Compact archive June 18, 2008

The new luxurious limousine Skoda Superb can be purchased since 20th June.

Skoda auto expects big interest for the vehicles, since it was a very closely watched car from the very beginning; the speaker of Skoda Auto Krauskopf announced “The tradesmen file high number of demand form their customers. We don’t have any official numbers, but we plan to sell two thousand of new Superbs this year.”

“The base price of the model 1,4 TSI/ with 92 kW is 600 000czk – 25 000€. The standard equipment has 7 airbags, ESP with ESP, MSR, ASR and Dual Rate. The upgrade from previous version include the variable system of back door opening TwinDoor. Superb can be powered by six kinds of engines, varying from 77 to 191 kW” Krauskopf continues.

The Price list of the new Skoda Superb is available at authorized sellers of Skoda Auto in the Czech Republic, they accept orders now. Since this Friday, there will be complete information at www.skoda-auto.cz

The Czech crown is again moving the frontiers, as on wednesday it was traded for 24,06 czk/eur. It gets stronger every month.

The development is heavily influenced by weakening American dollar. Towards him, the Czech crown trades for 15,52 czk/usd. The level of 24 czk for an Euro is within reach. It is very real, czk will get over it and continue strengthening.

The real impact of the situation is that Czech exporters have real losses, e.g. the clothing company OP Prostejov announced they have to close some of their premises because of the strong currency. On the other hand, Czechs who want to travel can buy their Euros, Dollars and Pounds really cheap.

Florenc in its present form of 2008 looks very similar to the way it looked back in 1970’s and 1980’s so when you accidentally appear there, you are contrasted with the reality of a communist country: zero services, concrete falling apart, dirt and homeless people everywhere, unfriendly and dangerous. Luckily, someone finally took a notice of it, so the Florenc bus station will get reconstructed. The main railway station reconstruction is going just fine, so let’s hope this will be the case as well.

At the place of former Vietnamese marketplace grows a new terminal building, which should be, according to CSAD Praha Holding, pleasant to passengers and should fit into the location architecturally. So Florenc will get a gift for its birthday – it was instituted exactly 60 years ago. How many hundreds of millions people travelled through the station is not easy to find, but hopefully the next year those who use it will travel with dignity.

Clothes of the future are tailored (or build?) in the Czech Republic, in a little factory in Pilsen, the company name is Applycon and they offer constructing clothes enabling listening music, telephoning, filming via in-build camera, sturdy jackets with solar panels, lights, GPS antenna, and all kinds of sensors. The clothes they made are used by rescue workers, refineries, patients in hospitals and extreme sportsmen.

To create ‘intelligent textiles’ is still a quite unique job in the world. The series of snowboard clothes created for O’Neill was a great success in the world. Among the first customers were companies from fashion and entertainment industry. Applycon now expands and wants to create clothes and uniforms for demanding occupations. They came with an innovation this year – a textile keyboard on a sleeve.

So which of Prague parks are the best? There is Stromovka – huge park, recently renovated. It was quite destroyed because of the flood, which was in Prague in the summer 2002. “Strom” means a tree in Czech language and there really are lots of trees, but there are also beds with flowers, water fountain, a lake with ducks, but there are other interesting buildings in Stromovka, for example in 1961 was built here an astronomical observatory. But the park is mainly the favorite place, where Prague inhabitants spend their free time in the fresh air, surrounded by trees.

Not far from Stromovka is a park called Letenske sady (which in English means Letna Gardens). Here used to be a famous huge statue of the infamous dictator Stalin. Later was on this place put a huge statue of Metronome. And from the Metronome you can enjoy amazing view over Prague with Vltava River and all that amazing Prague towers, churches, palaces and other builidings. There are a lot of flowers planted in Letenske Sady, at this time exceed especially beautiful tulips of different shapes and colors. Plus, here is a popular beer garden with a beautiful view over Prague, or you can ask for beer in a plastic cap and enjoy it while walking through park or on some of plenty benches.

But probably the most famous of Prague parks are Petrinske Sady (Petrin Gardens) – according to the tradition, the ideal place for lovers. There is even a statue of their “patron” – a Czech poet Karel Hynek Macha, an author of very well-known poem Maj (May), which is an obligatory reading in almost all Czech high schools´ literature lessons. In Petrin is also a beautiful Rose Garden and popular mirror maze, lookout tower, Stafanik´s observatory, Memorial to the victims of Communism. And if you do not want to climb up on the Petrin hill, you can use Petrin funicular, a special mean of Prague public transport.