Prague's Expensive? More Than LA, so they say! -Updated

Prague isn't a business or banking capital. For that, go to London or Zurich.
Prague isn't famous for its cuisine or fashion (by a longshot). Maybe visit Paris.

No, people come to Prague for the architecture, the old streets and sights.

But they're not coming anymore. It's too damned expensive. Streets are empty now. Locals are on vacation elsewhere ...and so are the foreigners, if they're traveling at all.

Why? According to this study, Prague has become the world's 8th most expensive city to live in -even more expensive than Los Angeles. Sidenote: where is New York City on this list??

Who's fault is it? Popular opinion: the Czech currency. It's a double-whammy: prices are going up (as anywhere) and the currency is growing too fast, against both the Euro and $US.

When the Jeffs came to apartment shop 2 years ago last month, a dollar converted to 22 Czech crowns (and a Euro got you nearly 29 crowns).

Today, it's down to 15 per dollar and under 24 per Euro. Scary thing is, very recently, the Czech Finance Banking Guy (~ US Fed Reserve Chairman) issued a strong warning that the Czech crown's strength isn't based on a equally strong economy - there will be a correction.
This isn't about a falling dollar. It's about a bubbling crown. A big, scary bubble of a crown.

Anymore, Maylia and Jeff (usually) think of costs in crowns. It makes sense, since we both earn & spend in Czech crowns, right? But we sometimes we experience a little culture shock when we convert to dollars.
Example: Jeff went to McDonald's and they charged 10 crowns for a ketchup packet.
Not much, unless you convert it to US$: 70 cents.
That's shocking 3 times - they charge for ketchup, they charge so much and Jeff visits McDonalds. Maybe the last one isn't so shocking.

As for prices increasing, everyone is experiencing the same, so it's more depressing than dramatic - not blog worthy.

For anyone reading this, please do not mail us any ketchup packets. That wasn't the point.