Czech it out
The next day I left the conference a bit early to get myself to Prague. I flew out of Stansted airport, which is a bit outside Cambridge. You can take a cab there for 46 pounds (about $100!!), or the train for 7 pounds. Easy choice. And it’s so civilized to have a train that runs straight from town to the terminal. I flew Czech Air. It seemed to be a simple, decent airline. The flight was nearly empty. We flew an old-style 737, which means the seats and legroom were actually larger than they are on modern planes! I had forgotten how comfortable flying used to be about a decade ago.
[My British colleague told me later that flights on these smaller European airlines are increasingly empty. They are getting hit hard by the new economy options, EasyJet and RyanAir. These are the Southwests of Europe, and are likely to really shake things up.]
I had never heard Czech! It is a beautiful language, of which I understand absolutely nothing. It’s clearly related to Russian, but more melodic.
We stayed at the Crowne Plaza Hotel, which is not in the Old City (see below). The architecture is stark Soviet realist, with imposing columns, lots of gold, and other stately, stuffy crap. But it was an interesting place to stay. The surrounding neighborhood is the semi-diplomatic part of town, so the buildings were largely square and boring. For contrast, check out the descriptions of the Old City.
I was there to speak at a conference my company was running for its clients, and all of that went pretty smoothly. We had decent attendance despite the rapidly approaching European vacation season, which occupies most of July and August.
[My British colleague told me later that flights on these smaller European airlines are increasingly empty. They are getting hit hard by the new economy options, EasyJet and RyanAir. These are the Southwests of Europe, and are likely to really shake things up.]
I had never heard Czech! It is a beautiful language, of which I understand absolutely nothing. It’s clearly related to Russian, but more melodic.
We stayed at the Crowne Plaza Hotel, which is not in the Old City (see below). The architecture is stark Soviet realist, with imposing columns, lots of gold, and other stately, stuffy crap. But it was an interesting place to stay. The surrounding neighborhood is the semi-diplomatic part of town, so the buildings were largely square and boring. For contrast, check out the descriptions of the Old City.
I was there to speak at a conference my company was running for its clients, and all of that went pretty smoothly. We had decent attendance despite the rapidly approaching European vacation season, which occupies most of July and August.
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