Does anyone have experience of visiting Prague in October? What are the weather and
the crowds like? Are the sights still open then? Maybe a resident of Prague has
some advice

I was due to visit the city this weekend but am considering alternative dates now
that I have postponed the visit. I'm hoping that the city will have mostly recovered
by October. Not having experiences of floods myself fortunately, I don't know
whether that is a realistic assumption or not.

Many thanks


--
Paul

If you wish to send me an email, you will have to get 'your finger' out ;-)

I was there end Sept/early Oct in 2000.

It was about 22C from memory - still quite warm. However I think it got colder very
soon afterwards so perhaps we were a little lucky.

Everything was still open as I remember. It was fairly busy - certainly busier than
when I was there in March 97 but I dare say quieter than the peak season - e.g. now
it's probably overflowing with tourists.

As for whether or not the flood waters will have subsided - that's anybody's guess
I'm afraid!

"Paul ENG" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:[email protected]...
    > Does anyone have experience of visiting Prague in October? What are the weather
    > and the crowds like? Are the sights still open then? Maybe a resident of Prague
    > has some advice
    > I was due to visit the city this weekend but am considering alternative dates now
    > that I have postponed the visit. I'm hoping that the city will have mostly
    > recovered by October. Not having experiences of floods myself fortunately, I don't
    > know whether that is a realistic assumption or not.
    > Many thanks
    > --
    > Paul
    > If you wish to send me an email, you will have to get 'your finger' out
;-)

"Paul ENG" <[email protected]> wrote:

    >Does anyone have experience of visiting Prague in October? What are the weather and
    >the crowds like? Are the sights still open then? Maybe a resident of Prague has
    >some advice
Yes.

Cold, but not unbearably so. Frosty. Bring winter woollies and a windproof coat and
you'll be fine.

Plenty of visitors. I think Prague is pretty well a year-round destination. After
all, it is not a beach resort. Things are open (how can they close Charles Bridge?).

    >I was due to visit the city this weekend but am considering alternative dates now
    >that I have postponed the visit. I'm hoping that the city will have mostly
    >recovered by October. Not having experiences of floods myself fortunately, I don't
    >know whether that is a realistic assumption or not.
Keep watching the reports. I'm not sure how much damage is occurring. I would be
inclined to hold back on making a decision until the position becomes more clear.

PB

"Paul ENG" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:[email protected]...
    > Does anyone have experience of visiting Prague in October? What are the weather
    > and the crowds like? Are the sights still open then? Maybe a resident of Prague
    > has some advice
    > I was due to visit the city this weekend but am considering alternative dates now
    > that I have postponed the visit. I'm hoping that the city will have mostly
    > recovered by October. Not having experiences of floods myself fortunately, I don't
    > know whether that is a realistic assumption or not.

No, it won't have mostly recovered by October. These kinds of disasters require
years of recovery effort. You'll be visiting a city that won't even have finished
assessing the damage. That's not to say that it'll be impossible to visit the city
by then, but you'll need a great deal more patience, flexibility, time, effort, and
possibly expense to do so. Don't expect that the trip will go smoothly. This will
not be a time to do "quicky" trips to the city. I wouldn't recommend going for less
than a week.

What rubbish. By October the mud etc will all have been cleaned away and you as a tourist won't really notice that there has been a flood except the metro won't be running as normal and a museum or two will be shut. But the rest of touristy things in Prague will be running as normal, eg walking around the historic centre and taking in a few beers at U Flecku etc, plus the added bonus is the city will be a lot less crowded with tourists than normal.

Then again from a local

"Fortunately, all famous and admired tourist attractions resisted (Charles Bridge
in Prague, UNESCO Heritage Cesky Krumlov) or they were intact (Prague Castle &
Jewish City, Prague). However metro service will not be restored for a couple of
month." Ivan

If transport isn't running it will be difficult.

Frank Matthews

newstartnz wrote:

    > Originally posted by J Quick:
    >>"Paul ENG" wrote in message news:10295280-
    >>[email protected]:1029528067.9842. [email protected] ..
    >>>Does anyone have experience of visiting Prague in October? What are the weather
    >>>and the crowds like? Are the sights still open then? Maybe a resident of Prague
    >>>has some advice I was due to visit the city this weekend but am considering
    >>>alternative dates now that I have postponed the visit. I'm hoping that the city
    >>>will have mostly recovered by October. Not having experiences of floods myself
    >>>fortunately, I don't know whether that is a realistic assumption or not.
    >>No, it won't have mostly recovered by October. These kinds of disasters require
    >>years of recovery effort. You'll be visiting a city that won't even have finished
    >>assessing the damage. That's not to say that it'll be impossible to visit the city
    >>by then, but you'll need a great deal more patience, flexibility, time, effort, and
    >>possibly expense to do so. Don't expect that the trip will go smoothly. This will
    >>not be a time to do "quicky" trips to the city. I wouldn't recommend going for
    >>less than a week.
    > What rubbish. By October the mud etc will all have been cleaned away and you as a
    > tourist won't really notice that there has been a flood except the metro won't be
    > running as normal and a museum or two will be shut. But the rest of touristy things
    > in Prague will be running as normal, eg walking around the historic centre and
    > taking in a few beers at U Flecku etc, plus the added bonus is the city will be a
    > lot less crowded with tourists than normal.
    > --
    > Posted via http://britishexpats.com

Complete garbage. You back up my email by saying everything's going to be OK but say that no metro will be a problem. Not for tourists ya moron. They usually don't care about the metro and just take a taxi cab or two

Frank Matthews <[email protected]> wrote:

    >Then again from a local
    >"Fortunately, all famous and admired tourist attractions resisted (Charles Bridge
    >in Prague, UNESCO Heritage Cesky Krumlov) or they were intact (Prague Castle &
    >Jewish City, Prague). However metro service will not be restored for a couple of
    >month." Ivan
    >If transport isn't running it will be difficult.
The metro is only one part of the transport system. One walks most of the best-known
tourist areas; the tram service is good; some taxis are okay (but get advice on
them). You can manage without the metro.

PB

"Padraig Breathnach" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:[email protected]...
    > Frank Matthews <[email protected]> wrote:
    > >Then again from a local
    > >
    > >"Fortunately, all famous and admired tourist attractions resisted (Charles Bridge
    > >in Prague, UNESCO Heritage Cesky Krumlov) or they were intact (Prague Castle &
    > >Jewish City, Prague). However metro service will not be restored for a couple of
    > >month." Ivan
    > >
    > >If transport isn't running it will be difficult.
    > >
    > The metro is only one part of the transport system. One walks most of the
    > best-known tourist areas; the tram service is good; some taxis are okay (but get
    > advice on them). You can manage without the metro.

Prague doesn't have enough taxis to make up for the loss the metro, particularly
since the main train stations aren't in the city center. It may be difficult at best
to rely on taxis for transport. Yes, one can walk most of the tourist areas, but
this increases the time and effort to visit the city. I'd also expect that the taxi
drivers will try to take advantage of the situation, based on their normal behavior.
Tourists need to account for this when planning to visit.

"newstartnz" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:[email protected]...
    > Originally posted by J Quick:
    > >
    > > No, it won't have mostly recovered by October. These kinds of disasters require
    > > years of recovery effort. You'll be visiting a city that won't even have
    > > finished assessing the damage. That's not to say that it'll be impossible to
    > > visit the city by then, but you'll need a great deal more patience, flexibility,
    > > time, effort, and possibly expense to do so. Don't expect that the trip will go
    > > smoothly. This will not be a time to do "quicky" trips to the city. I wouldn't
    > > recommend going for less than a week.
    > >
    > What rubbish. By October the mud etc will all have been cleaned away and you as a
    > tourist won't really notice that there has been a flood except the metro won't be
    > running as normal and a museum or two will be shut. But the rest of touristy things
    > in Prague will be running as normal, eg walking around the historic centre and
    > taking in a few beers at U Flecku etc, plus the added bonus is the city will be a
    > lot less crowded with tourists than normal.

Sounds like you've already have reached your beer limit already. You must be drunk
to think that a tourist won't notice the effects of a 200+year record flood six weeks
after it occurs. Clearing out mud is such a tiny fraction of the recovery effort
that using this as your example shows that you really have little idea how
destructive this kind of flood can be to a city. It could take months just to get
gas, electric, water, and sewage service to be fully restored. Entire sections of
the city will need structural evaluation and approval for habitation, or demolition,
as will be required in many cases.

[QUOTESounds like you've already have reached your beer limit already. You must be drunk
to think that a tourist won't notice the effects of a 200+year record flood six weeks
after it occurs. Clearing out mud is such a tiny fraction of the recovery effort
that using this as your example shows that you really have little idea how
destructive this kind of flood can be to a city. It could take months just to get
gas, electric, water, and sewage service to be fully restored. Entire sections of
the city will need structural evaluation and approval for habitation, or demolition,
as will be required in many cases.
[/QUOTE]
Beer at 10.48am? - not me.

Listen, you may be right about structural damage (I don't actually think so) but it ain't going to affect tourists unless whole sections of the city are cordoned off. The damage will only have occurred where water was fast moving, not where the water level rose higher without flowing fast, which is the case for most of the city away from the river course. Since neither you nor I know the exact answer on scale of damage but it surely will be made news as soon as the water recedes, let's just wait for the truth. Which I think will be closer to Salzburg's 'clean-up' job than the story you tell.

newstartnz wrote:
    > Complete garbage. You back up my email by saying everything's going to be OK but
    > say that no metro will be a problem. Not for tourists ya moron. They usually don't
    > care about the metro and just take a taxi cab or two

And of course, none of the "natives" who generally use the metro will be taking
cabs, instead?

    > --
    > Posted via http://britishexpats.com

I guess you know Prague? It's not exactly a huge metropolis, tourists normally walk just about everywhere anyway. Most areas of interest, eg old town, Charles Bridge, castle etc are all in the same tight area, which is far easier to get around on foot.

And this morning's papers confirm that the historic centre escaped ALL damage and was not flooded.

In article <[email protected]>, "Evelyn Vogt Gamble (Divamanque)"
<[email protected]> wrote:

    > newstartnz wrote:
    > >
    > >
    > >
    > > Complete garbage. You back up my email by saying everything's going to be OK but
    > > say that no metro will be a problem. Not for tourists ya moron. They usually
    > > don't care about the metro and just take a taxi cab or two
    > And of course, none of the "natives" who generally use the metro will be taking
    > cabs, instead?

Take a cab? Only in cases of sheer desperation and lack of public transport. Rich
tourists may take cabs regularly; I wouldn't know.

--
Mary Loomer Oliver(aka erilar)


Erilar's Cave Annex: http://www.airstr-
eamcomm.net/~erilarlo

newstartnz wrote:
    > I guess you know Prague? It's not exactly a huge metropolis, tourists normally
    > walk just about everywhere anyway. Most areas of interest, eg old town, Charles
    > Bridge, castle etc are all in the same tight area, which is far easier to get
    > around on foot.

I've BEEN there, that's not to say I "know" it. I was with an organized tour, so
most of our travel from place to place was by chartered tour bus. (However, we were
all from Southern California, where walking is NOT considered a "normal" mode of
transportation, so they didn't make us walk anywhere we didn't have to!)