Czechs Ban Russian Tourists

Following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Czech Republic was the first EU country to stop issuing visas to Russian citizens except for humanitarian cases.  Czechland is now stepping things up and as of 25 October, that even with a valid Schengen visa, Russian citizens will not be allowed in the country for tourism, sport or culture.  It's not clear if Russian citizens, with a valid visa, will be granted entry for business purposes.

Citizens of Russian that have a valid Czech residency visa will still be granted entry.

Vladimir Putin's announcement of partial mobilisation has caused many people to try to leave Russia before they are drafted to fight in Ukraine.  People fighting the Russian government or human rights activists are among the exceptional cases that qualify for a humanitarian visa.  The Czech Foreign Minister, Jan Lipavský, has said that Russians who fear mobilisation don't fulfil the conditions for a humanitarian visa in Czechland.  

The European Commission says that it is up to each EU country to decide if they will accept Russian citizens in to their country.  Finland, Poland, and the Baltic countries
- Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, like Czechland, don't grant asylum to people fleeing Russian military mobilisation.  However, Germany will allow Russians fleeing military conscription. 

Here's a short video that I found on YouTube about Estonia not issuing visas to Russians.

©France24

Here's a Voice of America interview with the Czech Foreign Minister on the subject.

©Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty

Я за Україну. Я за Україною. Слава Україні  Stojím za Ukrajinou!  I stand with Ukraine. 

Tomáš the Tank

Czechland has provided Ukraine with about 4 billion Kč ($186.5 million) in military arms and equipment.  There's also the satirical annexation of Královec. 

Now Czechia is the first country in the world to crowdfund a tank.  The Czech project, Derek pro Putina (A Gift for Putin), collects donations to purchase weapons and supplies for the Ukrainian army.  Donations of 33 million Kč (+$1.5 million) from 11.288 people purchased a T-72 tank and sent it to Ukraine.  Ukrainian soldiers are familiar with the T-72.

While Tomáš the Tank was funded, now there's a need for ammunition.  There are also other open projects like such as providing drones or medical supplies.  The website to donate is https://www.zbraneproukrajinu.cz/ and it's available in both Czech and English.

I even found a short commercial on YouTube demonstrating how easy it is to donate.

©Česká tisková kancelář

Я за Україну. Я за Україною. Слава Україні  Stojím za Ukrajinou!  I stand with Ukraine. 

Czechs Annex Královec

I had a trip planned to visit Kaliningrad, the Russian exclave between Poland and Lithuania, as part of my "20 countries in 2020" but the trip was cancelled due to Covid-19 shutting down the world.

It used to be called Königsberg.  The city was founded in 1255 and it was named in honour of King Ottokar II of Bohemia.  Königsberg was a part of Germany but after WWII it was taken by the Soviet Union, renamed Kaliningrad, and today is home to Russia's Baltic fleet. 

Here's a short 4-minute video of how Kaliningrad an exclave of Russia.

©History Matters

On 30 September, Russia declared that following a referendum that it annexed four Ukrainian oblasts - Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia.  Aside from North Korea and Syria, no other country in the world recognises the illegal annexation of about 15% of Ukraine.  This is now the largest of land in Europe since WWII.

Well aside from the 4 billion Kč ($186.5 million) of military arms and equipment that the Czech government has given Ukraine, the Czechs have unleashed one of its more powerful weapons - the Czech sense of humour.

There's now a whole satirical campaign on social media that Czechland has now annexed Kaliningrad and renamed it Královec.  There are all kinds of memes out now about "Královec is Czechia" and "Make Královec Czech Again".

There's a satrical tourist website for visiting Královec and there's a twitter account. 

A few days ago some 200 people staged a mock referendum in front of the Russian Embassy in Prague.  This is even better now that thanks to Prague's mayor, Zdeněk Hřib, the square in front of the embassy is now Boris Nemcov Square which commemorates the outspoken Putin critic that was assassinated in 2015.

You've just got to love the Czech sense of humour.  One of my favourite memes shows the critical infrastructure work going on as Czechland supplies beer to Královec via "Beer Stream 1".

#Kralovec #KralovecIsCzechia #MakeKaliningradKralovecAgain

If only Czechland would take over Královec.  Then at least the country would no longer be landlocked.  Sitting on the Baltic Sea, there would now be water and beaches and the Czech military could now even have a navy.   

Я за Україну. Я за Україною. Слава Україні  Stojím za Ukrajinou!  I stand with Ukraine. 

Ukrainian Ministry of Defence Video

Ukrainian Ministry of Defence 

On 28 September, Czech Statehood Day, the Ukrainian Mistry of Defence posted a video on social media thanking Czechland for its support.  

The video opens up with a quote from Václav Havel - All human suffering concerns each human being.

Then it intertwines footage of the Russian invasion of Ukraine with archival footage of the 1968 Soviet-led invasion of Czechoslovakia.  

©Ukrainian Ministry of Defence

The video I pretty powerful.  To date, Czechland has provided Ukraine with about 4 billion Kč ($186.5 million) in military arms and equipment. 

Я за Україну. Я за Україною. Слава Україні  Stojím za Ukrajinou!  I stand with Ukraine. 

Ema Destinová

Ema Destinová  is considered to be one of the greatest soprano opera singers of all time.  She was born Emilie Pavlina Věnceslava Kittlová on 26 February 1878, in Prague when it was still part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. 

She grew up in Milešov, about 50 km (31 miles) south of Prague.  At 14, she was sent to a German boarding school in Prague to learn German.  From the age of 13, her voice teacher had been Marie von Dreger Löwe-Destinn, and Ema eventually took her surname, Destinová, as an homage.

She had a short engagement at the Dresden Opera and in 1897 she was rejected by the Prague National Theatre.  However, in 1898 she debuted at the Berlin Court Opera where she won over the public.  She remained in Berlin until 1909 where she sang in 54 operas, including 12 premieres. 

In 1904, she debuted in London and appeared in several operas over the following two seasons.  In 1908, she debuted in New York at the Metropolitan.  In 1914, she returned to home after the start of WWI.  Due to her links with the Czech resistance, Austria-Hungary revoked her passport and she was under house arrest until the end of the war.  She returned to New York in 1919 but her voice had become rusty but she continued singing at the Met until 1921.

After returning to Czechoslovakia, which was now a new country, she married Joseph Halsbach, an officer in the Czechoslovak Air Force in 1923.  She retired in 1926 but her final concert performance was in London in 1928.  She passed away from a stroke in České Budějovice on 28 January 1930, a month before her 52nd birthday.

There's no doubt that she was talented.  She could play both the piano and the violin.  She was also fluent in Czech, German, Italian, French, and English which allowed her to sing in multiple languages.  She sang the first Carmen to be recorded.  

Here's a short video I found on YouTube so you can hear her voice.

©Trisolde

A film, Božská Ema, "The Divine Emma" was released in 1979.  Although it was submitted as an entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 54th Academy Awards it wasn't nominated.

Ema Destinová is featured on the 2000 Kč banknote.

Expired Banknotes

Czech currency banknotes have changed.  Not a lot but they are now slightly different.  The new notes look almost identical to the old notes except that the old banknotes have a thin silver security strip and it doesn't change colour under light.  The new banknotes have a thicker strip that changes from purple to green when tilted under light.

Good note on top; bad note below

This goes for the 100, 200, 500, 1000, 2000, and 5000 Kč banknotes.

The old banknotes were from 1995 to 1999 and at the end of June they became no longer valid.  I learned this the hard way when I went to pay for something in the shop and the cashier told me that the money wasn't any good.  Ugh!

The old banknotes can be exchanged at financial institutions and at offices of the Czech National Bank until 30 June 2024.  From 1 July 2024, you can only exchange the bills at offices of the Czech National Bank but I don't know how long they will allow old bills to be exchanged for new ones.

Update:  Apparently the 5000 Kč banknote is the exception.  For now, both versions of the banknote are still valid.  I've been here over 13 years and I have yet to see a 5000 Kč banknote.

Kultunrí Dům

A house of culture, kulturní dům (KD), also called a kulturák, can be found in most cities and towns across Czechland.  Following the 1948 coup, when the communists took over Czechoslovakia, public buildings were built that would be social centres for socialist culture.  They were meant to take the place of churches as meeting places within the community. 

From 1959 to 1989, the kulturáky were used to for cultural, artistic and social events including balls, concerts, theatre performances, in addition to Communist party meetings.  

Today they are used as town recreation and community centres.

No More Plastic Straws

Back in 2020, the EU agreed to enact restrictions on single use plastics and last year the Czech government put forth legislation banning specific disposable plastic products that was supposed to take effect July 2021.  There were changes to the bill which meant another 18 months in the parliament before the Senate approved it this past August.

As of yesterday, the law went into effect.  It is now illegal to produce or sale single-use plastic items including straws, cups, plates, cutlery, drink stirrers, plastic sticks used to hold balloons, polystyrene food containers, and cotton swabs made from plastics.  

Items made with plastics now require packaging labels to notify consumers about reusable alternatives.  The labels on wet wipes, filtered cigarettes, sanitary napkins, etc., must now indicate that they contain plastics and must include special instructions for disposal.

The maximum fine is 5 million Kč (~$234K) for breaking the new law. 

Manufacturers of plastic products now require participation in cleanup activities across Czechland.  The government will collect money from manufacturers and within three years, most cities, towns, and villages will get reimbursed for cleaning up plastic litter.

Czechland recycles around 80% of the PET bottles sold in the country which is amongst the highest in the EU.  Under the new law, it will be 90% by 2029.

Meeting the Lads

Kája and I are still at the stage of introducing each other to our friends.  Last night was a night out with the lads and so I brought Kája to meet Martin, Martin, and Vilém.  The lads had been asking when they were going to meet him so I figured it was needed to happen sooner or later.  This way they don't all meet for the first time at Thanksgiving.  All went well so that's good. 

Speaking of Thanksgiving, I'm already gathering supplies for the fiesta.  The Candy Store made a delivery last week and an Amazon order I had delivered to Claudia in Berlin was dropped off yesterday.

I don't know why but there are many sellers on Amazon that will not deliver to Czech Republic.  I think some people still have a perception that Czechland is further east than it really is.  While some shops won't deliver to Brno they will deliver to Berlin.  So sometimes I have things delivered to Claudia's place.  Then I either pick them up there or she brings them when she comes to visit.  Fortunately, Ale visited her last week so she brought me my last order.

I don't know what's going on right now but I can't find Bisquick anywhere.  I've checked Amazon Germany, Amazon UK, and Amazon U.S.  It's no where to be found.  Hopefully I can find it soon or I'm going to have to wing it somehow.

RAF Museum, Ivančice

After checking out Dolní Kounice we headed over to Ivančice for lunch.  I was hearing "RAF" in Czech which didn't make sense to me because in my head RAF is Royal Air Force.  Well I was surprised to find out that I was actually understanding more than I though because RAF was the name of the restaurant.

In addition to being a restaurant, it it also the General Emil Boček RAF Museum.

There are lots of memorabilia about the Czechoslovak pilots who flew for the RAF during the WW2.

If I understood it correctly, one of the general's family members lives in Ivančice and he helped set it up.  

I loved the big table that looks like the wing of a plane.

I had never heard of this place before.  It's not in any guide book but I'm glad that we came here.  It was really interesting and the food was pretty good.  

They even have RAF wine.  I think a return visit is in order to try some.

There's a list of names of the pilots who flew for the RAF during the war.  I knew that there were some Czechoslovak squadrons but I didn't realise just how many pilots there were.

Update March 2023:  General Boček passed away.