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Last night, again just a coincidence, we discovered another American film shot in the Czech Republic - called The Illusionist. Immediately after the first minutes of the film, we found the places, where the story took place, very familiar. On the basis of a scenario, the story took place in Vienna; however, the whole movie was shot in Prague, Tabor, Česky Krumlov and other Czech places. Would you like to see how the places, where the film was filmed, look today? You can, of course, visit the Czech Republic or look at the following photos.

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Clanek v CESTINE dole (Kliknete na “Read the rest …”)

Many of you may already know that the Czech Republic is overcrowded by tourists. Our visit to Prague last Christmas definitely confirmed this. All squares and main streets were congested by tourists from around the world. During this year, the number of tourists increased further, but according to Czech statistical offices, the number of nights spent in Czech hotels has decreased, as well as interest in Czech hotels. Could it be due to a bad economic situation in the world?

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Clanek v CESTINE dole (Kliknete na “Read the rest …”)

Here we have the first feedback from the celebration of the 19th anniversary of the Velvet Revolution in California. Czechs and Slovaks met in San Diego on the beach to a pleasant evening full of music (including guitars and a banjo), food, drinks and interesting conversations. Comfortable weather in California did not call for warm clothing and a large bonfire only added to a pleasant environment. People roasted almost everything: bread, bagels, bacon, American and Polish sausages and more. There was more than enough wood, thus, even children had their own fire for their entertainment.

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Clanek v CESTINE dole (Kliknete na “Read the rest …”)

Today we celebrate 19 years since the fall of communism in Czechoslovakia. Many times we have mentioned the name “Sametova revoluce - Velvet Revolution.” In Slovakia it is known as the Nezna revoluce - Soft revolution” and the name is probably a better explanation of this revolution, which was peaceful, thus, it was not necessary to use armed forces. Maybe you wonder how the citizens of the Czech Republic and Slovakia celebrated this day, the 17^th of November. Many citizens celebrated this day with pleasure and enjoyment, but unfortunately, celebrations in both countries did not go without protests as well.

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D1 in the 1960s (D1 v 60tych letech)

70 years ago, Karel Chmel, then-employee of Velitelstvi stavby dalkovych silnic (VSDS) “headquarters of building long-distance roads”, invented the word “dalnice” (motorway). He did so after the invitation of the master of VSDS Vaclava Nosek. Motorway plans had already started in 1935. One of the problems was to find a suitable route. Bata’s route from Cheb to the Velky Bockov won in 1938, but the plans were changed during World War II, when Czechoslovakia was occupied by Germany. The Czech motorways of today don’t resemble the initial plans, but they are growing in all directions thanks to funding from the EU.
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Czech Prime Minister Miroslav Topolanek and Deputy Prime Minister Alexandr Vondra presented the new logo yesterday, which the Czech Republic will use during their term of Presidency for the European Union. The colorful logo represents the diversity and openness and also the web portal of the Czech presidency of the EU and will be available to the public on the 1st of December 2008 and fully from the new year.

The author of this logo is a graphic designer Tomas Pakosta from Litomysl. The logo was honored as a “smart design” symbolizing a country of intelligent and smart people. The logo competition began in July 2007 and a total of 350 designs were entered into this contest. The winning design, however, stood out of all of them.
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Public research in the Czech Republic showed that most Czechs do not agree with the American radar base. Many politicians are also upset and are against it. The U.S. financial support is still sent to the Czech Republic for research. Will the U.S. radar base be built then? We have to wait another couple of months.

Roughly two thirds of Czechs are against the U.S. base. Many of them also hope that the future American president Obama will revoke it. Some politicians plan to meet with him in person to talk about the base. The Czech parliament is going to vote on the Czech-American radar treaty in December, but the U.S. government plans to send $600,000 to Czech universities and research institutes in the Czech Republic for research related to anti-radar technologies.

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Do you originally come from the Czech or Slovak Republic? Which places have you visited there? And which cities? Maybe you were born in one of these countries, but you did not have the possibility to tour them. Maybe you are just about to visit them. Whatever your story is, we believe that you will appreciate information on cities and interesting places that deserve to be mentioned. One of the first places we will visit today is Chebsko - in German Egerland.

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The Czech Republic is still popular in the winter season. You will find many places for skiing and snowboarding and prices are still acceptable. Winter resorts are well maintained and, mainly, are very close to Prague.

The nearest resort from Prague is Krkonse, which includes Spindleruv Mlyn, Harrachov, or Pec pod Snezkou. Spindleruv Mlyn is cheaper this year, as you can see in the table at the end of our article prepared by Czech Tourism agency. Do not forget to read their article about eight different locations in the Czech mountains for this season.

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Do you know Karel Gott? K. Gott, or Sinatra of the East, is still the most popular Czech pop singer. He won many prizes in the Czech Republic and abroad, such as Luxembourg, Germany, Cannes, Tokyo, etc. While he is in show business for 50 years, he is still very active. If you plan to visit the Czech Republic or Slovakia in the near future, do not miss his 2008 tour, or visit his museums and villa near Prague.

So where Gott sings right now? His tour started on the 5th of November in Plzen; then he sang in Ceske Budejovice. His next concert will be on the 10th of November in Ostrava. The tour will continue until December 3rd. You can find our detailed list of his concerts with the web information at the end of the article. Read the rest of this entry (Čtětě více ZDE) »

Clanek v CESTINE dole (Kliknete na “Read the rest of this entry”)

One of the problems that we have had in the past was getting money to our family in the Czech Republic. It used to be that you could only use Western Union or send cash with somebody travelling to Europe. Western Union works well but they charge a large fee for this transaction. We solved this problem in two different ways:

1) We requested a second ATM/Debit Card from our CU(Credit Union)/Bank and sent it to our relatives in Europe.

 2) We opened an account at a CU/Bank with our relative present and added them to the account.

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Are you members of social networks? Czechs decided to start their own social network named Sitko (translated as “network of contacts”). This page has combined elements of professional social networks like Facebook and LinkedIn, and was created by a Czech company Centrum, which holds pages Aktualne.cz, Atlas.cz, Centrum.cz and ICQ Czech Republic. Sitko is not aimed only at students, as it was the case with the original Facebook. However, it runs now in a Beta version and it is only accessible for invited guests.

Will CzechFolks be ever invited? We’ll see.

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