For the European Members

[administrator]

Hello TBers,

I'm in the process of obtaining citizenship in the Czech Republic. I qualify for citizenship by descent and would love to explore the land, language and culture of my ancestry. I'm considering moving to Prague at some point in the future.

Any European members here who can tell me a little bit about Prague, and Central Europe in general?

[barliman2001]

@administrator I've been living in Vienna for the last 15 years, so pretty close to Prague... the language is somewhat tricky for adult beginners because it has some sounds not to be found in any other language... cost of living is nicely low for Austrian incomes, but fairly expensive at Czech levels... why don't you come over to Vienna for a fortnight or so, and explore the Czech republic from here? Good train and motorway connections from Vienna...!
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Typical Prague coffee house

Smetana Hall

Wallenstein Palace and Prague Castle, taken at night, with -15°C and a 12 min. exposure (Prague can be bl... extremely cold in winter).

[Kehaulani 0]

Beautiful women, good hearty food, good cross-section of arts. What more could a guy ask for? Czech it out.

(No, I don't live there. Just worked and visited.)

[administrator]

@barliman2001 is winter a good time to visit? Would love to come see an opera in Vienna!!

As far as income goes, I'll be working out of the USA no matter where I am in the world. So, in Europe that means probably working something like 3-11pm or similar. That works well for me given that I'm a natural night owl anyway.

[Dr GO]

Here is a sample of Prague in March:

[barliman2001]

@administrator Winter is certainly a good time both for Vienna and Prague. And if you are here in December or January, you might even add Munich to your programme, including an opera in Munich - my wife is singing Marcellina in Le Nozze di Figaro, and I can certainly wangle tickets for that.

[barliman2001]

@administrator Oh, and in Prague, Smetana Hall has daily lunchtime concerts even in winter...

[Kehaulani 0]

{'ve been to the opera in both Vienna and Munchen and it doesn't get any better than that.

[administrator]

For those of you in Europe, are community bands / orchestras popular? Say, if I live in Prague would there likely be some opportunity to join a community group?

There are some community groups here in the USA, but I get the feeling it's probably more popular in Europe. I wouldn't know firsthand, though.

[Kehaulani 0]

I don't see how there wouldn't be. In Germany, I conducted, at any given time, two city bands, a university band and a jazz band and played in another city concert band, jazz band and combos.

I lived near Kaiserslautern, Germany is a city of about 100,000 people. Prague has about 1.36 million people. Surely the opportunities are even better.

You'll find that in large cities there are sections of town, often going way back to when they were separate villages, that keep their identities and have their own musical groups. Furthermore, Prague certainly has surrounding villages that also have their musical groups.

Another thing you may find useful it that the people may look on you, at first at least, as something unique and show you more interest.

[barliman2001]

Prague is a hotbed of music of all descriptions. Small jazz bands at every second corner, community bands of all styles everywhere. Language might be a barrier, though.

[Kehaulani 0]

You never know what you'll find in Prague.
Bill Clinton plays sax.
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[administrator]

@barliman2001 said in For the European Members:

Prague is a hotbed of music of all descriptions. Small jazz bands at every second corner, community bands of all styles everywhere. Language might be a barrier, though.

That sounds like fun! Yeah, I've been studying the language and it's a tough one.

[barliman2001]

@kehaulani-0 Just goes to show you can never trust sax players... like that old joke: Why do sax players like to use the hoover so often?
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They think they are practising their sound quality!!

[administrator]

What's a hoover?

[barliman2001]

@administrator a vacuum cleaner, originally produced by the Hoover company.

[Dr GO]

So a Hoover sound from a sax I would assume, sucks?

[barliman2001]

@dr-go Can you distinguish a difference?

[Dr GO]

@barliman2001 said in For the European Members:

@dr-go Can you distinguish a difference?

The difference in the amount of dust released.