Are you a last-minute planner when it comes to big holiday travel times like Thanksgiving in Christmas? Yes, we are too, especially because everything looks so darn expensive and plain booked up. This year, it's either another Thanksgiving of ordering Chinese takeout or booking it out of the country for some autumn appeal overseas...like in Prague.

Remember that it's not Thanksgiving over in the Czech Republic, so that means no dinner reservations or pressure to eat cranberry sauce. Virgin Vacations seems to have the best deal we've seen for this, with a 6-night hotel, airfare, and daily breakfast starting at $669 per person. Sure they have other deals for Thanksgiving to Barcelona, London, Paris and Rome, but the Prague trip sounds like the most fall foliage and old school charm for the lowest price.]]> JetSetCD 2009-10-20T09:34:06-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2009/7/17/01322/9316

· Prague
You hit Miami's Art Basel and you've already passed through Venice for the Biennale, but what about swinging through The Czech Republic for even more art, and this time with feeling? Prague is throwing its own Biennale, the fourth annual, and this year brings the largest assemebly of young painters ever—120—who'll bolster the size and reputation of what is already a hugely significant exhibition of Central European art and photography. Find it all this month at Karlin Hall, Thamova 8 in Prague 8, and American are sure to be pleasantly surprised by the event's extra little show of "The Newest New York Young Photographers from the Big Apple." ]]> JetSetCD 2009-07-17T16:34:19-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2009/4/10/11382/9297

· Orlando: Technically on Cocoa Beach, the 45th annual Ron Jon Easter Surf Fest is an entire weekend of hanging ten, going shoeless and using words like "cowabunga" and "radical." Kicking off tonight at 8pm with a free al fresco film screening of a surf movie, the festival even includes an Easter egg hunt at 11am tomorrow. Check out the full schedule for info on every awesome event.]]> JetSetCD 2009-04-10T16:31:35-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2006/10/23/104525/39

If you've ever wandered through the streets of Prague (with your eyes open), at one point you probably looked up and spied the Old Town Hall's Astronomical Clock. Chances are, you then looked down in the confusion of not being able to tell what time the clock displayed and walked on.

We'd like to say that we will clear up all the mysteries of Prague's Astronomical Clock, but we aren't sure we can. We have quizzed local Czechs, asked Wikipedia and Googled it to death, only to come up more bewildered than before.

There's a zodiac ring, a 24-hour clock, sun and moon indicators, and even a part showing "Old Czech Time," which starts at 1 every time the sun sets. There are also plenty of arrows that we think are secret pointers to the best pubs in town, so we recommend only studying the Astronomical Clock long enough to decide which direction to go for the next beer.

Send us your thoughts on the Astronomical Clock if you got 'em.

[Photo: Helen & Simon]]]> amandak 2006-10-25T09:35:01-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2006/10/23/41633/132
There's nothing we like more than a record-breaking tourist attraction, and Prague Castle makes it into Guinness as the largest castle complex in the world. That's reason enough to stop by, but not only is it huge, it's also impressive in other ways. The president still sits there, but the Bohemian crown jewels do too, and every hour there's a changing of the guard to rival London's, with a musical addition at midday when band members stand in various windows of the castle and peform.

The official castle visiting information site can give you more details on what there is to see, but it also includes a disturbingly long list under the headline "What you cannot visit." Some rooms only open for concert performances, some manage to open up on two random days a year, and some parts are just plain closed. Just think positive and be sure that the friendly Czechs have opened the good bits, at least, for the world to see.

[Photo: Psycho Crow]]]> amandak 2006-10-23T09:51:25-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2006/9/21/12828/7108

Who knew that learning hard languages could be so popular? Sure, the US government can't find anyone who speaks Arabic, but according to the Prague Post, record numbers of students are learning the Czech language. As one of those students (ages ago) we can relate to their pain and suffering: Czech is the hardest of the Slavic languages to learn. Only Hungarian is more difficult, because it's from an even harder linguistic tree.

As the Prague Post notes, it's not just the grammar that's hard; idioms are confusing too:

Czech is also rich in idioms that are virtually untranslatable and can throw off even the most determined language student. Take sbal si svých pět švestek a běž, a way of saying "get lost" that, translated verbatim, means, "Take your five plums and run."