Czech Airlines is the World’s fifth oldest airline still in operation. The airline was founded on October 6th 1923 – it was originally called ČSA Československé státní aerolinie (Czechoslovak State Airlines).
Just in case you wondered about the older airlines: KLM (1919), Aviatica (1919), Qantas (1920) and Aeroflot (1923).
To celebrate their 95th birthday, Czech Airlines produced a video that shows changes in cabin crew uniforms over the last 95 years. The Czech Republic doesn’t suffer from unnecessary political correctness and so you’ll find only female cabin crew featured.
Models used in the video are real Czech Airlines cabin crew members.
Crispin Glover is an American actor known for playing eccentric roles such as George McFly in Back to the Future and the Thin Man in Charlie’s Angels. Here is a classic scene from Back to the Future where George tries to tell Lorraine that he is her destiny.
I found Crispin’s chateau (zámek in Czech) on AirBnB and decided to book two nights there end of June 2018. The Airbnb account is managed by someone called Anna-Michaela, she advised that all the double rooms were under reconstruction but could offer two singles with a connecting door – we decided to take them. It was quite expensive considering the location:
That’s the sort of price you’d pay for two nights in a five-star hotel in Prague. But we thought, hey, this is a chateau and probably pretty nice if Crispin Glover owns the place.
The day of our booking arrived and we took the train from Prague to Kolín – journey less than an hour. A taxi from Kolín to the chateau in Konárovice was 150/200Kc and took about 15 minutes before we found ourselves outside the electric gates just before 4pm.
The path led to the main chateau building which looked impressive. Anna-Michaela met us and pressed a button to open the main doors.
The building is on two floors, surrounding a square courtyard. Anna-Michaela was friendly but a little bit ‘away with the fairies’. She explained that her and her Mother often spend several of the Summer months at the chateau, although there is someone else who manages the place and it’s maintenance/reconstruction full time.
We were taken on a small tour. The kitchen was a little more rustic than we had anticipated. We’d brought some food and put that in the fridge.
Our rooms were odd; weird furniture, dusty floor with some dead bugs, cobwebs hanging from the ceiling. I should have said something about cleanliness at that point but we didn’t want to make a fuss. The first room had a narrow single bed within a wooden unit.
A connecting door led to the second room; more weird furniture, narrow bed, dust and cobwebs. Both rooms had their windows wide open and so there were a number of flies circling. Luckily I’d brought my electric bug zapper racquet so I knew I’d be able to dispatch them later.
Another connecting door led to a huge black bathroom, with several washbasins, showers and toilet cubicles. Imagine a black toilet basin and seat in a black cubicle. Even the light switches were black.
It felt like we’d arrived the Addams Family house.
I asked about the odd furniture and all black bathrooms. Anna-Michaela said that the ‘owner’ went to local auctions and bought unusual furniture. The ‘owner’ also wanted all the bathrooms black. There was never any mention of Crispin Glover and so we didn’t mention him either.
The tour had lasted almost an hour and we were keen to pick up some provisions, especially wine and beer. Anna-Michaela directed us to the local mini-market. We went out through the electric doors….
…through the electric gates…
…only to find that the mini-market had closed five minutes earlier. The shop closes at 5pm weekdays and noon on Saturday. If you decide to stay here, bring provisions or ensure you make it to the shop in time.
We closed the windows in our rooms and spent 30 minutes with the electric bug racquet taking out the flies. Then took a walk around the grounds.
There are quite a few peacocks wandering around.
An old church that looks un-used is next door.
There’s obviously a regular gardener maintaining the grounds.
Steps lead down to a small lake with swans.
It is a really unusual and interesting place.
We went back inside and explored the corridors and upper floors before heating up some food in the grubby kitchen oven. Wherever we found ourselves in the chateau, Anna-Michaela would magically appear – it was a little disconcerting and I decided that she must be using a secret network of corridors and paintings with moving eyes!
We took a stroll through the village and discovered that there was a celebration at the local sports ground. There was a barbeque, country-music band and best of all Czech beer.
The evening sky was amazing.
Back in our spooky room, we pulled back the bedding of the first bed to find at least 15 moths and killed them. We then tried to take a shower but there was no hot water. I messaged Anna-Michaela about the moths and hot water and she came very quickly. After first initially offering the use of her shower, which we declined, she realised that the hot water had been turned off and resolved the issue – she also replaced the bedding. I decided to discuss the overall cleanliness – Anna-Michaela observed that perhaps she should be stricter with the cleaning lady.
We both slept badly. The beds were uncomfortable. I was already creeped out about the moths and other bugs, then I was buzzed by a mosquito. It took 15 minutes to find it and zap it with the racquet. Back to bed. Another buzzing in my ear. Another 15 minutes. This happened three times. I was getting so desperate that I was thinking to call a friend in Prague and ask if they would come and get us. At first light we were woken to sound of peacocks.
We decided to leave the next morning after the breakfast we’d brought with us. Anna-Michaela, with her flower-child demeanour, was mystified by our desire to leave – she said that she wore earplugs so the mosquitoes didn’t disturb her. I asked if she was bitten and she said ‘Oh yes, all the time!’.
We were worried about importing the moths back to our home and had tried to keep all our clothes locked in our case – nonetheless we found some when we arrived home and put everything we had with us in the washing machine.
I realise that this is an old chateau and not a modern five-star hotel, but the prices charged should mean at least a clean room, working shower and absence of insect infestation. Finding the moths among our clothes at home was the final straw and I requested a refund via AirBnB. In the end we agreed to a two-thirds refund.
Obviously, I’d never stay again. But, if you want to stay somewhere really unusual or you’re a fan of Crispin Glover and you don’t mind paying hotel prices to rough it, this chateau may be of interest to you.
Crispin Glover’s website: http://www.crispinglover.com/ – it’s an odd website that looks like it was made in the early days of HTML, but maybe that’s the look he was after?
26th October 2018 update: Lime Scooters ‘temporarily’ banned by Prague 2. Apparently, Lime didn’t ask Prague 2 before deploying the scooters also Prague 2 residents have been complaining about riding on pavements and leaving scooters in a random places. The Prague 2 website (in Czech) has the announcement http://urad.praha2.cz/V-rijnu-Prahu-2-zaplavily-elektrokolobezky.html
I checked the Lime app this morning and found that Prague 2 is now shown in pink (see below) – still quite a few scooters are parked there, but I guess these will be swept up by the Lime ‘juicers’ – those paid by Lime to pick up and recharge scooters. I’m not sure what happens if you drive a scooter into the ‘red’ zone – it would be very sci-fi if the thing refused to move into the zone eh?
Original Post from 17th October 2018:
Lime green electric scooters have appeared in Prague over the last few weeks. People whizz past on them. You can spot them parked unattended in the streets and nobody seems to steal them. I decided to find out what the deal is with these scooters.
I found https://www.li.me/ – quite smart to use the .me extension to make the word lime as I’m sure lime.com would cost a lot more. It turns out that this US company has placed electric scooters across the US and now Europe.
I downloaded the Lime app from the app store, entered my details and looked for a scooter.
I’m amazed at how many scooters I could find, although several looked a bit low on battery.
I found a scooter and clicked ‘scan to ride’ – there was a QR code on the scooter. The Lime app linked with Apple Pay and took 25Kc. The app also warned that I needed to obey local regulations, be over 18 and have a full driving licence. It’s a bit surprising that I was able to get so far without anyone actually verifying my age or driver status. I also have no idea what the local regulations are for riding an electric scooter in Prague.
I decided to take the scooter to a quiet side street – it started beeping and I wasn’t sure what I was doing wrong. Then some guy appeared and asked if I’d rented the scooter and did I need some help. I was initially amazed that they had people around to assist – but then it turned out he was just some guy who wanted to rent the scooter and had pressed the bell button in the app in order to find it.
First issue with Lime: It doesn’t look like you can reserve a nearby scooter so it’s still there when you find it. You could see one on the map, walk to it, only to find that it’s been rented.
I rode the scooter – controls were quite easy, just accelerate and brake. The cobbled streets of Prague made the journey a bone-shaking experience.
Second issue with Lime: I don’t think they’ve considered the terrain in Prague.
I decided to park the scooter. This ‘How to Park’ Matrix-inspired video is pretty good, although it talks about cycles rather than scooters:
I left the scooter on a wide pavement and clicked ‘lock’ and ‘end ride’ in the app.
Within seconds, a couple, one on a Lime scooter, one running, had rented the scooter. They drove off and didn’t seem to mind being shaken about.
Well I have the Lime app now and I assume it works for any Lime scooter in any city. I’m not sure if I’d bother renting another scooter in Prague, unless it was to ride around a park that had smooth paths. But if I found myself somewhere else, I might use Lime for sightseeing.
Belles Fleurs has several outlets in Prague and also an online store. My nearest branch is near IP Pavlova metro station and tram stops.
They have a lot of flowers outside. On the afternoon of Monday 17th September, I picked up three bunches of five yellow roses. The assistant, clipped the ends from the stems, hand tied the roses and wrapped them in paper – she also gave me a sachet of powder to add to the water. Price 397 Kč.
Within ten minutes they were in a vase of water plus the powder from the sachet. The flowers didn’t look too good on Tuesday. I took these pictures today as I wanted to show them to the Belle Fleurs.
The assistant looked at the pictures and receipt, then announced that “refunds or replacements were only possible within 24 hours under Czech law”. With some persuasion, the assistant called ‘head office’ and confirmed that nothing could be done.
What terrible customer service! And to hide behind Czech law, assuming this law exists, just makes it worse.
So please avoid, at least this branch of, Belles Fleurs. If you do buy flowers from them and they start to look a bit tired within 24 hours, take them straight back.
BTW Marks and Spencer have much better flowers – they last longer and are less expensive.
Belle Fleurs
Bělehradská 382/124, 120 00 Praha-Vinohrady
The Slav Epic is a series of large paintings by artist Alfons Mucha. It’s quite different to his usual Art Nouveau work, which you’ll probably recognise below.
Obecní dům is a spectacular building and always worth a visit. The Mucha exhibition is in two large rooms on the third floor – there is an elevator although I think you need to ask to use it as nothing happened when we pressed the call button.
Mucha spent years (1910 and 1928) working on the Slav Epic and considered it his greatest work. A series of 20 canvases depict the mythology and history of Czechs and other Slavic peoples. 11 of the smaller(!) canvases are included in the exhibition.
The canvases are huge, I can only imagine what the larger (8.10 x 6.10 m) paintings look like.
There is some controversy surrounding the Slav Epic. Mucha donated all 20 paintings to the City of Prague on condition that the city build a special pavilion to display them. The Nazi and Soviet occupations meant that no such pavilion was built and for some time the canvases lay rolled up in the basement of a chateau in Moravský Krumlov.
Prague took ownership in 2010, upsetting the people of Moravský Krumlov plus some conservationists and art historians. The controversy increased when Prague decided to loan the paintings to be exhibited in Japan – they were rolled for transport.
It’s an interesting exhibition – tickets perhaps a little expensive, particularly as the paintings were donated. More pictures at the end of this article.
The Slav Epic
Obecní dům, a.s.
náměstí Republiky 1090/ 5
111 21, Praha 1 – Staré Město
Maso je maso (meat is meat) occupies the space where the Summa cum Laude used to be.
The bar, open kitchen and bathrooms are the same but the restaurant interior has been re-decorated.
Those who read my review of Summa cum Laude will remember that I found the menu confused, like a mash up of several restaurant menus. Well Maso je maso is definitely not confused – this place is all about meat!
The reason for our visit was two-fold; try a new place and also escape from the heatwave that had caused Prague temperatures to rise to 35 degrees – I was pleased to find that the excellent air con from the previous restaurant was still in operation.
The new Chef-Patron visited our table and welcomed us to the restaurant and recommended the various steaks. The steaks sounded good, but with such hot weather outside we’d already decided on burgers.
A large glass of wine was 80 Kč. Tap water free. A tasty amuse-bouche (chorizo bruschetta) arrived.
The Italian Burger was good value at 215 Kč (170 gr. homemade ground beef, home made pesto, rucola salad, mozzarella, sun dried tomatoes, parmesan, balsamic, basil). Homemade fries were not such good value (55 Kč).
The burger was really delicious and beats my previous favourite burger from nearby Putica – sadly my last visit to Putica was a disappointment and their burgers are not as good as they were. My only criticism was that is was served on a small board and I would have preferred a plate.
We shared a nice-enough panna cotta (95Kč) – slightly surprised to find this on a dish as that makes the ‘wobble test’ difficult.
Our second visit was just for the Italian burger – this time we asked the burgers to be served on plates and they were happy to do that. Oddly no amuse-bouche, so not sure how that works.
I certainly recommend a visit and when the weather cools down, I’ll try a steak and let you know.
Maso je maso
Belgicka 335/26
Prague 12000
Czech Republic
The Gallery of Steel Figures has only been open a few weeks. The site was formally a wax museum. I never bothered to visit the wax museum, but was excited to see something new and unusual rise from the melted wax.
We visited Sunday the 5th August late afternoon and were really impressed. Everything is made by welding bits of steel together – each piece a work of art taking hundreds of hours to complete.
There are two floors, the ground floor containing both figures and cars – the cars weigh over 1200kg and so would most likely fall through the floor if they could somehow be lifted upstairs.
Almost the first figure past the entrance, a Jaffa warrior from the Stargate Movie and TV Series.
The cars are impressive and everyone is allowed to climb inside.
The cars are mostly replicas of standard models. I would have liked to see more movie car replicas, particularly the Back to the Future DeLorean, the Knight Rider TransAm and the Ghostbuster ambulance – with maybe a Batmobile thrown in for good measure.
There is a Game of Thrones seat – more comfortable than described in the book.
Upstairs (there is a large modern elevator) was probably my favourite – well everyone loves Minions and it was also nice to seem some painted sculptures after so much grey metal.
Here is the view to the ground floor.
Fans of Star Wars (I’m not) had plenty to see.
I think the Hulk was probably the best sculpture.
There were toilet facilities on the ground floor. The whole place was air conditioned. The place wasn’t busy and I was able to take plenty of pictures without people photo-bombing them (I’ve added more pictures at the end of this article).
We spent over an hour in the gallery – I think the ticket price is about right considering the amount of work that has gone in to the figures and the large central space in Prague. I’d recommend a visit.
Czech Repubrick is a Lego model exhibition located in the basement of Hamleys* Toy Store Prague.
I love Lego! Doesn’t everybody love Lego? When I was a kid, Lego just came in boxes of bricks, baseplates and wheels – you invented something every time. These days, there seem to be more pre-designed sets with instructions to build a specific model.
We visited 5.45pm on Saturday 23rd June. I was hoping that it wouldn’t be busy – as it was there were less than 10 visitors while we were there. This may have been because I’d chosen a perfect time, or could be a mixture of lack of awareness and a high ticket price (CZK 290 per adult if bought at the door).
The Lego model displays are numbered and so it’s easy to self-navigate around – which is handy as you aren’t offered any guide on entry. They’d made good use of a giant safe door, left by the bank that previously occupied the building – a model of the Bohemia Crown Jewels.
There was a fantastic model of Saint Vitus Cathedral – someone spent 1800 hours building that and certainly didn’t have any instructions.
The place felt more museum than family attraction – perhaps because it was so quiet, or perhaps because the majority of the models are static and not interactive. The model of Prague Airport in Terminal 2 of Václav Havel Airport is a good example of a great model with plenty of interactive features.
The Amusement Park (not based on anywhere in the Czech Republic) had some buttons to push and some carousels would rotate.
The park also had a roller coaster that ran every 15 minutes.
Here’s a video of the rollercoaster.
Along the side wall were some interactive models – buttons opened this car’s doors and spun the wheels.
For this Rock Concert display, a button started the concert music video, but none of the figures moved around – I suppose I’m asking too much really.
There was a marble track that looked really fascinating – sadly it wasn’t working.
There was an impressive life-size Terminator.
And even more impressive ‘Sally’ figure from ‘Nightmare before Christmas’
The model of the proposed new home for the Czech National Library – known locally as ‘The Blob’ or “Chobotnice” (The Octopus) with design by Jan Kaplicky – shows how versatile Lego can be. I still don’t think the actual building should be constructed though!
The Dancing House is a modern building that I do think fits well into the Prague landscape.
Would have been fun if the trams moved in the model though.
Jested. I love the design of that building and also stayed in the hotel there one time. Look closely (when you visit not at this photo!) and you’ll see that the model maker also included all the detail of the statue Alien by Jaroslav Rona.
The Old Town Hall and Astronomical Clock were nicely done.
I like to challenge the Czech Repubrick model builders to re-create a larger version of the Astronomical Clock in Lego, with all moving parts matching the original – and I mean when the original has completed it’s repairs.
There was a fun room where you were shrunk into a Lego world – and you could move the Lego around. There were some Lego-style hard hats on the viewing platform and these would have been fun to wear in this room – maybe also some fake Lego hands.
There was a camera obscura room, where images from exterior pinholes were projected onto a screen. To be honest it wasn’t that impressive and I have a feeling most visitors wander in, find the room dark and wander our again.
Our visit lasted about 45 minutes – exit is via a small gift shop with oddly-few Lego sets available. You can continue from there to visit the excellent Papilonia Butterfly House, also in the basement of Hamleys.
We enjoyed our visit, although I think there are rooms for improvement; more enthusiastic staff could be on hand to assist with the displays, interactive pieces and answer questions, a Lego builder on call to repair broken displays and a bit more model movement added. I also think the price is a little high – halving the price would most likely treble the visitor numbers.
But if you love Lego – you should go! There are plenty more models than I featured in this article.
Czech Repubrick
Inside Hamleys Toy Store
Na Příkopě 854/14
110 00 Nové Město
Hours: 10:00 – 20:00
Adult: CZK 247 online CZK 290 door
Children up to 100cm: Free
Family 2+1: CZK 580 online
Family 2+2: CZK 730 online
Note that the apostrophe was dropped from Hamleys name around 1911, when they started to be referred to as Messers Hamley Bros. That lasted until about 1920, when the branding became Messrs Hamleys (without the apostrophe). Soon after, it became just Hamleys.
I visited this location many years ago when I seem to remember it was a French restaurant. I can’t remember how long it’s been an Italian restaurant, despite walking past a few times each week and even sitting across the road eating at Pho.
The one thing I did remember was that there was a large garden at the rear. Our regular hot weather pasta choice has been Pizzeria Grosseto at nearby Náměstí Míru, but it’s quite noisy there and the prices have risen.
Sunday 29th April 2018 was a lovely warm day and so we decided to try the garden at Giardino. The garden is boarded and there’s even a small wooden house at the rear for rainy weather.
We asked for a jug of water and two glasses of Montepulciano (70 Kč for 0.15dl although our glasses looked more like 0.2dl). Sadly the jug of water didn’t appear and we were given a bottle of water (99Kč) – I think this was just miscommunication and I’m going to push for tap water on our next visit.
Some delicious bread and dips arrived – I later found that this was charged at 25 Kč which is a bit cheeky as we didn’t ask for it. However, I would have been happy to pay 25 Kč for it.
We asked for one ‘Selection of italian and balkan cold cuts and cheeses decorated
with strawberries, olives, capers and rocket’ to share (250 Kč) and really enjoyed that.
We both chose Ravioli with asparagus in a saffron sauce (210 Kč each). It was excellent.
I think we’ve found a regular restaurant for the Summer. Hopefully they’ll provide free tap water next time we visit.
The bars and restaurants that line the Old Town Square (Staroměstské nám.) are typically for tourists and usually over-priced. You should be able to find a 0.5l of Czech beer in the centre of Prague for 35Kč – on the square you could easily pay over 100Kč.
As a result, I’ve tended to avoid those places, including the Hotel U Prince. However, on Monday this week, I found myself sitting on their rooftop terrace drinking a ‘one for the road’ 115Kč 0.5l beer. And I do it again.
Hotel U Prince has street-level tables outside, opposite the town hall and astronomical clock. It’s easy to miss the hotel entrance that leads to what looked like a good cocktail bar (https://www.blackangelsbar.com/ but didn’t try yet) and then to a rooftop terrace bar and restaurant.
It was around 22.30 when we wandered into the hotel entrance. Disappointingly the elevator was out of order – or perhaps they just told us that on the basis that if we were too drunk to climb the stairs, we wouldn’t be welcome on the terrace!
The hotel reception desk looked like something out of the movie ‘Grand Budapest Hotel’.
Although the elevator would have been easier, we were able to see interesting parts of the hotel.
Several exhausting flights of stairs later and we found ourselves on the roof terrace. The terrace has a glass roof and heaters. The views to Prague Castle and the Old Town Square were amazing. We just had beer but the place also operates as a restaurant.
The terrace was almost empty and we wondered if this hidden gem was so hidden that nobody visited. We asked about weekends and our waitress said they were fully booked.
We vainly tried the elevator down button and then set about walking back down the stairs.
I’m sure I’ll be back and it’s also a great place to take friends who are visiting Prague – but only if the elevator is working.
