Man fakes his own death while surfing in Greece

by Iva Skoch on

At first, it sounded like a great, simple idea. The husband pretends he is dead while the wife collects his life insurance. She will send him money periodically as he assumes new identity abroad. It almost happened that way, Czech press reports.

A Hungarian man, Zoltan Rex, and his wife were vacationing in Greece in 2001, when Zoltan “disappeared” while surfing. Of course, the wife and a few friends were in on the scam and played along. The authorities proclaimed him dead after about a year, but they never found his body. The insurance company, however, refused to pay the roughly $1.3M, because they found it strange that a man would take out several life insurance policies and then disappear. (Note to self: When faking death, remember that insurance companies are not stupid.)

Poor Zoltan escaped to Crete, then Italy, and finally ended up in the Czech Republic, where he lived under the name László Boros until his true identity was discovered last year. The plan never really worked the way they intended. His wife lost hope of ever getting the money and got remarried in 2005.

Now, Zoltan’s only hope is either a) reality show, b) book deal, or c) flourishing career in Eastern European politics.

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Prague under wintry (read depressing) skies

by Iva Skoch on

I was reading the Sunday NY Times article called “Under Wintry Skies, A City Revealed“. It’s just what you would expect: an American writer who lives there is trying to justify living there by telling everybody that the winter there is “really not that bad.” He is listing all the advantages of going to Prague in the winter, as opposed to the summer. They range from “It’s not as touristy” to “It’s not as touristy.”

There is a good reason people don’t come to Prague in the winter. It is cold and gray. It doesn’t snow that much in Prague, so your chances of seeing the Gothic spires covered in snow are slim. Unless this is your fifth time visiting Prague, you have seen all the sights and are just going for the concerts, pub-crawls or food (yes, Prague is emerging as quite the foodie place!), don’t do it!

You often hear people say that the Czech Republic has the same climate as, say New York. This is not true. The biggest difference is the number of days with sunshine. It is not uncommon not to see the sun in Prague for several weeks at a time. Although it might be just as cold in New York, it is much sunnier. If you come for a day or two, you might not find it so depressing, but I usually start going crazy around this time of year…

American man stabbed to death by a Prague cop

by Iva Skoch on

It has not been a good week for American tourists in the world. First, an American got attacked by an elephant in China. Then I read the morning news in Prague only to find out that a cop stabbed a 44-year American guy to death near the hockey stadium Sazka Arena in Prague 9.

Apparently, the American tourist was a soldier stationed at the military base in Germany. The Czech press is reporting that he and his friends were driving a car in Prague when the Czech cop (off duty, I think) started making “offensive gestures”, whatever that means. The American got out of the car and demanded an explanation. Instead the cop–who was drunk at the time–pulled out a knife and stabbed him three time into his chest, killing him instantly.

I was shocked. This kind of thing doesn’t happen much in Prague.

But, based on my recent experience with a violent lunatic in Athens, I will say this again: do not underestimate the temper of people in an unfamiliar country. When traveling, it is best to leave your ego at home. You just never know who you run into.

Jackass: Prague edition

by Aaron Hotfelder on

The trams in Prague are incredibly convenient and user-friendly. Most of the time, one arrives at your stop, the doors open automatically, and you hop on and enjoy the ride. However, at night– past mignight usually– there is a lit-up button located directly next to the doors that one must push in order to open them.

Oftentimes, people are utterly confounded when the doors do not automatically swing open for them. Their first instinct is never to try to locate some sort of button or lever to engage, but to bang on the tram doors and look sheepishly at the lucky folks inside who managed to solve the door-opening conundrum.

Tonight such an instance occurred, and the guy was let in by someone who eventually noticed his desperation and pushed the button for him. An early-twenties slacker type, he hopped aboard sporting a hooded sweatshirt advertising the metal band “Slipknot.” He wore a hat bearing the MTV logo on the front and the word “Jackass” on the back. The word was probably referencing the TV show, but you never know.

Prague 101: How to order Czech dumplings

by Iva Skoch on

Whenever friends from abroad are visiting Prague, they always want to eat dumplings. The problem is, they just want to be able to say they have had dumplings so they order them randomly as a side dish to–say–schnitzel. See, that doesn’t really work. Schnitzel is dry, dumplings are dry. Now, if you ordered a side of steamed cabbage/sauerkraut to smother your dumpling in, you could MAYBE get away with that…but it is a strange combo.

We are talking about “side dish” dumplings here, typically either bread or potato dumplings (not about dumplings filled with fruit — that’s dessert). The advantage of dumplings is that they soak up the sauce, so they should always be ordered with a “saucy dish”, for example:

  • goulash
  • svickova (roast tenderloin & sour cream sauce) – see picture
  • vepro-knedlo-zelo (pork roast with cabbage; cabbage is just wet enough to pose as “sauce” here)
  • Beef with creamy dill sauce, mushroom sauce, tomato sauce…you name it.

Sauce is the magic word. So please don’t walk into a restaurant and order a chicken fillet with dumplings. You would like it about as much as a hamburger with rice.