Keeping perspective in Prague

August 25, 2010

So I am wrapping up a month in Prague to teach English as a foreign language. I have met many interesting people, including a 70-year-old Australian woman who does development work in … North Korea! If this sounds like a gear shift from the wine world, it certainly is. I am about to go to Bordeaux to re-taste some of the 2009s from barrel and to write about the coming 2010 harvest. Will also do a feature story on the father and son Boissenot wine consultant team, before going to Alsace to taste a vertical of Clos St Hune chez Trimbach. But as much as I love wine, life should include other activities. Hence this trip to Prague! Last night I did a language exchange with a Czech teacher who needs to improve her English. She taught me many Czech wine terms, from how to say that a wine should be balanced and flavorful to saying that a wine is overly alcoholic and heavy. We enjoyed large glasses of Pilsner Urquel beer for just over 1 euro each! Prague is a very beautiful city, and worth a visit – I have posted photos on Facebook and will soon post here as well. To keep in shape, I have been going to an excellent public pool – three pools actually – set in a stadium on a hill. Only in Europe of course can you see women sunbathing topless at a public pool, by the way. And when I struck up a conversation with a woman lying next to me, she at one point asked, ‘Do you mind if I take off my top.’ Can you imagine that at a public pool in the US? But I digress… It has been a great time here in Prague. I will have my teaching certificate in a few days, will head off to Bordeaux, then Alsace and will be staying in Strasbourg for a couple of months before organising three wine tasting dinners in Germany in November for Pichon Comtesse and Angelus. In the meantime, lots of articles to write: look out for my feature on Bordeaux and the US market in Wine Business International as well as a later article on social marketing and the wine industry, also in Wine Business International. Finally, a feature article on Philippe Dhalluin, winemaking director of Mouton Rothschild, in France Today as well as a report on the wine bar scene in Paris, also in France Today.