Welcome to the My Czech Republic Blog

March 2007

The Prius Mania

I was amazed and pleased to see how many Californians drive the Prius (the wonderful hybrid gas/electric car by Toyota). Two or three years ago, there were a few of them on the roads. Now you can easily see four in an hour. The Czech Republic has a ways to go in this department. I think I have only seen the Prius – or any hybrid for that matter – on a total of three occasions in Prague since 2004.

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Care for Some Water?

You won’t find a Czech restaurant that will serve free water and you won’t find a Czech restaurant that will serve tap water. At the same time, basically every Czech restaurant offers at least one brand of mineral water, which often comes in several varieties: still, lightly sparkling and sparkling. Mineral water, even Czech made, is usually more expensive than Czech beer, sometimes almost twice as much.

If you ask for mineral water at a U.S. restaurant, you may get a confused look from the waiter. Your large glass of iced tap water will arrive free of charge as soon as you sit down and it will be refilled throughout your meal, but mineral water or simply bottled water seems to be an exotic product at many establishments.

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We’re on Summer Time!

March 25, 2007

The Czech Republic switched to Daylight Saving Time last night. Let’s enjoy the longer, brighter days of spring! An evening update: It got dark around 7:45. Not bad.

Three Prague Restaurants in 2007 Michelin Guide

March 22, 2007

The MICHELIN Guide Main Cities of Europe 2007 has just been published. Last year I wrote about the Prague restaurants that received the Bib Gourmand, which highlights “good food at moderate prices”. The same three restaurants that received the designation last year, received it again in 2007. They are: Aromi, Brasserie M, and Le Terroir. Dana and I have [...]

Josef Day

March 19, 2007

Today was the name day of Josef, historically one of the most common Czech first male names. It is an old name and it used to be extremely popular in the past. For example, the village of Josefovice used to have at least one Josef living in every one of its houses (I wonder how the [...]