Subject: RE: Prague

From: <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 8 Mar 2007 11:13:13 -0000

> For those of you with experience in Prague/Czech Republic- 
 > How practical is it to rent a car?   
 > There are a couple of places outside Prague I would like to visit on the weekend (in particular the JAWA Motorcycle Museum of Konopiště, about 20 miles outside Prague), and I am considering renting a car. 

In the former Soviet bloc countries, the train network was well-developed. From personal experience in Russia and Ukraine, I would suggest that you check out train schedules first and only consider car rental if it doesn't work out for you.
http://www.myczechrepublic.com/prague/trains_buses.html

Wikitravel seems to agree about trains to Konopiste - there is hourly service to Prague
http://wikitravel.org/en/Konopiste

The comments about taxis sound a lot like my experiences in various Russian and Ukrainian cities. Basically, Americans are used to socialist government-regulated taxi services. In the capitalist free-market economies of the former Soviet bloc, there is little to no regulation so it is a free for all. If you don't speak the local language, it is hard to bargain a taxi deal and so many foreigners have bad taxi experiences. The solution is to recognize that the taxi game is played differently in Prague so you also have to play by their rules. Either get ready for some rough and tumble bargaining or use a trusted agent such as the hotel to order your taxi. As one person pointed out, it can be a lot of fun travelling through the former Soviet bloc countries playing by their rules.

--Michael Dillon

_______________________________________________
Ietf mailing list
[email-masked]
https://www1.ietf.org/mailman/listinfo/ietf

---

From: Jeff McAdams <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 08 Mar 2007 08:11:53 -0500

[email-masked] wrote:
> In the former Soviet bloc countries, the train network was
> well-developed. From personal experience in Russia and Ukraine, I
> would suggest that you check out train schedules first and only
> consider car rental if it doesn't work out for you. 

> Wikitravel seems to agree about trains to Konopiste - there is hourly
> service to Prague http://wikitravel.org/en/Konopiste

Yes, the train service is quite good in the Czech Republic.  My parents
lived there for a year and traveled over much of the country and only
had a rented car for about 3 weeks of cumulative time (4 days of that
was when I visited).

The factoid they laid on me was that the Czech Republic has the most
miles of train rails per capita in the world.  I won't make the claim
that this factoid is really true, but I certainly would not be surprised.

Oh, and while I'm writing...if you do get a car to drive out in the
surrounding country, you might want to be aware of the practice that I
call "passing down the middle".  This was...exciting...the first time I
experienced.  When overtaking a car, its frequently done with oncoming
traffic.  The overtaking car straddles the middle line, and both the car
being overtaken and any oncoming traffic slide off to the side (most
significant roads have large shoulders) to give room for the overtaking car.

At least outside of Prague (I didn't drive in Prague so don't have
direct experience in the city) use your turn signals a lot!  It was
typical for drivers to use a right turn signal to enter a roundabout, a
left turn signal as they go around the roundabout, and another right
turn signal to exit the roundabout!  (just an example)
-- 
Jeff McAdams
"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a
little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."
                                       -- Benjamin Franklin