102 sq mi) with about 6.5 million people, Czech Silesia(4,459 km2 /1,722 sq mi) with about 1 million people and Moravia (22,348.87 km2 /8,628.95 sq mi) with about 3 million people. 

BEER:  The Czech Republic is not only the producer of some of the best tasting beers (according to serious, international beer drinkers). It is also the number one country in the world in beer consumption per person at 132 liters/US 35 gallons.  Next is Germany with 107 liters/28.1 gallons, then Austria with 106 liters/28.1 gallons, then Ireland with 104 liters/27.5 gallons, then Australia with 98 liters/26 gallons .... the USA is number 12 with 78 liters/20.6 gallons per person yearly consumption.  The beer drinking trend, however, is going down.  Most of the countries are consuming less than a few years ago.  Cheers! (Na zdravi in Czech)

NAMING PRAGUE:  The legendary queen Libuse named Prague.  She lived in the 6th century, was physic and directed her people to go to the forests below her Vysehrad castle and build a city on the spot where a small hut stood.  Since one had to bend to enter and look at the threshold, she ordered the city to be named “Threshold” – Prach.  Praha, the actual name of the city, is derived from this legend.

SIZE OF PRAGUE:  Prague has an area of 496 sq. km/192 sq. miles and a population of 1.25 million people.  That makes Prague a little larger but less populated than Vienna which has 414 sq. km/160 sq. miles with a population of 1.6 million people.

PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION IN PRAGUE:  Prague has an excellent public transportation system.  There are 3 subway lines, called “Metro” and they intersect at 3 stations, “Mustek”, “Florenc” and “Muzeum”.  More stations are being built and we expect the subway to reach the Prague Vaclav Havel airport in next next few years.  Visit the official website for the public transportation in Prague -  www.dpp.cz for more information.

CZECH LANGUAGE:  Our language belongs into the Slavic languages group originating in Asia.  Czech is similar to Slovak, Polish, Ukrainian, Russian and many others.  It is vastly different from German or English.  We use latin script, however.  For the full explanation, please visit Wikipedia here … http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slavic_languages.  However, while you are in Prague, English is widely spoken.  In other parts of the Czech Republic, it is more difficult to find English speakers.

The river flowing through Praguer - VLTAVA

The Vltava is the longest river in the Czech Republic – 430 km/267 miles long from its source in Šumava to the confluence with the Elbe (Labe in Czech) at Mělník. It flows northward for most of its course. It drains about 28,090 km2; at the confluence it actually has more water than the Elbe, but Vltava joins the Elbe at a right angle to its flow so that it appears a mere tributary and for historical reasons the river after the confluence is called Elbe. In Prague, the course of Vltava is 31 kilometres long and the river is crossed by 18 bridges (11 road bridges, 5 railway bridges (including one tramway bridge) and 2 pedestrian bridges (including the famous medieval Charles Bridge)).

DISTANCES TO SOME OTHER CITIES IN EUROPE - Prague (Praha in Czech) is in the very center of Europe, being the capitol of the Czech Republic.  It has approximately 1.3 million inhabitants, has sustained minimal damage during WWI making it one of the most original, medieval cities in Europe.  It is the perfect starting or ending point of your European vacation, having a new international airport recently renamed to "Prague Vaclav Havel Airport" after our recently deceased first president after communism.  The airport code remains PRG. 
Here are some distances from other major European cities

Prague to/from ……………….
listed in clockwise manner - click on this link for a map

Berlin – 358 km/222 miles – driving time 4 hours - Dresden – 157 km/ 98 miles – driving time 2 hours - Krakow – 539 km/335 miles – driving time 6 hours
Warsaw – 673 km/418 miles – driving time 8.5 hours - Bratislava – 329 km/205 miles – driving time 3.5 hours - Budapest – 529 km/ 329 miles - driving time 5.5 hours
Vienna – 331 km/ 206 miles - driving time 4 hours - Salzburg – 378 km/ 235 miles – driving time 5 hours - Nuremberg – 298 km/ 185 miles – driving time 3 hours
Passau – 218 km/ 136 miles – driving time 3.5 hours - Munich – 383 km/ miles – driving time 4 hours - Paris – 1,033 km/ 642 miles – driving time 10 hours

Click here for alphabetical listing. The driving time is the fastest way not taking into account any traffic delays, etc. Some cities are connected via a fast, 4 lane highway (Autobahn, expressway, etc.), some are not. This explains the time being longer despite the distance being shorter than other cities.