Prague’s Housing Unaffordability

When we first began spending time in Czechia in 2021, I envisioned that a possibility would be to purchase an apartment in Prague to use while in town and then maybe rent out while elsewhere. For various reasons this is no longer realistic for me, including the huge price increases which continue every year. In […]

Czech Hiking Trail Markers

As many readers know, I really love to hike. It’s relaxing and connects me to nature. I particular enjoy mountainous, or at least hilly, routes to get the legs stronger and the heart pumping. Sometimes I hike solo, but I particularly like to hike with a group for the socialization. And hikes and walks help […]

Bohemian Rhapsodies – Part 2

This is Part 2 of a series of collections of Czech tidbits. In Part 1, I highlighted Anglo-American University (AAU), WWII memorial plaques, and the Czech Mycological Society with their mushroom box. In this Part 2, I provide insights into Prague public transport, particularly for the mobile app, and I tell about my first driving […]

Bohemian Rhapsodies – Part 1

Over the past several months I’ve been recording notable Czech insights I’ve learned. Some of these apply only to Prague, which is in Bohemia, but many are generally Czech and so are applicable to other regions of the country, including Moravia and Silesia. In this post I describe a few of the highlights. ANGLO-AMERICAN UNIVERSITY […]

Malaga (Spain), and 74-km March

Sofia and I hadn’t taken a father-daughter trip, just the two of us, in several years. That had to be remedied! So we booked budget flights and headed to Málaga for sun, sand, sea, flamenco, Picasso, and tapas! This was actually my third time to Málaga, but Sofia’s first to Spain in general, so she […]

Wordplay – analytic vs synthetic

As mentioned in an earlier post, English is a mostly analytic language, while Czech is mainly synthetic. The core difference is how grammar is expressed. In analytic languages, grammar is indicated mostly through separate words and strict word order, which you can see in English. Synthetic languages express grammar mostly through changes to the words […]

Czech, Please

I’m back in Prague, and things are the same but different in this dynamic place. After having been in Asheville for a few months, Prague feels more crowded and hectic than I recalled, and I suppose it might just be, as it continues its huge growth as a very popular city both to move to […]

Dan Brown in Town

Coincidentally, Dan Brown’s latest book, The Secret of Secrets, just released this month, is based in Prague. I bought an English language copy (surprisingly, it was less expensive than the Czech language version) and read it in five days, in time to finish it before a big book tour event held in Prague. I didn’t […]

Czech Account and Bank ID

In 2010 the US enacted FATCA (the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act) to combat tax evasion by US taxpayers holding financial assets outside the United States. This act requires, among other things, that foreign financial institutions report information about financial accounts held by US taxpayers. Banks outside the US must identify and report US account […]

Czech phone number and mobile apps

When spending so much time in Czechia, it is helpful to have a Czech phone number and to be able to access apps available only in Czechia (or at least for non-US Google accounts). I didn’t want a landline, of course, but I needed a solution for my mobile phone. For many of the running […]