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White faces, blood-red mouths and black-rimmed sunken eyes: Prague saw its first ever Zombie walk last weekend. Zombies of all ages marched from Prague’s Old Town Square to the statue of St. Wenceslas, groaning, moaning, rolling their eyes and baring their teeth at passers by. Some even fell to the ground writhing in pain foaming at the mouth, with blood seeping from under their bandages. Some clutched a cross in their hands, others a butcher’s knife. Given the fact that it was Prague’s first ever Zombie walk they gave quite a performance. According to the organizer of the event Pavel Zelenka only a fraction of the country’s zombies came out of the closet for the walk. The rest, he said, had assimilated with the majority population and did not want to reveal their identity. At present the number of registered zombies in the country is said to be close to 600. Although there is an unwritten rule about not touching or otherwise pestering passers-by who clearly do not want the attention, many people who witnessed the Zombie walk approached the best-looking zombies to ask for a happy-snap.

Photo: CTKPhoto: CTKPhoto: CTK

Photo: CTK You may think that strass crystals belong on a chandelier, but the famous Jablonex jewelers have other ideas. They are putting strass crystals on underwear and doing good business with it. As far as underwear goes, it is neither practical, warm nor comfortable but it’s definitely sexy. Ten years ago Jablonex started making strass panties and bras to order for renowned French and German cabarets, including Mulin Rouge. Now it’s making strass articles for theatres, musicals and boutiques around Europe. Although the goods come in smaller sizes salespeople now report a growing demand in larger sizes as well. Clearly strass is sexy no matter what size you are – and Jablonex now offers a new line of strass products including corsets, miniskirts, belts, braces and ties. The articles are handmade, contain on average 5,000 stones and cost around 10,000 crowns apiece. All you need, apart from the money, is the confidence to wear them. And one thing is guaranteed – you are not likely to go unnoticed. The Jablonex strass products are particularly popular among French, German and Russian women.

Photo: Police Hradec Králové People living on the suburbs of Hradec Králové have reported sighting a white nosed-coati ibydleni/wcn the vicinity. What they in fact reported was seeing an exotic-looking long-nosed animal resembling an ant-eater in the vicinity of their homes, where it would forage for food. Animal experts were only able to ascertain that it was a coati when on of the locals managed to get a good snapshot of it on his mobile phone. The coati or coatimundi live in tropical rainforests, grasslands and brushy areas of South and Central America – so clearly this one must have escaped from a private owner. However given the mild weather we are having the coati appears to have no problems surviving “in the wild” and has so far managed to avoid getting captured by the pest-control team who are looking out for it. Strangely enough though, no one has reported a coati missing.

Photo: CTK It is called “Schweitzerhaus” but, as any Austrian will tell you, the name is misleading. The biggest and by all accounts most popular restaurant in the Pratr entertainment park is the best place to go for Czech beer and Czech cuisine. It was established in 1766, the year the Pratr entertainment park was opened to the public by Emperor Josef II. Originally it was named Swiss chalet, then Swiss Court and eventually Swiss House or Schweitzerhaus. In 1920, a 19-year-old Czech butcher by the name of Karl Kolarik bought it and started running it as a family restaurant. Although the cuisine was Czech – the name remained – even after it was completely destroyed during the Second World War and rebuilt from scratch. The butcher Karl Kolarik became a legendary figure at the restaurant – running it and personally welcoming guests until his death in 1993. Today the restaurant is run by his eldest son Karl Jan –who has maintained its high standard, personally making sure that the beer and food are of the highest quality. So if you are ever in Prater and see a place called Schweitzerhaus – remember there’s good Czech food and the best Czech beer waiting for you inside.

Photo: CTKPhoto: CTK

Prague drivers complain bitterly about the heavy congestion in the Czech capital. However, according to Forbes magazine, Prague is not the worst off by far in this respect. If Czech drivers are frustrated about inching their way to and from work every day they should spend a few days in London where cars move at an average speed of 19 km per hour, the slowest traffic speed in any capital. Berlin is second-worst, ahead of Warsaw which came out ahead of Paris and Rome. Prague finished 16th – drivers here allegedly move at a speed of 46 km per hour. Given the 50 km city limit, that’s not bad at all. The transport ministry says Prague’s ranking is “good news” but there is room for improvement. Prague is now building an orbital that will have car parks at metro terminals and other measures in the pipeline are toll charges in the city centre and parking cards.

Of course, Prague could improve in other departments as well. Visitors often complain that public toilets in the Czech capital are few and far between but finally finding one when you are in need does not mean that your woes are over. The police this week received an emergency call from a man who said he was locked in a public toilet and could someone help him out. When an emergency crew arrived they had to force the door of the public toilet because the woman who was in charge of the toilets had simply locked up and left for the day.