INTERNATIONAL ANARCHIST MOVEMENT-CZECH REPUBLIC:

ANARCHISTS PROTEST VISIT OF CONDOLEEZZA RICE TO PRAGUE:

The following is from the A-Infos website. It's a brief description of the anarchist role in the protests that greeted the visit of US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to Prague to sign an agreement with the government of the Czech Republic allowing the US to build a radar installation on Czech soil as part of the "missile defence" project that President Bush wishes to leave as a poisoned legacy of his term of office. The actual interceptor missiles are planned to be based in Poland. Public opinion polls have found that up to 70% of the Czech population is opposed to the base, but the government continues on irregardless. The website of the Czechoslovak Anarchist Federation has a much longer article on the events, but it is unfortunately entirely in Czech. Still, it is worth looking at for the graphics alone. The following differs from the original because it has been slightly edited for English grammar and spelling-including the utterly forgiveable misspelling of Rice's bizarre first name.

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Prague, Czech Republic: Anarchists Protest Condoleezza Rice:

On the Tuesday 8th of July, a group of anarchists around the CZECHOSLOVAK ANARCHIST FEDERATION (CSAF), welcomed the U.S. ministress of foreign affairs(Secretary of State-Molly) in front of the Cerninsky Palace in Prague, where Rice, along with Czech companion “Earl” Karel Schwarzenberg, signed a contract about building the U.S. Military radar base in theCzech republic. The anarchists greeted Rice with shouting like: “Rice go home!“ “Anarchists against radar”

---- A Friendly welcome by the anarchists waited for Minister Schwarzenberg as well, who was hit by tomatoes. Then, the “ reception committee” joined the anarchist block on the demonstration of the alliance of “NE zakladnam” (NO to the bases). Around three thousand people joined this demonstration. With never-ending yells, they went through the centre of town down to Prague castle and settled themselves near the place, where the U.S. ministress dined along with Czech representatives of government, who are constantly and arrogantly overlooking the opinion of the majority of people about the presence of U.S. army base.

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Lest you think that this is one more example of "anarchists blowing their own horn" here is an item from the English language 'Prague Daily Monitor' showing that the mass media had to pay attention to the anarchists' role as well. The following has also been slightly edited for English grammar.

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Hundreds of people protest in Prague against US radar base:
Prague, July 8 (CTK) - Hundreds of people came to Prague's Wenceslas Square yesterday to protest against the signature of the treaty on stationing a U.S. radar base on Czech soil and they followed with a march to Prague Castle.

The treaty was signed in Prague today by U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and her Czech counterpart Karel Schwarzenberg.

The police estimated the number of protesters at 1800 while the organisers from the No to Bases group speak about 3000 people.

The Prague police spokeswoman told CTK no incidents had been reported during the demonstration.

During the unannounced march the participants blocked traffic at some places in Prague for several tens of minutes.

Close to Prague Castle the riot police blocked the demonstrators' access to the area around Prague Castle and the Foreign Ministry where a reception was held in Rice's honour in one of the palaces in the neighbourhood.(Molly Note-there's a certain irony in this as these palaces are basically Hapsburg creations. May the US Empire become such a distant memory in years to come as the Austro-Hungarian Empire has become)

No to Bases spokesman Jan Tamas tried to break through the police barrier and hand over a letter for Rice, but failed.

He said he will therefore try to hand it to the U.S. embassy together with a gift - a piece of barbed wire from the site of the future radar base.

The demonstrators shouted slogans like "Shame to the government," "We do not want the radar here," "We will not be silent," "Topolanek out."

Topolanek is Czech prime minister.

Tamas said protests will continue and that the activists will try in parliament to prevent the building of the base.

To take effect, the treaty has to be ratified by parliament and signed by the Czech President.

The demonstrators called for a referendum to be held on the radar base. They said some 100,000 people have signed a referendum petition, and that seven million out of the ten million Czech citizens are opposed to the base.

The protest action brought together Communists, Greens as well as anarchists. Jan Neoral, mayor of Trokavec, a village close to the site of the future radar base, was also present.

Communists (KSCM) chairman Vojtech Filip and Social Democrat Jan Kavan, former foreign minister and former U.N. General Assembly President, were observing the protest action.

The Prague demonstration was supported by several tens of people outside the Czech embassy in Warsaw.

They also called for a referendum to be held on the stationing of the other part of the U.S. anti-missile system in Europe - interceptor missiles in Poland.

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A Final Molly Note:

While looking things up for this blog Molly found that googling "+"Condoleezza Rice" +protests" produced 1,340,000 hits. Given this statistic Molly hazards a guess that Rice probably has the title of "most unpopular woman in the world" sewed up tightly. One wonders if anyone predicted this in her high school yearbook.

WHERE BUSH SHOULD HAVE STAYED IN PRAHA (PRAGUE):

As Molly has previously reported demonstrations around the American Embassy in Prague forced Beloved Comrade Leader Emperor George Bush II to stay in the downtown Hilton when he visited Prague before the G8 summit. Now Molly has been to Prague, and she stayed in the infamous 'Opatov Twin' "hotel" when she was there. Molly has already commented on this ex-government office acquired for 10 koruna and a half empty bottle of beer from the ex-communist government of Czechoslovakia by some previous commie functionary (see way back last Oct. and Nov.).

Molly read the sign at the door wrong. Her limited Czech led her to believe that it was merely an ad for the local detox centre. Little did Molly know that the detox centre was actually there on floors 13 and 14. The whole idea that a staircase would be "out of order" makes a whole lot more sense when seen in this light. The wife has been reviewing "reviews" of the 'Opatov Twin'. The reviews that have been posted add a little bit to Molly's own personal experience of having a Honduran (you have no idea of the murder rate in Honduras) be grateful for a friendly escort back to the hotel(and somebody who spoke a bit of Spanish). Molly was well into her "come into my personal space and I'll kill you" attitude from first entering the hotel. The first entry was particularly difficult as the wife was freaked by the elevator and violated rule # 1 of entering sleazy places ie never show weakness. Molly responded with extra aggression to the kids on the elevator (covered top to bottom with graffiti). In retrospect neither myself nor the Honduran should have had any concern.

The detox centre was located on the 13th and 14th floors. According to other reviews from people unlucky enough (or cheap enough) to stay at this hotel one floor had bars on the entrance to every room. Now Molly understands why there was no functioning bar(alcohol wise) in the "hotel". They had 40 "bars" on the top two floors. One of the reviews was from a Russian visitor to Praha. This person commented that the "hotel" was "sleazy" and "run-down". Well...if a place can impress a person from "murder central" as "dangerous" and another from "laxity central" as "sleazy" it is obviously bad news. Molly suggests that the next time Beloved Comrade Leader Emperor George Bush II visits Prague that he be billeted in the Opatov Twin. Perhaps on the 13th or 14th floor. anybody who believes that God talks directly to him has at least a slight "in" for such billeting.

THOUSANDS PROTEST RADAR BASE IN PRAGUE:

Thousands of people gathered today near the building of the Czech Foreign Ministry and on a square near the famous Prague Castle to protest both the visit by US President George Bush and the reason that he is coming- to discuss the construction of an US radar base in the Brdy military area southwest of Prague. This radar apparatus is ostensibly to track missiles from "rogue states", but it has given great offense to the Russians who see its construction and the linked construction of an anti-missile base in Poland as aimed at them rather than any presumed "rogue state". The Russians have responded by saying that they have a "new missile" that can circumvent the anti-missile defences that the USA plans. Whether this is true or not is really a matter of personal choice. They have, however, also stated that they plan to have their missiles targeted on any component of the new missile defense system in eastern Europe, a much more serious threat that has led to large public opposition to the construction of such bases in eastern Europe.

The demonstrators held a mock trial of how Bush would be tried for war crimes after an anarchist revolution. To read more on this go to this a-infos report.

For those of Molly's readers who can read French there is an interesting article on a recent fact finding visit to eastern Europe by representatives of the International Relations Committee of the International of Anarchist Federations. They report on the state of anarchism in three countries, the Czech Republic, Belarus and Bulgaria. The report is not triumphalist, a fault that is all too common amongst certain "anarchists". It lays out both realistic numbers and the difficulties of the people in these three countries while still reporting their success. See the above article for more details.

The Prague (Praha) Subway:
One of the most enjoyable experiences in the city of Praha is the efficiency, safety and comfort of its subway system. Praha is a city of about 1.2 million people ie a little less than twice the size of Winnipeg, but its public transport is about 10 to 20 times better than that in this city. The Praha subway consists of three lines complemented by a number of trams to outlying areas. The stations themselves are mostly a single platform system serving both directions ie no making a wrong turn and finding yourself staring across the tracks to the train going the direction you want to go. During rush hour there are only two or three minute intervals between trains. Maps of the system are clearly posted in numerous locations, and one can easily locate which train to take in the station by further maps hung from the ceiling. During non-peak hours the trains run about every 5 to ten minutes. Waiting is never a pain.
One of the things that amazed me about the subway system was the quality of the announcement system. In airports and bus depots here in Canada the overhead announcements are usually incomprehensible in two official languages. In parts of Europe they may be garbled in up to 4 languages. The best you can do is listen for your own name and hope they don't garble it too much. Every last word and syllable on the Czech subway system was clear and distinct, every place and every time. I have no idea how this magic was achieved, but it sure was different.
The Praha subway also gives new meaning to the phrase "rapid" transit. It beats any car hands down, even excluding circling to find parking. I must admit that I am not a great connoisseur of subway systems, but from what I have seen Praha's system is definitely cleaner and safer than that of Montreal, Barcelona, Vienna and Athens. The later is especially significant as many upgrades were done in preparation for the Olympics. it must be admitted that the floods of August 2002, also led to a lot of new construction in Praha as many of the lines and stations were flooded out. But still...a much better job was done in the Czech Republic than in Greece.
The subway system in Praha, like that of Wien and the boat transit in Venezia (and I suspect a lot of Europe) operates on the "honour system". There are generally no ticket takers nor electronic gating systems in any of these three cities. I saw ticket checkers in operation on a few occasions at stations in Venezia, but they were rare, and the system operates efficiently ONLY because there is no such gating to hold it up. I believe that I have already mentioned the roving spot checks of "transit police", and how you don't want to get on their wrong side, but these people are hardly common.
I was quite astonished to find out that the construction of this ultra-modern and pleasant system actually began under the Communist dictatorship in 1967, and the first section was opened in 1974. Maybe it shouldn't be so astonishing if one stops to consider that Communism may never have been able to supply good toilet paper (nor most other consumer goods) in necessary quantities, but the buggers actually could build good bloody engines. The Moscow subway is apparently close to being one of the wonders of the modern world, both for its engineering and for its design. Even today one can find not just beautiful almost baroque art in its caverns but even historical relics of socialist realism. What can one expect from a country where 'Love Song to a Tractor' was #1 on the hit parade for 6 months in 1955 and made another comeback in 1966 (just joking).
The Praha subway was designed after the Moscow model, and it is one of the few valuable things that Communism left to the country. The Czechs, however, certainly contributed their own skills to its construction. After East Germany the Czech Republic was the most industrialized area of the Eastern Bloc, and there was a vast pool of skilled labour for construction. Unlike in the Soviet Union, only a small minority of the workforce would be falling down drunk on the job at any given time (see Czech Beer and the difficulty of getting drunk on same, and compare to the effects of vodka). The result is that, while the Moscow Metro may be more magnificent you are far safer riding the sub in Praha than in Moskva, even to this day.
Actually something like "industrial archaeology" might reveal that the former Communist rulers of the former Czechoslovakia were truly obsessed with the train. Perhaps it served the same iconic purpose as the tractor did under Stalin in the USSR. The beauty,cleanliness and efficiency of the rolling stock in the Praha subway contrasts with what we saw on the rail line from Praha to Wien. No doubt the Czechs could and do build locomotives of excellent design. But under Communism they OVERBUILT them. The line leading south seems to be a wilderness of crumbling smokestacks of factories no longer in production, abandoned railway stations and AN INCREDIBLE AMOUNT of dead rolling stock. I swear that there isn't as many dead locomotives and railway cars of all descriptions gathering rust in "railway graveyards" in the whole of Canada as there were visible along that one short line. Some of these mortuaries were huge beyond anything seen anywhere in this country. It's beyond my comprehension why these sad things aren't crushed up for scrap, but there they sit and probably will for another 30 years.
The abandoned railway stations are the saddest thing as they attest to a time when the train was the major form of transport, and they are much more numerous than the same things in Canada.
The pleasant experience of the Praha subway contrasts not just with the industrial decay in the south but also with the sad state of our own public transport here in Winnipeg. Waiting underground for 5 minutes for a train in Praha is a more than slightly more pleasant experience than waiting 20 minutes at 30 below in January for a bus in Winnipeg. For anyone interested there is a website detailing comparative urban rapid transit systems across the world at http://www.urbanrail.net . Look through it and see that many cities that have smaller populations than Winnipeg have functioning rapid transit systems. It's an eye-opener. But it leaves me with the question of how an "honour system" could possibly operate in a city like Winnipeg. But that's may be a question for deep philosophers rather than little cats.
Mollymew

Czech Police and Border Guards:
Like Canada the Czech Republic has two main police forces. These are the state police and the municipal police. The municipal force is divided into regular police units. The actual amount of crime committed in the Czech Republic is minimal compared to the average North American city, so I assume that the traffic unit is actually the busiest. In the week that we stayed in Praha I not only saw no crime, but there wasn't even any evidence of the usual "disorderly conduct" that we see pretty much anywhere in public places here in Winnipeg. I certainly saw such things in Barcelona and in Athens when we were there at other times, but it was at a far lower level there than here, and in the Czech Republic is is pretty well microscopic. Even the Little Stalin Cottage where we stayed was actually quite safe.
The tourist areas of Praha are pretty regularly policed by foot patrols, despite this lack of something to do. The unsettling part was the appearance of patrol teams that looked nothing like ordinary cops. They were dressed head to foot in black and looked altogether more like commandos than cops. This was right down to the assault rifles they carried and the fact they had none of the other usual police gear such as visible handcuffs, clubs, etc.. The semi-automatic weapons they carried looked like they wouldn't make decent clubs. So I guess that if get on their wrong side they basically have one major option. These guys would usually come out when the sun went down. Hey, we are close to Romania after all. They did nothing that I could see except walk around and look intimidating. Well, I guess that you can sum it up by saying that they were just doing nothing, but they definitely were doing it with a sense of style.
Unlike Spanish police they didn't even have to make a serious effort to do nothing. The objective situation carried them along quite well.
The Czech Republic also has a large number of rent-a-cops. Increasingly so do many other places I guess. One section of these actually "does something", the subway ticket checkers. The subways in Praha, like those in Vienna and the public transport in Venice (boats actually) run on the honour system. You are required to buy tickets, but nobody actually checks you at the door to the train, and there are no electronic barriers to entrance. But there are rent-a-cops roaming the system doing spot checks. If you get caught the money for the fine is handed over on the spot. Needless to say the subway systems probably only sees a fraction of what is extorted under these conditions. These guys I actually saw doing something, mostly harassing younger people. What impressed me about them was their size- much bigger than 90% of the Czech cops you see on the street, and more intimidating in their own way than the guys with the assault rifles. When Gary the friendly Gorilla tells you to give him money you fork it over in hopes he won't lose his adjective. Never had a talk with these guys. Never wanted to.
More on public transit and "border guards" in Europe later. That's another great reason to love Praha as is the do nothing nature of the police and the circumstances that lead to same.
Molly

Beer: Czech and Otherwise:
Despite our little experience at 'The Little Stalin Cottage' I have to say that Praha is a much more enjoyable city that either Wien or Venezia. More on the latter two later. Not that it reaches the level of Barcelona, but my anarchist prejudices may be showing there. Before going to the Czech Republic I had spoken to a number of Czechs resident here in Winnipeg. None had anything good to say about their home country. I have now learned that this is as much a "national Czech habit" as disparaging Winnipeg is for Winnipeg residents. No Czech has anything less than a thousand complaints about their country- but let a foreigner express the same things and the hackles are up. I guess that, if I was drunk enough and nobody had annoyed me for two weeks I could find something good to say about Winnipeg too. Besides getting out of it. But speaking about "drunk enough"...
There is something of a "national contest" between the Czechs and their former German speaking oppressors as to whose beer is better. I have to say that my initial response to to side with the Czechs on this and any other matter that they may drag up. But, prejudices aside, I have to admit that I have always had a liking for Czech and Slovak beer. The cultivation of hops, for which the Bohemian climate is ideal, is attested by chronicles dating back to 858 AD ie before the founding of the Czech monarchy. "Good" King Wencelas even instituted the death penalty for anyone caught exporting the cuttings from his domains.
The first Czech retail brewery was established as a workers' cooperative in 1118 AD at Cerhenice. This was a central brewing location from which members took the extract home to finish the brewing process. "Good" King Wencelas abolished the proscription on actual retail "sale" in the 13th century. This act seems to me to be much more deserving of his "sainthood" status than the official Catholic reasons.
Czech beer making later fell on hard times due especially to the 30 Years War. At one point the Czechs used beer to pay off a Swedish army to avoid the sack of the Czech town of Kutna Hora. But the country was generally devastated by said war. Later the industry received imperial patronage under the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and the Emperor even sent a brewmaster to Mexico to "teach the Mexicans how to brew proper beer" (see the short lived 'Mexican Empire'). The Czechs later clung to their beer as a national symbol as part of their "awakening" from the process of Germanization during the later part of the 19th Century. Under Communism the idea of investment in the brewing industry was a no starter. Traditions remained, but the industry stagnated as the ruling class saw the production of cheap beer of doubtful quality as one of their "bargains" with those who they ruled.
Since the end of Communism the industry has flourished. The major breweries have, to a large extent, been bought out by foreign interests, but the result was an improvement in quality as the market for Czech beer is largely an export market because of the reputation of Czech beer. Microbreweries have flourished in the cracks of the multinational market.
Within the Czech Republic beer is incredibly cheap. One source quotes a price range of 20 koruna to 80 koruna for a half liter in Praha. This is about 80 cents to $3.20 Canadian for a half liter. I can testify to this price range having drunken in both the "tourist drag" and "off the beaten track". The problem with Czech beer, from a Canadian viewpoint, is that it is virtually impossible to get properly drunk on it. The alcohol content is usually much lower, and you will burp yourself to death long before getting to the point of falling down. An outside observer might take this as evidence that Canadians have more to forget than Czechs do, but I'm sure that most Czechs would claim preeminence for national depression over Canadians. Let's leave that to barroom conversations.
A weird and unfortunate thing that I observed in Praha was that it was virtually impossible to get a "sampling" of Czech beer at any drinking establishment. Most places had a "sweetheart" deal with a given brewery, and when you asked "what sort of beer do you have ?" the answer was quite short. I found a lack of my favourite type of brew ie a dark ale. I can get the Czech beer 'Baron' a lot easier in Canada than I could in Praha. Capitalism may have come to the Czech Republic, but a "free market" is many years away. The breweries seem to rule the drinking establishments with an iron hand. I ended up drinking a lot of Pilsner,Budvar and Starobrno. Maybe it's the romance of Praha, but they seemed to taste better there than they do in Canada.
In general beer tasted better than our hootch in Praha, and it is one of the many reasons that I loved that city. A google search for "Czech Beer" came up with 184,000 hits, an indication of the popularity of the subject. Anyone interested in looking at the subject further can consult the wikipedia article on Czech beer at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/beer_and_nationality entitled "Beers of the World'. Another interesting source, with more knowledge than I have, is 'The Opinionated Beer Page' at http://www.topb.com .
Both these sources give more than a general outline of both Czech beer and other beers of the world. Speaking about the rest of the world, here in Canada I have yet to meet a beer as good as '1892 Traditional Ale' produced by the 'Quidi Vidi Brewing Company', just out of St. John's Newfoundland. We visted the brewery when we were there last summer. But for sheer joy I can say that Canada probably has the most "humour friendly" brewery in the whole world. This is the 'Unibroue' brewery in Quebec. Their signature beer is '1837', after the Lower Canada Rebellion of the same year, but they are not "politically correct". Some of their other efforts are 'Nom de Dieu', a swear word in joual, 'La Fin Du Monde', loosely translated as either "the end of the world" or "the ends of the Earth", and 'Quelque Chose' ie "something" (or the other). My favourite, however, is the dreaded 'Maudite' (another swear word in joual). Quite frankly this is the absolutely WORSE beer that has ever been produced anywhere in the world. It is foul and vomit inducing and should be used for alcoholic "therapy". The name is very apt. It is "damned" beyond all measure. The Unibroue brewery produces it as a "novelty item", and it fits very well with their light hearted marketing efforts. Try it- you won't like it.
Well that's it for item # 1 about why I loved Praha. More later. Should you ever visit the city avoid the Czech wine. It's plonk in the same sense that Canadian wine is. Both countries are on the very edge of the grape growing climate, with all that that implies. Bohemia makes no wine. It''s a product of the southern reaches of Moravia.
Molly

Tales From The Little Stalin Cottage,
We stayed in Praha for about a week. The occasion was an international conference of the WSAVA, and, of course, we stayed in the cheapest hotel recommended by the Association. This was mistake #1. It's easy for me to avoid these "recommendations" in a country that speaks English or French, and I've always done such. I can get a cheap hotel easy in such a situation, but here I am depending on an international veterinary association. This was a "screw-around" in Granada en Espana, and it was a screw-around here as well. It wasn't bad in Rodos in Greece only because you simply can't go wrong in Rodos.
In any case we got off the plane in Praha and were approached by a shark taxi driver. The equivalent of $80 Canadian later we were deposited at the 'Opatov Twin'. You walk up to the door, and the first thing you notice is that they have an ad for the nearest detox centre displayed prominently to the right of the entrance. The hotel "catered" to a "student" crowd who seemed to be in town basically for kopana (soccer) games. All the lights in the hotel's neon sign were operating on the day that we arrived. This didn't last. Each day as we came back to the hotel another letter or 2 or 3 had burned out. It was similar at the parent hotel, the 'Opatov' around the corner. The last three or 4 days no lights were operating in the "Twin", and they were blinking out one by one in the main hotel. Nobody seemed to give a flying fuck.
We walked into the joint. No problem at the front desk, but there are a few stairs to carry your heavy luggage up to get to the elevator. We get there. The "students" are having a great time. The "halls" are covered with graffiti to the 7 foot high level. The elevator was completely covered, right up to and on the ceiling. I'm into my "come into my personal space and I'll kill you" mode.
We pass out of the elevator to more graffiti, hallways that have cheap paneling held up with cheaper glue (ie falling off the base) and finally get to the room. We pass a stairway that says "out of order" in Czech. How can a set of stairs be "out of order" ? I don't know. I tried to get in to see what the problem was, but the door was locked solid.
The room was truly bizarre. You enter and there is a short hallway. One door that creaks like the main gate to Dracula's Castle leads into the bedroom. This, like another door leading to another room containing one very stained cot and nothing else, has an opaque glass upper portion. The veneer is even less attached to the walls in the room than it is to the walls in the halls. The toilet is separated from the washroom by a panel about 1 cm thick.
We finally got some sleep. When I wake up and my head is clear I finally figure out what this building was before it became an "hotel". This was an office building during the days of Communism, and the ghosts of a billion scraps of paper are haunting the place. Actually I think they rendered them, added a little brown dye, and made them into the veneer that coats the walls. Speaking of "rendering" all the rooms of the hotel were decorated (?) with framed pictures of old maps. This wasn't just the guest rooms, but also every other room in the building. I wonder where they found the remainders sale.
Like all things the aspect of the "hotel" falls into place given a little time. The clincher, however, was coming back one night. Another veterinarian, from Honduras of all places, got off at the same subway stop that we did. She joined up with us in the trek through the field to reach our lodgings. Yak,yak. Turns out that she was chilled by the local scene as well, and she was very grateful to have company in getting to her room. What is impressive about this is that Honduras is perhaps the most crime ridden country in Central America. If the building in Praha can chill her it can chill anybody.
Perhaps I'm just too stupid to be scared, but I don't think that the lodgings were particularly dangerous. Nowhere in the Czech Republic is. Just very sad.
So this was our stay as the "maly Stalin domek", loosely translated as "the little Stalin cottage". My guess is that a "convert" from the old ruling class of aparatchiks picked the property up for a total of 10 kronas (about 40 cents) and a half full bottle of beer when the old rulers became the new rulers. The owner obviously has no interest in maintaining the place. As long as it brings in a little money it's best ignored.
The subways of Praha, however, were great. But more about this later.
Molly

Presently at the train station in Praha heading out to Wien. More when we arrive. Goddamn International keyboard.
Molly

We're due to leave Praha for Wien tomorrow. Lot's of interesting stuff in this city. Many tales to tell for later. Off to see The Castle (shades of Kafka) this PM. The only great annoyance is the "pay as you piss policy" of most public washrooms. Most have an old Baba guarding the door to the can. The price varies from crapper to crapper, and the price bears no relationship to the quality of the facilities. The toilet paper looks for an entrepreneur to start importing the real stuff to this country.
The best incident was desperately !!!! searching for a non-upscale toilet in Wencelas Square one evening. Finally, I find one in a McDonald's. Fumble,fumble with the coins. The cost was 5 koruna (only about20 cents actually). My surprise- the Baba hands me a coupon redeemable in the restaurant. So........I got a coupon for shitting in McDonald's. Above the Big M is (literally) The Museum of Communism. I think that this says it all about why the commies lost. The commies provided subsidized toilet paper for the masses, paper that still exist today. I imagine that the whole lot was (over)produced in some factory in Irkutsk in 1973. But you'd never get a coupon for taking a dump from the commies. They may, however, have distributed free coupons that entitled the comrade to one free dump every third day. Need it or not.

Just as a little aside, I'm still trying to learn some Czech for the trip that is coming up in less than a month. I have great difficulty concentrating, probably because I have less interest in the language than I have in other languages such as French, Spanish and Greek that I have studied. There are fewer "cognates" between a Slavic language such as Czech and English as compared to a romance language or even Greek. the names of the months are instructive. Also Czech is a particularly complex language. I probably won't get beyond the simple politeness level before we leave for Praha.