Magazine
The very first pub on wheels in the Czech Republic! Czech hunters have held their annual "elk bugling" contest - and, who says fishing in Prague is no fun? An Australian angler lands the biggest fish ever to come out of the Vltava River. Find out more in Magazine with Daniela Lazarova.
Given the pub culture in the Czech Republic it was only a question of time before someone thought of it - running a pub on wheels. The very first mobile pub appeared in the town of Myslcovice near Zlin last week and proved to be a huge success. The pub on wheels was a temporary arrangement for a two day summer festival celebrating the town's anniversary. The occasion was marked by singing, dancing, outdoor games and theatre performances in different parts of town. And with temperatures climbing well over 30 degrees Celsius a constant supply of cold beer was an absolute necessity. "Originally we did it mainly for the musicians and dancers who were out in the heat all day but it was a huge hit with the locals and visitors," said the town's mayor. "It was good business for the pub owner as well and now everyone is saying we should arrange that sort of thing more often." There is no doubt at all that other Czech towns will follow their example.
It is now exactly one year since Parliament passed a law enabling gays and lesbians to enter into registered partnerships - so called "gay marriages". In the last twelve months 346 gay couples tied the knot. The youngest was 18 - the oldest was 81 -which shows that it is never too late for wedded bliss. But, the fact that it took seven long years of lobbying to pass a law legalizing gay marriage doesn't make it any easier to "live happily ever after". Two of those couples have already divorced. "We'll - now at least they know what we go through - fancy putting up such a fight for it" - a twice divorced Czech comic quipped on a TV show recently.
Come summer, Prague is full of practical jokers who have nothing to do with their time and plague the authorities with numerous pranks. One is filling Prague fountains with washing detergent - which crates a monumental bubble bath. Within minutes the fountain is full of young people up to their ears in foam. The town hall authorities have installed cameras but the prankster is just too clever - and gets away with it every time. Another -less amusing prank - is that someone keeps sticking over the metro guide-plans which help passengers to get their bearings on the three-line Prague metro. Although metro staff have been alerted to the problem and remove the stickers regularly - they keep coming back - giving tourists the impression that the "A" line will take them not just to Prague's Ruzyne Airport but also to Karlstejn Castle. Inevitably they all end up at Dejvicka station -totally confused. So if you are in Prague and don't know your way around take a closer look at the plan you are studying - the fake stickers are far from perfect.
While cats are very independent, she says dogs left there by their masters need a lot of "mothering" and are often very spoilt. I am often told that a dog is used to sleeping in his master's bed -so could I please take it to mine, Marta says, admitting that she recently spent a sleepless night comforting a Doberman who did not fit in her bed but howled all night right next to it. "There was one dog whom we read a bedtime story to every night, and of course some owners insist on regular reports on how their pet is coping. So we really have our hands full," Marta adds. What better proof that Czechs are a nation of dog-lovers?
