Compact archive January 26, 2007

The Prague’s international Airport Ruzyne and Acron Czech company opened yesterday a new hotel Tranzit II in the duty-free zone of Prague’s airport. This hotel should increase the quality of services for people who transit in Prague.

The hotel has 12 rooms with 20 beds. To take a shower and refreshment there cost from EUR 20, three hours in the hotel room cost from EUR 29 and one night in a double room cost from EUR 99.

As said above, the hotel is in the duty-free zone. That means that travellers do not have to go through the passport control. It is convenient especially for the travellers who do not have Czech transit visa.

Barrandov is now a popular place thanks to the new aqua park. The management of the aquapark wants to satisfy the demands of their customers by two new offers starting from February.

First of all, the opening hours of the aquapark will change. People can go swimming already from 6 o’clock every morning. Second, every Monday from noon visitors will pay 50 CZK per 90 minutes. That is 50 % discount. Monday morning is reserved for cleaning the pools and the aguapark is closed.

People can go now to a sauna as well. They have to pay 180 CZK for 120 minutes. Everybody who wants to go to the aquapark has to prepare 200 CZK as a deposit for an electronic chip for the changing room.

Petrin Observation Tower that offers a nice view of Prague together with the nearby Mirror Maze will be extraordinary closed this weekend. According to Vlasta Petrikova from Prague Information Services, the attractions will be closed because of water pipeline breakdown.

Petrin Observation Tower and Mirror Maze are open off the main tourist season only at weekends and on Christmas and spring holidays. From 14th February the tower and the maze will be open daily for two weeks.

According to the Russian web sites www.ilovecz.ru devoted the the Czech Republic, Russian people choose the Czech Republic more and more as their next tourist destination. They travel to Prague but their favourite destinations are spa town, especially Karlovy Vary. It is said that Russian love Prague but go reveling to Karlovy Vary.

In 2005 there were about 170,000 Russian tourist in the Czech Republic. In 2006 this number of Russian people visited Prague, another about 70,000 people went to Karlovy Vary. That means an increase of about 25%.

One of the reason why the Russians travel more to the Czech Republic may be the fact that the Czech Republic together with other countries of the EU have abolished transit visa requirements for Russian, Ukrainian and Belorussian inhabitants. On the way home from Vienna or Paris, Russian tourist stop for several days in the Czech Republic. Another reason may be the increasing standard of living in Russia.

Since 16th January 30 uniformed men take care of the safety in night trams. They have the right to eject people from the transport if they break the transport regulations, they do not have a valid ticket, or they are drunk, stinky, or dirty. Now it seems this action has results. There are less drunk, aggressive and homeless people in the night trams.

The first days the officers had to eject about 50 people per night, after 10 days it was only 10. Unusual situation was on Tuesday night when it started to snow in Prague. The officers ejected 90 people. The patrol travel in the trams haphazardly, there is no regular system that could be traced.

Right now there are 30 officers designated for the night patrols but the number will gradually rise. Officers will be present also in night buses and later this year in metro.

After heavy snowfalls that surprised many Czech inhabitants, things are going better now. The roads in Prague are in good condition, the Prague’s international airport Ruzyne is operating normally and the sun is shining now. However, there are still many things that can cause difficulties.

One of that are icicles and heaps of snow falling from roofs. Until 5 o’clock yesterday firefighters had to intervene 150 times in Prague. A 65-year-old men head to be taken to hospital after an icicle had fallen on his head.

The responsibility falls on the owners of the property. According to the law, they have to clean dangerous snow and icicles from the roof as well as clean the pavements adjacent to the building. Otherwise they might be sued when somebody gets injured there.

Even though some people are not happy with the snow, many people in the capital enjoy skiing. Good places for winter sports are Letna gardens or park Hvezda. People are not recommended to go to forests. Tree branches may fall under the weight of the snow.