Time to say good bye ! After 18 weeks of Erasmus it is the time to come back in France ! I come back with many memories !! I hope that thanks my blog you learned many informations about Czech Republic !

Thanks a lot for all, I enjoyed my Erasmus as a unique and extraordinary experience. I was able to do many trips: Vienna, Budapest, Cracow, Bratislava and visit in Czech Reppublic Praha, Olomouc, Lednice, Austerlitz !

I forget nothing. I have just "enjoy my Semester" and I can say the same for the futur Erasmus student. There are no really words who can describe this experience. You need to live this time once in your life.

That why I make this article to conclude my semester and my Blog ! I give you some place, restaurants and museum in Brno where you can go !

• To visit:
•  The Labyrinth under the vegetable market (1h30 visit) with Audio guide available in French www.ticbrno.cz
• The Ossuary of St. James Church (25 min visit) with a French description (paper) www.ticbrno.cz
• The Mintmaster’s cellar (According to me it is the less interresting museum) (1h Visit) with video in French and guide in English www.ticbrno.cz
• Zoo Brno www.zoobrno.cz 
• Casemates of Spilberk (1h Visit) with French documentation www.spilberk.cz
• Cathedral of St Peter and St Paul 
• StaroBrno Factory: you can book an excsrsion to our brewery at exkurze@starobrno.cz 

• Restaurant:
• Wang Running Sushi (89-289 czk) www.sushivbre.cz
• Leonessa ristorante (100-250czk)
• Empire Restaurant: roof top of Brno
• Le Phare de Brno: crêperie Française 

• Pub:
  • Aloha: Coktail Bar (79-119czk !) If you have enough of Czech Beer and Moravian wine, have a coktail
  • Desert: Absinthe Bar Behind the doors of a nuclear bunker there is a club which attracts all the naughty boys and girls of Brno. It is a place where they come to solve our identity crisis. Test the absinth called « Bairnsfather Bitter » made in Czech Republic.
  • Two faces: Bar and club where you can drink for fews czk.
  • Perpetum: techno music club

• Transport: There is one tcket system for trams, trolley-buses and buses:
• 15min ticket: 20 czk
• 60 min ticket: 25 czk
• 90 min ticket: 27 czk
  
• 24 hours ticket: 90 czk
• 5 days Ticket: 250 czk

        After my articles on Czech Republic with lots of useful information (I hope), I would to present you a small city !

Howewer, I visited few cities in Europe during my Erasmus: you can see in the map : Budapest, Vienna, Bratislava and Krakow ! In Czech Republic I visited Praha, Olomouc and Austerlitz !

 So I bless my last article on Austerlitz. I visited this city with my parents (22km from Brno). I chose to present Austerlitz because it is at only 30min with car from Brno and I really appreciate it!
It is not a capital or a big city but it represents something very significant for the Czech Republic and the relationship with France.

Austerlitz Battlefield History = the Battle of the three Emperors 

        The battle took place on 2 december 1805 where took place Napoleon Bonaparte’s army’s victory against the armies of the Russian Tsar and Austrian Emperor near Austerlitz (Slavkov) on the “Žuráň Hill”.

The battle went on for 9 hours. There has been in total (for Austrians and Russians) 16 000 dead and injured people and  11,000 prisoners.
Consequences for French army: 1500 dead people, approximately 7000 injured people and hundreds of prisoners. Napoleon has loss an eagle too.

 185 cannons and 45 flags

The 6th December,  the armistice was signed on Austerlitz’s castle (Slavkov). The castle’s park ranks among the most valuable historical gardens in Moravia.

         Brno, capital of Moravia received Napoleon before the battle. This is the place where he should have the signature of « the treaty of Presbourg ». Instead of Brno (because spreading of the sick « typhus fever »), the treaty has been signed in Bratislava.  Also, the 26th december, « the treaty of Presbourg » put end of the third coalition and as the Roman Empire.

         Today, instead of the battlefield,there is the peace Memorial, a monument commemorating the war. It stands on the Prace Hill, it is 26 metres high and inside the memorial is a little chapel with an ossuary.

       The text on the plaques is in German, Russian, French and Czech and says: "In remembrance of the Austrian, Russian and French soldiers that fell at Austerlitz on December 2, 1805."

In order to don’t forget this battle, and to show you that the battle is very important in Czech Republic, each year, every first Saturday on December there is the re-enactment of historical battle which take place at Slavkov (the name of the town Austerlitz).

You can see in this video, the re-enactment of the battle !    

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lNhCmGDs67g

• Political Sytem in Czech Republic

History:

        After World War II, the political system in Czechoslovakia was greatly affected by the introduction of a Soviet-style Communist regime, as it was in the other countries of central and eastern Europe. The system of power was distorted. After February 1948, the Communist Party became the only autonomous political entity. It allowed a few other parties to exist. however, these parties held no real power and were created to provide an outward image of Czechoslovakia as a democratic state.

        After the revolutionary events of November 1989 which brought about the downfall of the Communist regime, the entire country has had need to rebuild their traditions and democratic political system.

Now, The Czech Republic is a parliamentary democracy. The Constitution of the Czech Republic with the Declaration of Fundamental Rights and Freedoms is the supreme law. In its current version, the Constitution was adopted on December 16, 1992 and took effect on 1 January 1993. This day is the birth of the independent Czech state, which was created after the separation of Czecho-slovakia. The power is divided into legislative (Parliament of the Czech Republic), executive.

• External region conflicts or tensions

Relations with neighbouring countries:

        One of the strengths of the Czech Republic is that it is a politically stable and economically countries. Also it has good relations with its neighbours, such as Germany. She also founded the Visegrad Group in 1991 with Hungary, Poland and Slovakia to defend their interests in the EU.
Thanks to election of the new President, relations between Prague and Brussels should improve. The new president is in favor of the entry of the Czech Republic in the euro area.

        Relations with Russia due to the communist occupation is slowly coming back. Russia is the 5th trade partner of the Czech Republic. The exchanges are mainly centered around the energy sector. The Czech Republic imports from Russia 70% of its oil, 75% of its gas and 100% of its nuclear fuel and mainly exports transport equipment and machinery (80% of total)

 The Czech Republic plans to enter in the euro zone. She could  enjoy the benefits of the EU or NATO.

 At the present, Czech Republic undergoes no particular threat at this time, except in cases of lower European demand.

•  Internal conflicts or tensions

 The socio-economic conditions:

Religions (2012):
Catholics: 10.3%
Protestants: 0.8%
Other and unspecified 54.6%
Without religion: 34.2%

Etnic Pressure:

        Romani people (not confuse with romanians)(Roms in French) in the Czech Republic. It is estimated that 2% of the Czech population belongs to the Romani community. The unemployment rate among adult Romani is 70% while those who have jobs earn 42% of average wage. Czech Republic has several discriminatory practices such as schooling of Romani children in schools for “children with low incidence disabilities”. Despite tensions between Romani and non-Romani, the Czech Republic is considered more tolerant as its neighbours.

        The Czech government has proposed a national strategy from 2011 to 2015 for the inclusion of Roma.

Political corruption:

        The Czech Republic is ranked 54th out of 193 in terms of corruption by the ONG Transparency International.
Corruption is still present in the country (lot of case who involves ministers). For example, there has been a scandal in June 2013 that caused the resignation of the head of government, Petr Necas, after the arrest of its director's office for corruption.

        The weaknesses of the Czech Republic are to have experienced the communist regime and to depend on European demand and the automotive industry.

         Czech Repblic would like to open their markets outside Europe in order to reduce this dependence. Like any developed country, it faces an aging population too. The problem is that according to the study of hard power and soft power, despite a rich and ancient culture, it has very little influence on the outside.

•   Regional political context

Regional geopolitical political context:

        Czech Republic has two large regions: Bohemia (Cechy in Czech) which corresponds to the western part of the Republic (200 inhabitants / km².) And Moravia (Morava in Czech), which corresponds to the eastern part (154 inhab. / km²).

         Today, Czech Republic has 13 regions that make up since 12 November 2000, "regional government", with an elected assembly and executive. The capital, Prague, the 14th region, enjoys a special status that is defined in the Special Law, it gives both the town and the status area.