I walked around Vyšehrad on Sunday and it was especially beautiful under snow. There were a lot of people there having a relaxing Sunday stroll. Kids were enjoying the fresh snow. Some even brought their saucers and were sliding down some hills in the park.
View toward the Church of Saints Peter & Paul (Chrám sv. Petra a Pavla)
St. Martin’s Rotunda (Rotunda sv. Martina) - the oldest preserved rotunda in Prague, built at the end of the 11th century
Explosive prank could spell prison for members of artistic group
On Czech TV, members of this group broadcast images of an atomic explosion in the Czech countryside.
NHL notebook
NHL games between the New York Rangers and Tampa Bay Lightning in Prague? - look toward the bottom of page 1.
Czech scrap metal thieves get Darwin Award
Darwin Awards website - A chronicle of enterprising demises
As far as I can tell, the awards for 2007 have yet to be announced, but some Czechs have been nominated.
Number of Czech road fatalities increased in 2007 - police stats
In a previous post, I wrote about the new road rules that went into effect on July 1, 2006. Road transport fatalities dropped afterwards as drivers expected strict enforcement of the law, but it looks like fatalities in 2007 will end up close to what they were in 2005.
Today is the Day of Three Kings. Caspar, Melchior and Balthazar (in Czech Kašpar, Melichar and Baltazar) were the Biblical gift bearers but I think of them as the “light bearers”. The Czech saying Na Tři krále o krok dále means that on Three Kings Day, we’re one step further on our way to longer days. Which is definitely a welcome trend after the two dark months of November and December.
I just read somewhere that the Day of Three Kings marks the end of Christmas. I did not know that. But the truth is, my parents always keep their Christmas tree up until around January 6 and we just took ours down today.
As of January 1, 2008, The Prague Public Transport Fare Increase is a reality. The Prague Public Transit Company rang in the New Year with new ticket prices. The increase did not end up being as high as was originally expected but it is still a noticeable change. A transfer ticket went up from 20 Kč to 26 Kč and a single-use ticket now costs 18 Kč instead of 14 Kč. A yearly pass is 4,750 Kč instead of the former 4,150 Kč.
There was a serious shortage of the newly priced tickets yesterday when it was nearly impossible to buy any. The situation was supposedly corrected by this morning but in reality, it was still an adventure to buy tickets. I was eventually able to find them, so here they are:
More information about new ticket prices can be found on our site at www.myczechrepublic.com/prague/tickets_fares.html.
We would like to wish all our regular, occasional and accidental readers a very Happy New Year! We hope it is a good one for all of us!
Dana and Jeff
