Revised Opinion - Prague

It's been a busy day and a half. I find I need to revise my previous statement comparing the two cities. Prague does have a very different feel and energy than Vienna, but young compared with stuck in the past? That's not quite right. Both have a long history and rightly cherish it. But Prague, and the Czech Republic as a whole, is in a groove, growing fast economically. Austria is more established. Austrians are proper and follow the rules; Czechs are flexible. Even without having read that about them, just the nature of their two cities, and how people go about their business, plays that out.

I've found my attitude shifting over the last day. At first, while I liked Prague, I was I guess a bit disappointed in it. Maybe the pickpocket incident shaded my thinking more than I thought. But the rabbit warren that is the old city put me off a bit, and some of the architecture is, well, gloomy, almost darkly industrial.












Not sure if these shots really show what I'm getting at. Regardless, if yesterday at noon you'd told me that I had to choose one of these cities to live in, I would have said Vienna. It's not that I didn't like Prague, it's just..... You know how there are some places that instantly click in your psyche, and you say "I love this place"? Several places did that for me: Charleston, Singapore, Brisbane, Boston, London, St Augustine. Vienna probably makes that list. There is another list, one of great towns that I appreciate a lot and recognize their coolness, but that I just didn't fall in love with and won't work really hard to get back to: Seattle, San Francisco, Tokyo, to name a few. And then there is the "God I hate this town" list: New York, LA, DC, Orlando, anywhere in Connecticut. Prague was probably on the second list.

That first impression was based almost exclusively on the Old Town portion of the city. Yesterday and today we've good to see more, and I'm liking Prague a lot more. I think if I lived here I just wouldn't go to Old Town often.

Yesterday morning we went to the US Embassy and met with guys from the State and Commerce departments who are on staff here. We had a good talk about US-Czech relations, trade, what the embassy does to support companies considering foreign investment and/or beginning or expanding exports to the country, how the foreign service career works, and matters of that nature.


It was a good meeting. Then, in the afternoon we left the central city area and visited the biggest Czech bank.




Out where their building stands, the area is more like a modern city, with tall windowed buildings and big streets. Quite different from Old Town.






The discussion in the bank was twofold: a breakdown on the bank's business, including recent and forecast growth and its performance during the financial crisis, and a presentation about the Czech Republic's macro-economic position.



Pretty informative, but the first of their briefs left my head bobbing. NOT the most dynamic brief I've ever been to.

Those two outings took us to other areas of the town, and helped improve my feelings about the city. Today's walking toured helped even more.

More on that later.

Last night we were itching fir good old-fashioned American food, so we hit the local Hard Rock Cafe.



It was big: 3 stories high.






The food was more expensive than we've become used to here, but it was good. We were happy to have gone.

There's a lot more to say about today's excursions, but for now I'm taking a nap. I've got an all-nighter ahead, since I'll have to leave the hotel at 0330 to get to the airport for my 0600 flight. In retrospect, maybe that scheduling wasn't the best plan, but done is done.

More to follow.
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