August, Ciao Bella
Photo: Zlute Lazne Recreation Area
I think I might have mentioned it before but the Czechs and Italians seem to swap countries in August with the Czechs going for the beach and the Italians coming for the beer. Mind you, I'm seeing more and more Spanish visiting the city.
The photo is the Zlute Lazne Recreation Area which is great to visit on most August evenings with it's beach area, restaurants and sports options plus its just a great place to chill in a deckchair with your cocktail by the riverside.
What's Been Happening on the Sites
Visitors to livingprague in July hit 45,816. I answered more than 30 emails from people looking for a bit of advice for their trip.
SITE CONTENT FROZEN FOR UPGRADE on Livingprague.com - Every now and again I have to take timeout for a site upgrade. For any techies out there I'm moving from PHP5.5.46 to PHP7.3. I know it's not the most interesting of events but it will increase the security and speed of the site. I'm currently in a testing period so by August this should be up and working (fingers crossed) and I'll be updating/adding content after that.
IN PROGRESS : Prague Towers, Castle Day Trips, Cheap Food - Jidelna, Ladronka Park.
Check the BLOG to see the latest 200 posts on the site.
I've offered this discount to my tour clients for the last year for those specifically looking for authentic Czech Garnet, Diamond Garnet and Crystal. The shop has now extended the range of the discount so now I'm offering it to any visitors to Livingprague. It covers gold, precious stones, semi-precious stones and cut/engraved crystal. Just click the picture and print the associated voucher. Redeem at the shop (Old Town location).
Livingpraguetours.com
Awarded Trip Advisor **Certificate of Excellence 2019**.
LIVINGPRAGUETOURS at https://www.livingpraguetours.com runs exactly the same tour booking system and carries exactly the same tours as the parent site at livingprague.com. It just gives me a better platform to describe the tours, about me and my tours ethos but regardless of which site you use it's still me and you can read about the whole secure booking process at https://www.livingpraguetours.com/tour-booking-process/.
 The latest tour to be added to the site is the Prague Architecture Tour. People that do any of my existing tours are always amazed by the eclectic nature of the buildings here and of course many of them have stories so on this tour I tell you those stories but in this case we take a closer look at the influences on the city, the architects that were asked to redesign 20% of the city, their styles and some of their signature works. It covers everything from 1344 up to 1974 but we'll concentrate on the Avant-Garde period 1898 to 1925 which includes all the Art Nouveau and Cubism etc. As it's a specialised tour it will run initially as a private option and may become a scheduled tour later in the year depending on the demand.
I'm holding at number 14 out of a total 710 walking tour options in the Trip Advisor rankings which puts me in the top 2% of listed tours. Of the top 10 private tours in Prague ranked by Trip Advisor, I'm currently 5th. More and more people are finding me just with a simple search for Prague Walking Tours.
I'm one of those guides that just uses my voice. I'm really hoping that the city will take a look at the increasing use of loudspeakers by guides in the city. This is encouraging huge groups of people because the guide's voice is now booming out and more people can hear them. The problem with bigger groups is that they block pathways and entrances for not only other tours but more importantly it means the locals take a dim view of tourists overall. This is completely against my own ethos of running small groups and letting the city flow around us. I've now taken the time to say "excuse me can we get through" in Czech, German and Spanish.
Quick Links:
In Prague
The Book of Roth
In Prague cinemas in October they will release a film adaptation of Philip Roth's book of his Prague experiences called the Prague Orgy.
Hot Stuff
Prague's Klementinum weather station in June measured the hottest day ever in the city with air-temperature at 37.9 Celsius..
Pride and Prejudice
August 5th sees the start of Prague Pride week and the main parade will be on Saturday 10th.
Wash and Go
After a group of young German nationals sprayed graffiti on the Charles Bridge the authorities tracked them down and had them suitably punished with CZK100,000 fines and banned for 5 years from Czech.
No Escape
The popular "escape room" tourist attraction has sprung up all over the city. Unfortunately half of the locations either have no permit to operate or have failed fire service inspections.
Trivia
Honesty is the Best Policy
The US Science magazine carried out a simple test. Let's leave 17,000 wallets in 350 cities in 40 countries and see who hands them in. This cost U$600,000 but Czech came out as 7th most honest.
Chocs Away
After an investment of more than CZK one billion, the country now has a new International Airport. The airport at Ceske Budejovice had been an international cargo airport but from this year it will route international passenger aircraft.
Not So Ready Cash
Counterfeit banknotes were found in several Czech cities over the last month. You don't need to be an expert to spot them as they are the wrong colour and have no watermarks.
A Bit Fit
Czech men spend on average 3.6 hours per week playing sport compared with 3.2 hours for women
Invasion Day
Czechs will shortly be getting another Bank Holiday as a proposal for August 21st, the date of the Prague Spring 1968 invasion has passed through parliament. .
Czech Character
A Czech student released a set of 180 emojis that show elements of Czech life like Beer, Food and even Picking Mushrooms. Search for "Czemojis".
Going Up!
14 shipments of Polish poultry were found to be infected by Salmonella in June 2019. A total of 21 Tonnes of meat.
GDP up by 2.8% year-on-year.
National debt increased by CZK106 Billion with mortgage/rent making three-quarters of that.
The number of UNESCO heritage sites in the country increased by 2 to 19 sites with the addition of a mining monument in West Bohemia and a Stud Farm in Kladruby.
58 people died in road accidents in the last month (17 were motorcyclists). 11 more than compared to last year.
This year has seen 2227 filings for personal bankruptcy, the highest since 2013.
Exports increased 8.1% year-on-year mainly due to the automobile industry.
Czech students applying for an Erasmus placement increased by 10% to @8000.
Going Down!
Police seized 948Kg of Marihuana , 150Kg less than the previous year
The percentage of Czechs who who intend holidaying outside the Czech Republic fell to 33%.
The Czech PMI (Purchase Managers Index) fell to 45.9. Anything below 50 shows a negative outlook for the economy.
A third of Paediatricians will close their practice or retire in the next 5 years.
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