Golden Prague, Expat life, tips and reviews

We have an official WBSD twittering reporter!

So far we have 13 bloggers signed up for our second World blog Surf Day. Seems we are of to a good start And this time we even will have our very own ‘Twitter Reporter’! Remember that Thandelike asked if microblogs could also participate? I gave it some thought and came up with an idea. I asked her to twitter on WBSD about the event, drawing attention to different participating blogs and she graciously agreed. I am sure we can in return mention her in our blog post and/or, if we are on twitter, following her directly and re-tweeting her tweets to our own time lines. I am looking very much forward to the day and don’t forget to sign up here if you haven’t already done so. Take care and spread the word, the more people participate the more fun we will have. And, btw, if you want to add me also to your twitter, here my profile , I follow my followers

Signs of Spring

Joy

Happy

Fresh air

Blue sky

Enthusiasm

Longer days

Getting tanned

Windows open

Ice cream cones

Mood improving

Beer gardens open

People laughing

Winter Blues disappears

Orchards blossom

Shorter nights

Sun warming

Topless cars

Sitting outside

Skirts getting shorter

Smiling sun

Temperatures raising

Children playing

Snowdrops withered, tulips flowering

Birds singing

Daisy meadows

Chilled wine

Greeting strangers

Park benches inviting

Leaning back into the sun

Emerging

Reviving

Life

Good News

Easter

Resurrection

Joy of Life

What are your signs of Spring? Share the joy of it! Is it yet Spring where you live? What does Spring mean to you? How do you feel it is Spring? Please add your comments and thoughts.

Vale Royal singers coming to Prague

Image source assuming fair use

On Saturday evening, 18th April at 7.00pm will be a concert by the Vale Royal Singers in St. Clement’s Church. The proceeds of this concert will go towards much needed renovation work in the parish and diakonie center of St. Clements. This will be achieved, not by selling tickets, but by having a retiring collection at the end of the event. So please give generous! The Vale Royal singers have graciously offered to perform for free during their stay in Prague, which follows a tour through Eastern Germany.

The 20 mixed voices, that form one of the leading chamber choirs in Cheshire, will present a varied program of English music including Bob Chilcott’s Little Jazz Mass and songs by Rutter, Finzi and Holst. I am sure there is something for everybody in the “musical bag”.

A bit of background information:

The Vale Royal Singers were founded in 1978 and therefore just celebrated their 30th season performing. They have circa 20 members and their repertoire goes from light to classical and 15th century to contemporary music.

More information and some “musical teasers” can be found at the Vale Royal Web Site.

And directions how to get to the event are on the Anglican/ Episcopalian Church web site under “how to find us”.

So THE VISIT is over

Image source by adrigu via flickr

President Obama and his wife, and the approximately 500 people in his entourage, should by now be in Turkey. His speech at Prague castle this morning was attended by circa 30 000 spectators and well received by them and by the media. President Obama made every effort to point out the historical and current importance of the Czech Republic in Europe and the world. Let’s only hope this gives the much needed boost to the chronically low national Czech self-esteem.

Other points of the speech were:

The responsible use of energy, oops Mr. Obama, how was your carbon footprint during this journey and how do you think to off set it?

Nuclear disarmament and the stopping of the testing of nuclear devices; as he stated perhaps not in his lifetime, but as a goal.

Unfortunately he also affirmed the strong wish of the US government to continue with the building of a missile defense system in the Czech Republic and Poland. Apparently to keep Iran under control/ supervision. I am the only one that is now confused? I mean, look at the map, we are not actually sharing a border with Iran, do we???

The full length video of Obama’s speech in Prague can be found here: BBC Web Site

Obama has a cold

US President Barack Obama flew into Prague 18:30 this evening for a summit with EU leaders. The Czech Republic is the current holder of the EU presidency and President Obama is expected to deliver tomorrow at 10:00, a keynote speech on nuclear security.

Image source via wikicommons

As said earlier, the situation here is a bit frosty for him. Whilst he is liked on a personal level by the people, 70% of the Czech citizens are against the planned “radar shield”, seeing it as a provocation of the almighty neighbour Soviet Union Russian Federation. Former Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek not only described the economic path Obama took in his own country as a “road to hell”, he also lost the confidence of the parliament some days ago, leaving the country some how “leaderless”.

Now arriving at this central European capital, with its rather interesting domestic political situation, is not so easy to begin with, but arriving here with a bad cold and without an American ambassador in residence makes the situation surely even less pleasant for President Obama and First Lady Michelle. Therefore they plan to have a quiet, private evening together after being welcomed by President Vaclav Klaus at Prague international airport. I hope somebody turned the heating on in the residence

Tomorrow then the “big speech” in the grounds of the castle, rumour has it, that an amount of people is already camping out there, to be the first in the queue tomorrow morning.

This EU-USA summit should have been the highlight of the Czech EU presidency, but as Topolanek is not any longer in the position to speak, and make decisions, for the Czech Republic, and the 27 member states of the EU, this becomes somehow – less relevant?

What will, in all cases, stay with us is the immense cost of such a visit, 30 000 000 CZK or more. I wonder if it is worth it?