Frosty February
Photo: The Crypt of the St Cyril and St Methodius Church in Resslova
Weather forecast for the month ranges from cold to damn cold to chrrriiisst it's cold. So take my word for it and wrap up. Hat, gloves and thermal socks are recommended if you feel the cold and remember it's a wet sort of cold even when the sun is out. Still, on the plus side it means you'll want more hot drinks so don't forget to check the Six Hot Alcoholic Drinks post. February is all about the inside stuff so forget the parks and riverside and concentrate on Museums, Galleries, Bars and Restaurants.
February is historically the coldest weather of the year. Not unusual for Prague to be down as far as minus 8-10 degrees Celsius for periods although it's offset by very high pressure weather which makes for blue skies and sunshine.
What's Been Happening on the Sites
As late January is always fairly quiet it gives me time for admin and content so here's what's been going on.
NEW Shooting in Prague looks at the offer at Prague Ranger for people that want to include a trip to a shooting range.
NEW Prague Escape Rooms gives you an idea of what to expect from this type of attraction, who should do it and a few suggestions.
NEW 10 Prague Spa Hotels post was written specifically to point out 10 hotels at various classes in various city locations that offer what I call a "wellness" experience.
NEW Skip the Line looks at how to beat the queues and/or save yourself some money when getting into some of Prague's top attractions.
NEW Prague Bag Storage explains exactly that. All the options for storing a bag in Prague at the airport, bus and train stations and private city centre businesses. Bag drops, luggage offices and lockers. Everything with pricing and opening times.
NEW Crypt under the Church of St Cyril and St Methodius (featured picture above) was a record of a recent visit to the crypt, when you should go, how you should make the most of it and what to look out for.
UPDATED Prague Card post because they have now disconnected the public transport part of the card so from now on you'll pay extra for that if you want it.
UPDATED BabyBox post to show that the number of boxes has increased to 76 and the number of babies saved as of last month was 181.
UPDATED Planning a Prague Cruise Extension with direct links to give quotes for taxi transfers from Passau, Nuremberg, Linz and Dresden.
UPDATED Livingpraguetours dates and times added until December 31st 2019.
IN PROGRESS a set of posts covering options for touring Prague on bikes, e-bikes, eScooters and Segways. As usual with insider tips, what to expect and route detail.
Strange request of the month: What is the data download speed outside the Astoria Hotel? The answer on all networks was between 60 and 70Mbps.
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 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
The new version of the site is now at https://www.livingpraguetours.com so I can now run the same Turitop ticket system on both sites. You can see the whole booking process at https://www.livingpraguetours.com/tour-booking-process/.
I'm holding at number 14 out of a total 625 walking tour options in the Trip Advisor rankings. 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.
Quick Links:
In Prague
Masopust
The Czech version of Mardi Gras just with more clothes. Masopust is the period between 6th January and 6th March but the bulk of the celebrations are in February and early March. Normally you meet in a given place and then there's a procession to somewhere else. Look out for street posters or do a Google "Masopust 2019 Prague" search.
ST Valentines Day
The one day of the year when the price of a single red rose goes above CZK200. Look out for restaurants offering a special evening meal or hotels offering a package. In my mind there are enough romantic places in Prague and things to do to make any night ST Valentines.
Slav Epic Bye Bye
The Alfons Mucha Slav Epic exhibition at the Municipal House has now closed.
Superbowl
There will be various venues in the city running a Superbowl evening 3rd February. Check out the event at the Hard Rock Cafe which is a 6 hour entertainment bonanza for a fixed price of CZK1700.
Jan Palach
Events all over the country in January marked the 50th anniversary of the death of Jan Palach, a student who self immolated in protest an the suppression of the Prague Spring freedoms. You can read more about him on the Jan Palach post. Expect similar in February as on February 25th 1969 another student called Jan Zajic did the same thing in the same place.
That Was Quick
After more than 200,000 people took advantage of free entry to the recently reopened National Museum they have decided to close it for the month of February for operational reasons.
Read My Lips
A proposed major tax reform to set two levels of income tax i.e. 19% and 24% has been postponed until 2021 to allow for time to get prepared for the changes or "fall-out" as it was described.
Night Stalker
The Prague City Council recently elected it's own "Nightlife Mayor" whose job according to reports is "to gradually change the image of Prague from that of a city offering cheap alcohol and numerous nightclubs". Well, good luck mate!! and worryingly, "he first wants to analyse the situation in detail and meet with his counterpart in Amsterdam for inspiration", so maybe we can look forward to a new type of red light district.
Trivia
Hard Labour
After 50cm of snow fell overnight in the town of Jablonec nad Nisou the local authorities opened a low security prison and used the inmates to help clear the streets. Nobody escaped.
Smoked Out!
Eleven people got hospitalised by carbon monoxide poisoning at an ice-hockey training game when fumes leaked from the resurfacing machine.
Going Up!
Average number of days spent in hospital is currently 9.3. Highest in the EU.
Number of illegal immigrants entering Germany from Czech was up 10.8% (@3900) on the previous year.
2018 turned out to be the warmest year since records began in 1775. It was more than 3 degrees Celsius above average .
Foreigners now make up 11% of the Czech workforce despite being only 5% of the population.
The average price of a new home in Prague increased by 18.1% with a square metre now coming in at an average of more that CZK101,000 (an apartment in Prague 1 is closer to CZK200,000 per square metre).
National unemployment rose slightly to 3.1%
In 2018 the number of flights over the country or using Czech airports rose 6.9% to 912,815. At Vaclav Havel International Airport in Prague, flight traffic increased by 4.8% on the previous year to 155, 216.
Number of new businesses started was 18,306 (second highest ever)
Going Down!
Number of businesses that failed in 2018 was 13,328 (highest ever)
With the definition of poverty now stated as "an income less than 60% of the national average", Czechs between 18 and 24 are statistically least likely to fall into poverty of all EU countries.
Reported crime fell by 4.9%.
Discussions taking place on whether members of Parliament should receive less money or be fined due to not turning up for meetings and votes.
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