Wednesday, May 10, 2017

Up with Geography: Czech Republic

Country Name:
Czech Republic

Capital:
Prague

Continent:
Europe

Maps:

Map of Europe. Czech Republic outlined in
dark ink. Due to technical difficulties, I was
unable to do shading.

A close-up of Czech Republic & its neighbors.

Neighbors:
Germany, Poland, Slovakia, Austria

Water Borders:
None

Total Area:
30,450 square miles

Five Largest Cities:
Prague, Brno, Ostrava, Plzen, Liberec

Famous Geographical Point:
Elbe River

Famous Person:
Franz Kafka, author

Book Set In/About:
The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera

This book chronicles the lives of four people (and one dog) during a brief period of liberalization in Czech Republic's (then Czechoslovakia's) Communist history. Whenever possible, I try to pick a book I've read. This is one of the rare instances I can!

Movie Set In/About:
"Kolya (Kolja)" (1996), directed by Jan Svěrák

Middle-aged Louka, bachelor & womanizer, finds his life transformed when he unexpectedly becomes the guardian of a young boy. Set in Prague during Czechoslovakia's emergence from Communism. I've seen this film! It's cute.

Headline of the Day:
"Billionaire Businessman Babis Is at Heart of Czech Political Crisis" on reuters.com.

This was not the most recent news piece I could find about Czech Republic, but most of the more recent stuff came from blogs and I wanted to use something from a reputable news source. This was actually a very interesting article that I recommend you check out.

2 comments:

Patricia said...

No kidding, but last night I was doing the dishes and I suddenly exclaimed, "Czech Republic!"*

"What?" Matt asked.

"That's the last country that begins with a C!"

Then I had to tell him the whole story.

There was a boy in my grade who immigrated from Czechoslovakia. I wonder if he was Czech or Slovakian? He was really cute and found me massively annoying. He has not come to any reunions. Nor can I look him up on Facebook because I can't quite recall how to spell his last name. We were in a lot of classes in junior high, but I don't remember him at all in high school. Did he graduate with us? I'll have to ask my friend.

*Actually, I said Czechoslovakia! Because that's what part of it was when I was learning countries.

balyien said...

Haha, I love your whole comment. You're so cute.

I briefly had a pen pal who was Czech but I think it was around the time the country was splitting into two and things were in upheaval so we never got to communicate very much.