It’s really quiet. At night the streets empty into nothingness.

Czech people like their dogs. I don’t know if this is a proper observation since I’ve heard it referenced beforehand and so I may be influenced by what I’ve read in travel books but I’m pretty sure it’s accurate. People are allowed to take their dogs inside and go to work with them, and they seem to be more constant companions than in the UK or US where they get left at home.

And these dogs are really quiet. They’re very obedient and I’ve rarely heard a bark.

Also the breeds are quite diverse. And they’re also quite beautiful too.

I’ve very rarely heard loud music coming from any clubs or anybody blasting their music. All in all, even in the middle of the hustle of the day the streets are silent. At night they verge on ghostly.

There are a lot of casinos in Prague. This may be to get money from stupid party going UK people, but it seems to maybe also be a part of the culture. Gambling is mostly illegal in America so it’s weird to see these be so common. And so gaudy.

A lot of the buildings don’t have windows and what windows there are covered up. It’s not so much that there are no windows, as there aren’t the gigantic plate glass store windows of America and the UK. Sometimes its hard to tell if a place is open because you can’t see inside for the lights to be on.

It’s strange being in a city where there are barely any minorities. Everyone is white.

Yet it’s not “western” culture. It’s very different than the Anglo-Germanic-French centric culture of America.

The trams are nice. It’s like riding the subway but you still get to see an above ground view of the world. Also they rarely check your ticket so most people apparently ride it for free.

It’s weird having an Asian person speak Czech to you. Then switch to English. Then speak Chinese/Vietnamese to their friend next to them.

Alcohol is very cheap, unless you don’t know the price and the person can tell you’re not Czech. Be prepared and don’t get caught off guard.

There are very few places you are not allowed to smoke. Bars are smoky dens wreathed in smoke.

At first I had trouble identifying the homeless population. It seemed by and large there wasn’t one. The problem here is that there’s a bohemian side to the Czech Republic (in a literal sense sort of because Bohemia is a region of Czechia). A lot of scruffy travelers and a few of the homeless guys aren’t obviously panhandling (Czechia has one of the lowest poverty rates, and the cost of living is rather low). However if you go to the more tourist areas you’ll see the homeless crop up. They’re even more pitiful than what you might see in America. There’s a large grey area here and there is a blurry line between poor homeless, hippie traveler, sneaky grifter, and grungy citizen.

You don’t see a lot of people wearing suits.

All the convenience stores are run by Vietnamese or Chinese people. They call these all night food and wine stores Potraviny

The USSR origins are not nearly as obvious as I thought they would be. These may be because the Czech people didn’t willingly adopt Communist or Nazi occupation even though there wasn’t a huge revolution movement. The general philosophy seems to be, everyone worries about themselves, and complains only in a general way about corruption and political philosophy. It seems that as a small country there is not much foreign wrangling, so most government comes down to the basics of keeping roads clear of debris.



While small I was also surprised to find out there were quite a few famous people who came from the Czech nation. It’s a bit like a small town where people leave to seek their fortune.



Small town like Andy Griffith, where it has a tight central identity. I’m curious how that will change as globalization ekes in. The language barrier helps maintain it somewhat.



It is an English friendly area, but that doesn’t mean people are fluent. Even the young people only speak basic, but then again thats more than me so I’m not complaining.



In hostels you meet a lot of UK, South Africa, Canada/Quebec and Australians.



All the hostels are really nice. Like the nicest places I’ve ever stayed in.