Background: Following the First World War, the closely related Czechs and Slovaks of the former Austro-Hungarian Empire merged to form Czechoslovakia. During the interwar years, the new country's leaders were frequently preoccupied with meeting the demands of other ethnic minorities within the republic, most notably the Sudeten Germans and the Ruthenians (Ukrainians). After World War II, a truncated Czechoslovakia fell within the Soviet sphere of influence. In 1968, an invasion by Warsaw Pact troops ended the efforts of the country's leaders to liberalize Communist party rule and create "socialism with a human face." Anti-Soviet demonstrations the following year ushered in a period of harsh repression. With the collapse of Soviet authority in 1989, Czechoslovakia regained its freedom through a peaceful "Velvet Revolution." On 1 January 1993, the country underwent a "velvet divorce" into its two national components, the Czech Republic and Slovakia. The Czech Republic joined NATO in 1999 and the European Union in 2004.
May 3rd 2008Europe » Czech Republic » North » Prague Morning: Not sure what to do today only that we need to go to the bus station to buy tickets for Plzen tomorrow first. Was thinking of making a day trip to Kutna Hora by taking the bus so we got ready ... 6 photos[full story]
May 2nd 2008Europe » Czech Republic » North » Prague Morning: Today we planned to finally visit the Prague Castle and we want to catch the changing of guards at 12pm so I woke up at abt 9:30am to get ready and go, but as usual we dilly-dallied till abou ... 15 photos[full story]
May 12th 2008Europe » Czech Republic » North » Prague Hey there again. I know I said I'd write something else before I left Prague, but last week was insanely busy—trying to finish papers, study for exams, pack, see last-minute stuff and party as m ... [full story]
June 12th 1997Europe » Czech Republic » North » Prague Can’t remember the real names of the two American guys on tour in Europe. Bill and Ted maybe. Or Jay and Silent Bob. Or Batman and Robin. Doesn’t really matter. Bill and Ted have come to s ... [full story]
May 11th 2008Europe » Czech Republic » North » Prague Hello!
Sorry I have not written lately. The days sometimes go by too fast and it was really expensive for internet in Prague. So I have some catching up to do from my last entry.
We had an awes ... [full story]
May 7th 2008Europe » Czech Republic » North » Prague We had discovered that the water pump that supplies the sink and toilet etc was leaking - after finding a pool of water spreading across the floor on a couple of occasions. We had tried to get around ... [full story]
May 6th 2008Europe » Czech Republic » North » Prague The plan was to have a leisurely lunch in the beautiful gardens at Prague Castle. The day started off fine and then was a bit cloudy. We sat down surrounded by the lovely flowers and smells of the lil ... [full story]
May 10th 2008Europe » Czech Republic » North » Prague This will just be a quick one!
After the last blog, I had an early ish night which was nice. The next morning was the drive from Berlin to Praha, with a stop off in Dresden. Very clean, pretty c ... 5 photos[full story]
May 2nd 2008Europe » Czech Republic » North » Prague Morning: Woke up abit later today and ate breakfast at the communal kitchen, lots of buzz around and by the time we started eating, most of them were out already at 11am. We planned to visit the Pragu ... 15 photos[full story]
May 2nd 2008Europe » Czech Republic » North » Prague Morning: Today, we are leaving Berlin and it's w a heavy heart, prob cos we spent too much time here and got abit attached and also our host wouldn't let us go...haa. Anyway we woke up real early toda ... 13 photos[full story]
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