Early Easter celebration...

Last Sunday wasn't just Palm Sunday, it was also Easter. Let me explain. This Friday is Good Friday, and is a holiday for most in the Czech Republic. Many (like me) also get Easter Monday off. That's a four day weekend, and many families will use the long weekend as an opportunity to travel somewhere. Our friends our going to Berlin and Istanbul and Venice, and so won't be here Easter weekend. So the decision was made to celebrate Easter a week early to afford the kids an opportunity to hunt Easter eggs and consume mass quantities of candy. [Note: This early celebration was not sanctioned by the Pontiff].

Here are some pictures of the festivities. Not pictured here are the Peeps (marshmallow chicks) that someone had brought from the States (since they aren't available here). Alas, I had none, since I am on my Lent diet and am still shunning all alcohol and sweets. An attempt was made to convince me that since we were celebrating Easter that I could forego the diet, but I was unconvinced.

Palm Sunday...

Yesterday was Palm Sunday and we again joined the procession of the combined, Czech, English and Spanish communities within the parish. We met at the Church of the Infant Jesus at 9:30 a.m. and then the procession, with a child on a donkey representing Christ, journeyed to St. Thomas church, passing other churches within the parish along the way. The procession only took about 15 minutes and was a walk of just about six blocks.



Here is the inside of the Church of the Infant Jesus (also known as the Church of the lady Victorious). The web site angelfire.com has this to say about the church: The history of the Infant Jesus of Prague started in the 17th century when a statue of the Infant Jesus was brought into Bohemia (now the Czech Republic) and eventually was given to the Discalced Carmelites in Prague. Since then, the statue has remained in Prague and has drawn many devotees worldwide to go and honor the Holy Child. It has been said that many graces, blessings, favors and miraculous healings have been received by many who petitioned before the Infant Jesus. In 1776 the altar was rebuilt using marble and two huge sculptures of the Blessed Virgin Mary and Saint Joseph were placed to the left and right sides of the altar. The Holy Infant was kept in a glass case standing on a pedestal engraved with crystals, and surrounding the Infant are twenty angels in gold.


The procession wound through back streets an near to the Charles bridge on its way to St. Thomas. Many tourists seemed surprised to have stumbled across the procession, not sure what it was (a parade?) and quickly snapped pictures.


The procession and boy on the donkey (in red) approach St. Thomas. The web site for the Church of St. Thomas is here, and includes church history.

Biking in Horomerice...

It was a nice day on Saturday - cloudless sky and low 50s. Noah and I decided to take a little bike ride on our usual route, from our house to a little path that runs to the forest just outside Nebusice. We don't go all the way to Nebusice, just to a spa at the top of the hill at the edge of the forest. It's not that far, probably about a mile and a half, but it's a pretty ride and no traffic.

Later in the day we all took a drive to a neighborhood on the hill (there are lots of hills in and around Prague) near Dejvicka, where we pick up the metro at the end of the green line. The neighborhood is called Hanspaulka, and it's very nice with sweeping views of the Prague skyline, including the Castle and the TV tower.


The house we are renting in Horomerice has been sold and the new owners plan on living in it, so when our lease is up at the end of August we will have to move one way or the other. We can either go back to Minnesota (or elsewhere in the States) or find another place to live in Prague. If we stay in Prague we will probably have to go to an apartment rather than a house or townhouse like we have now because of the cost.

I get a housing allowance of $1,500 per month, which was about 35,000 Czech crowns when we moved here two years ago, but now is worth about 26,000 crowns. Rent for houses anywhere near the international school (like we have now) are high already and the falling dollar makes them unaffordable to us. So the most likely solution would be to move into an apartment in a nice neighborhood within the city but with good access to the international school. That describes Hanspaulka.


Hanspaulka is the Twin Cities equivalent of the Grand and Summit neighborhoods. It has large villas that have been split into apartments. The villas have decent sized yards, which is unusual for within the city.

Bowling in Horomerice...

The weekend before last we had another bowling party at the local alley and restaurant in our litle village of Horomerice. There are only four lanes so it is usually crowded, especially in the winter.

We rented two lanes for an hour and the kids bowled on one and the adults on the other. I bowled in the 170s, which is higher than the 150 that I usually bowl. When we move back to the States I may get in a bowling league again. I still have the bowling ball that I bought in 7th grade, but I would probably upgrade. Bowling, like golf, has been greatly influenced by technology and just using the latest and greatest tools will inprove scores.

Anyway, Noah did better this time. Even though the bumpers were up to prevent gutter balls he was able to (mostly) throw the ball down the middle, and actually got a strike or two.

After bowling it was upstairs to the restaurant for dinner. For a bowling alley the restauant is excellent and reasonably priced. We made reservations ahead of time and they actually took our orders while we were still bowling, which worked out well. The only problem came when two in our group ordered a chicken dish, even though it was on the menu, they no longer served. The staff decided, instead of going back and having the two people reorder, to substitute a different dish with pork. This might have worked had the two people not been Jewish. The dish had pork, ham and bacon, so it was pretty obvious that the couldn't eat it. Anyway, they replaced the meals with a different chicken dish, but it took 30 minutes to prepare those.

A nice Thursday lunch...

Kathy and I met for lunch today at a nice place called Parliament, near Old Town square. Kathy had found the place when she and her friends stopped for lunch while they were in Prague.

The place is small but well appointed - lots of dark wood. The menu has listings in English and Russian in addition to Czech, and the waiter spoke very good English.

The most notable thing abuot the restaurant was the service. The waiter came promptly and took our drink order (just 2 Coke Lights) and when he brought those (also promptly) he took our food order. The food arrived in about 10 minutes, which is lightning fast around these parts.

I had basic pork roast with potatoe dumplings and sauerkraut, and everything was fantastic. The pork was tender with a nice light gravy, the dumplings were light compared to most I've had from other places, and the sauerkraut was obvioulsy very fresh. Good portion size, too.

The total bill came to about 240 crowns, or about $15 (not bad, but that same 240 crowns would have cost us just a little over $10 when we first got to Prague).

About the only negative was the amount of smoke in the air, and that is just a fact of life when dining out in Prague during winter. Once the outdoor cafes open it's much nicer - less smoke, better views, great weather.

Kathy and I try to meet for lunch or morning coffee at least once a month. It's a real treat.

Malostranska namesti...

We did the usual Sunday school and Mass last weekend. I had the camera with me in case Kathy and I went for a walk while Noah was at Sunday school, but we decided to go for coffee instead since it was chilly. However, after Mass we were waiting for the #20 tram at Malostranska namesti that takes us back to Dejvicka where we park the car, and I decided to take a series of pictures form that one spot.



The Easter markets are open now. Maolstranska namesti is quite small compared to Old Town square and Wenceslas square, and even Namesti miru. But they have room for half a dozen or so stalls.





There was a brisk business on the square, being noon on a Sunday. The new Starbucks is in the background - it was busy as always.


This is a fresco (mural?) on the other side of the street from the Easter market stalls. I am not sure what the building is, but it sure is a pretty work of art.


Some of the other buildings along the small square.

What have the Tischlers been up to?...

Now much, apparently. If you have looked over the blog lately most of my posts have dealt not with the goings on of the Tischlers but on other things - the fall of the dollar, the fire and closing of the Palladium mall, the arrival of Starbucks in Prague, and the recent murder of a visiting American, Mike Murray.

I was wondering why so many of my posts have addressed more general news items and have not been more family specific. Then I realized that we just having been doing much. Over the winter we tend to stay in and that isn't much grist for posting.

I started posting last April, so spring had already arrived and we were doing all kinds of things in and around Prague. Once winter came, though, we didn't do that much. Sure, we had trips that I posted about - to Berchtesgaden, Rome and Dresden. But our daily actitivities in Prague have been pretty dull. Even the old stalwart of Noah's sports activities has been slow. He was signed up for Saturday basketball but the coach got sick so the start has been delayed several weeks.

We had couple of Kathy's friends visit last month, and I have a friend visiting in two weeks and those visits are always good for a few posts (including the obligatory visit to U Flecku). And we're not that far away from spring which means the opening of the sidewalk cafes and the recommencememt of our little trips in and around Prague which I can post about.

If the weather is good tomorrow morning Kathy and I will take our little Sunday stroll while Noah is at Sunday school. If the weather is too cold or rainy we will probably end up at a cafe for a cup of coffee instead (but probably not at Starbucks this time).

Kathy visits two museums...

Kathy visited two museums with a friend yesterday. After meeting at the friend's house they walked the 20 minutes to the first museum - the Museum of Czech Cubism, which is housed in the House at the Black Madonna (great name).

As the web site praha.eu says:

Prague is the Mecca of Cubism lovers. This is not only because some of the Prague pre war art collectors were in favour of this style but mainly due to the fact that Prague is the only city with so many cubist buildings. The worlds unique buildings were build within four years from 1911 until the beginning of the First World War


Here is a picture that kathy snapped on the walk to the museum. It took her through nice neighborhoods that she hadn't been in before.





Kathy in the Museum of Czech Cubism.



















Looking down the stairwell at the Museum of Czech Cubism (I need to give Kathy the camera more often).



After the Cubsim museum they went to the Kinsky Palac (built from 1755-1765) which has the permanent exhibition "Landscape in Czech Art from 17th – 20th centuries" and includes:

Czech Baroque landscape (Karel Skréta, Jan Rudolf Bys, Jan Jakub and Frantisek Antonín Hartmann),

19th century landscape (the landscapist movement lead by Max Haushofer, Antonín Chittussi, Antonín Slavícek, Julius Marák),

20th century landscape (Pravoslav Kotík, Bedrich Piskac, Stanislav Kolíbal, Milos Sejn).

Expats getting sick in the Czech Republic...

Kathy and Noah, but thankfully not me (*knocks wood) have needed the Czech medical system since we moved here over one and a half years ago. While we have found the level of care and service to be generally good, it is not without a good deal of frustration, both due to language barriers and differences in how US and Czech doctors view medical treatment.

Emily Prucha is an American married to a Czech (who we purchased our Ford Mondeo from) and has an article in Friday's Prague Daily Monitor about dealing with the Czech medical system. It's spot on.

Being sick is never fun
By Emily Prucha / Prague Daily Monitor / Published 29 February 2008

I never feel more like a foreigner living in Prague than when I’m sick. The emotion only intensifies when one of my children is under the weather or needs medical treatment. Although we have received excellent care in the Czech Republic, linguistic as well as cultural differences often complicate our doctor visits.

Part of my anxiety is related to the challenges of describing ailments in a foreign language. I have to remember that “throat” and “neck” are simultaneously krk in Czech and then I pantomime my way past unknown vocabulary to a diagnosis. No wonder visiting the doctor can bring on a case of the nerves.

Although I would prefer to avoid going to the doctor, as the mom of two young children finding a pediatrician was one of our first priorities when we moved back to Prague. Luckily, we found a doctor whose office is just a short walk from our apartment. Between regular check-ups, immunization visits, and the occasional illness, I’ve gotten to know our pediatrician (and the route to and from her office) fairly well. Yet, no matter how many times I've been there, and despite my good experiences there, as soon as her nurse calls out “Pruchoví,” (our family name) I feel my palms start to sweat.

Over the past two years, my pediatrician and I have translated names of illness and immunizations, and we’ve compared treatments on a variety of childhood ailments. Although she initially dissuaded me from giving my children some of the non-standard immunizations like pneumococcal, citing it as too expensive, when I explained that it was part of the recommended vaccine set in the US, she agreed to write a prescription for me. When I asked about the possibility of other “non-essential” vaccinations, such as varicella (chicken pox) or the flu shot, that are very common in the US, she just laughed.

Our pediatrician’s theory on vaccinations falls in line with the general Czech medical theory of less-is-better when treating any illness. “Why use the strong antibiotic when the weaker one might work?” one doctor told me. “We like to keep the strong ones in reserve.” While I agree with him that it doesn’t make sense to over-prescribe, especially to children, the wait-and-see theory can be infuriating when dealing with a sick child.

This theory also contradicts my American sensibilities, since I was raised to believe that an antibiotic could treat anything worse than the common cold. I was also raised to believe that about 24 hours after starting an antibiotic, I would be germ-free and could resume my normal activities like school or daycare. When I mentioned taking Anna Lee downtown while she was still taking a round of antibiotics, my husband Radek firmly deterred me. “She’s sick and needs to rest at home,” he proclaimed. It didn’t take much arguing for him to win me over, but I must say that my initial response is to take antibiotics and keep on functioning.

Differences in healthcare systems could explain some cultural differences in diagnosing and treating illnesses. Unlike in the US, where healthcare is privatized and each individual must purchase his own health insurance coverage, the Czech Republic has a national healthcare system where every citizen has the right to health insurance regardless of his financial situation. Traditionally, children have been almost fully covered within the Czech Republic’s system regardless of their parents’ income. However, a recent system overall has instituted a mandatory CZK 30 fee for each regular doctor visit, which jumps to CZK 90 after hours, as well as higher co-payments for prescription medicines. There is some backlash from the public regarding the changes, especially as they pertain to children.

I experienced the new system in effect when my 9-month-old son Oliver ran a high fever over the weekend. Since his fever was at 39 C (102 F) and didn’t respond well to the infant fever-reducer I had at home, we decided to take Oliver to the nearest after hours clinic on Saturday morning. When we arrived at the Kralovské Vinohrady clinic, Radek checked in with the nurse. “Have you paid?” was her first question. She pointed to the parking lot where an automatic machine stood. At first glance, it looked like a parking meter, but in fact, this was machine to pay the doctor's fees. Unfortunately it didn’t take any paper money or even make change from coins. I heard several other people around me also grumbling. I couldn’t tell if they were annoyed that they had to pay or just annoyed that the machine made the procedure so difficult. On the upside the machines kept the nurses from having to change their habits to accommodate the new payment system. Radek left to find a change machine for the CZK 90 in coins that we needed, while I waited with Oliver.

After the pediatrician on duty examined Oliver, he sent us to an ENT specialist for an ear check. We walked the few hundred yards to a different building and were greeted by another nurse asking “Have you paid?” When we showed her our receipt, she accepted it, and since we had paid the higher after hour fee, we were not asked to pay again (that day). Although on a subsequent follow-up visit the following day, I had to pay CZK 90 again, and then on Monday I was required to paid CZK 30 at both offices since it was a regular working day. While the amount we ultimately paid was probably comparable to one regular American co-payment, the procedure of locating exact change and going outside to deposit it into the automatic machine was particularly annoying.

During the various examinations, Radek and I held a screaming Oliver down while the doctors or nurses performed their tasks. While telling us that Oliver had a middle ear infection, the ENT picked up a sharp instrument which he stuck into Oliver’s ear to pierce and drain the infection. The procedure seemed painful and strange to me, although Czech friends who’ve experienced it claimed that it actually releases the uncomfortable pressure. Later, I raised my eyebrows again when neither of the nurses drawing blood from Oliver’s arm wore any gloves. The third time they checked his blood, it actually splashed up into the nurse’s mouth. She rushed to rinse it off, but otherwise carried on as usual.

Over time, I’m getting used to the no-frills approach I encounter from medical professional here, and I believe the doctors and nurses I’ve seen here are as competent as doctors anywhere. Although it’s been harder for me to make a personal connection with my Czech doctors and nurses, but when I recognize this more as a cultural difference than a language shortcoming or a personal affront, it usually helps. But being sick is just not much fun, regardless of the circumstances.

In like a lion...

If the old saying is true about March - in like a lion, out like a lamb - then the end of March in Prague should be nice indeed. This morning we had some of the strangest weather since arriving in Prague. It started overcast and windy, but by mid-morning it was starting to break up, but was still very windy. Then it suddenly clouded up again and we had a squall that provided lightning and thunder as well as a combination of sleet, snow and hail.

Here is what it looked like outside of our house.



















The lights flickered several times during the storm, which only lasted about 20 minutes. The clouds again broke (but again the wind remained) and an hour later we did lose power for about an hour. Not sure why, unless they had to do some repairs related to the earlier storm.

The rest of the day was very windy with very fast moving low clouds. Very interesting weather.

More on Dresden...

Here we are in Dresden along the river Elbe (with the help my trusty tripod).


A quaint street in the city center.


During our walk we turned away from the river to go back into the center and found ourselves staring at this amazing mural. This is Sachsen Palace and this is what I found on the web about the mural.

Called the Procession of Dukes, this mural looks like a pencil drawing, almost in the style of currently -- with its richly detailed figures in black, white, and gray, on a mosaic-like background of gold and gray. The mural was about one hundred yards long or more and some five yards high, depicting every ruler of Saxony from the middle ages to the Prussian expansion, each dressed in period costume.

What will happen to the current Radio Free Europe building?...

The National Museum at the top of Wenceslas Square, with the Radio Free Europe building just visible on the left.






Well, my advice would be to knock it down and build a 5-star hotel on the site. The location, at the top of Wenceslas Square right next to the National Museum, makes it one of the most attractive in the city for tourists.

That's not the Czech government's plan, though. According to today's Prague Monitor the National Museum will take it over and


National Museum revamp seen completed by 2018
By ČTK / Published 28 February 2008
Prague, Feb 27 (CTK) - The historical building of the National Museum (NM) in Prague and its new premises in the nearby building of the former federal parliament [ed. That's us] should be fully functional in 2018 when the museum will mark the 200th anniversary of establishment, NM director Michal Lukes has told CTK.

The historical neo-Renaissance building of the National Museum in the upper part of Wenceslas Square in Prague's centre was built in 1885-90 and it has never been completely reconstructed since.

The national heritage building and the reconstructed federal parliament building from the early 1970s will be connected by an underground tunnel. The new premises will extend the museum's exhibition space by several thousand square metres.

The former federal parliament building now houses Radio Free Europe (RFE) that is to leave it by March 31, 2009 at the latest when its new seat further away from the centre is to be completed.

The decision to move RFE from the centre was made after the terrorist attacks on the United States in September 2001 for security reasons.

"We would be glad if it were possible to make the (museum) complex accessible right from the metro (underground)," Lukes said.

Together with the NM reconstruction the whole Wenceslas Square is to be revitalised and the city arterial road passing by the museum is to be relocated.

Lukes said the museum also prepares a reconstruction of its depository in Terezin, north Bohemia, where all stock and libraries from the historical NM building are to be moved in 2010.

The reconstruction is to cost 4.5 billion crowns. [ed. $272million]


I'm not sure about the tunnel idea, considering that probably the most used metro station in the city (linking the green and red lines) sits underground between the National Museum and our building. And if today they are saying it will be done by 2018, my money is on completion by 2025 (if ever). I hope I'm still around to witness the grand opening.

Dresden train station and the Radisson hotel...

The train trip to Dresden was smooth and ineresting. A great way to travel, really. The train station in Dresden isn't anywhere near as impressive as the new station in Berlin, but it is clean and efficient (and very Germanic).


Here's the Dresden train station.


The Radisson hotel surpassed our expectations. It was just a 10 minute walk from the train station - very easy to get to. The room was a suite ("business class", whatever that means) with a lot of room and very well appointed. The hotel is right in the center of the city and convenient to everything.


The hotel's pool was also very top end. Noah loved it, and I enjoyed it too.

Prague's Nusle Bridge...

Here is an article about the Nusle bridge in Prague that connects New Town to Vysehrad. The red line metro passes through it, and there is a nice park under part of it. We have been over it several times and visited the park a couple of times. It's very big and the fact that it's made of nothing but concrete makes it very imposing. It is not a subtle bridge.

Praguescape: Birthday bridge
By Kristina Alda / Prague Daily Monitor / Published 26 February 2008

When I told my father I had spent a Sunday afternoon strolling on Prague's Nusle Bridge, for a split second, he seemed a little worried. After all, Nuselák, as locals call it, belongs among the city's most popular destinations for suicide jumpers, and that's what the bridge has become best known for.
Its architectural merits are often overlooked. That's surprising, since many consider it an engineering marvel. In fact, the bridge, which celebrated its 35-year anniversary last Friday, was named the Structure of the Century in the transportation building category in 2000.


As bridges go, Nuselák isn't pretty. It doesn't share the ethereal beauty of the Golden Gate Bridge or of the George Washington Bridge. It certainly lacks the handsome hoariness of the Charles Bridge or of the Pont d'Avignon. Nuselák is imposing the way a bare rock face is imposing – for its sheer height, mass and sturdiness.

Spanning from New Town to Vyšehrad, high above the sleepy streets of Nusle, the Botič brook and railway tracks, the bridge is 486 metres long, and its four pillars are roughly 42 metres tall. It's part of the four-lane magistrála freeway, and the C-line metro passes through its interior, travelling from I.P. Pavlova to Vyšehrad.

Construction began in 1965, based on a design by architects Svatopluk Kobr, Vojtěch Michálek and Stanislav Hubička, and took five years to complete. Sixty-six tanks rolled over the bridge in 1970 to test the sturdiness of the concrete and steel skeleton structure. Later, explosives were fired off the bridge to further test its strength.

Like so many of Prague's Cold War structures, the bridge bears the marks of the country's communist history. Its opening in 1973 coincided with the 25-year anniversary of the Czechoslovak coup d'état of 1948, known as Vítězný únor. The bridge originally bore the name of Czechoslovakia's first communist president, Klement Gottwald. It was renamed to Nuselský most in 1990, following the Velvet Revolution.


Plans for a bridge over Nusle date back to the early 20th century, but the two wars delayed construction for decades. The concrete behemoth that was eventually commissioned by communist authorities was far removed from earlier, more elegant iron designs. It would be nice to be able to say that the bridge, in its uncompromisingly stark ugliness, has become a period piece, a reminder of the country's grimmest years. If you take a look at the concrete railway overpass that's going up between Žižkov and Karlín, however, you will notice striking similarities to Nuselák.

Grimmer still than Nuselák's architectural legacy are its suicide statistics. The bridge has been attracting jumpers since the first days following its opening. About eight people jump off Nuselák each year, and by 2000, the bridge had claimed an estimated 300 lives. Authorities installed 2.7-metre-tall metal railings in 1997 in the hope of detracting people from jumping, and smooth metal barriers were added at either end of the railing last year to make climbing over even more difficult.

The measure seems to be helping; according to a recent Mladá fronta Dnes article, there hasn't been a single suicide on Nuselák in the last six months. This is good news not just for paramedics, but also for those living near the bridge, as there have been several rare incidents reported where jumpers landed on pedestrians passing below.

On my recent Nusle walk, though, as I wandered along the bottom of the valley to the base of the bridge, it was hard to believe this was the site of hundreds of tragedies. I was only reminded when I passed by the rather morbidly named U Skokana (The Jumper) bar on Oldřichova Street. From below, contrasting against a solid blue sky, the bridge looked more like some absurdly geometrical rock formation than a piece of architecture – as though it's been part of the local landscape for centuries.


The view from the top, meanwhile, was spectacular as I walked along the span from Vyšehrad to New Town. The Žižkov TV tower jutted up on the horizon to my right, to the left was Petřín hill and, directly below, the meandering Botič brook and the tidy, car-lined streets of Nusle, all submerged in a quiet Sunday lull.

Kristina Alda can be reached at kristina@praguemonitor.com

Back from Dresden...

We got back home late yesterday afternoon after our short trip to Dresden. It was a great trip and I will post more, but now I will just post some pictures about the the Prague train station and the train.


I was very surprised by the main train station (called Hlavni Nadrazi). It has an amazing architecture, although it could use some serious refurbishment. Here is the stained glass window at the front of the station that appears to be in good condition.

We got to the station about 30 minutes early so we had a coffee at a cafe on the second floor under the high domed ceiling. Statues - these in need of the aforementioned reurbishment - ringed the wall of the dome. It was interesting to see how mancy Czechs in the cafe were drinking beer at 8:00 A.M.

The train was on time and not crowded. The trip to Dresden is just over 2 hours. The weather was nice on Saturday, sunny but a bit breezy. Taking a train is much more relaxing than driving.