3rd project workshop information
Date: 21 – 24 October 2010, Olomouc, Czech Republic
Actual meeting days: 22nd and 23rd October
Arrival day: 21st October
Departure Day: 24th October
Topic: Creativity and motivation in teaching maths, science and technology
- Workshop materials:
- Workshop agenda (updated) (871.47 KiB)
- Parallel workshops annotations (1.03 MiB)
- Krzysztof's materials (English/Spain):
- Basic numeracy Revision/revision_aritmetica_basica (472.83 KiB)
- Calculating ratios in cooking (1.45 MiB)
- Management meeting agenda draft (850.1 KiB)
- Meals (please, let us know about any diets, e.g. vegetarian, diabetes, etc.)
- Friday lunch: beef broth with noodles, fried fish fillet with mashed potatoes, drink
- Menu for Friday dinner (946.68 KiB)
- Saturday lunch: chicken soup with vegetables and noodles, chicken breast with ham and cheese, boiled potatoes, sponge cake with fruit
- Menu for Saturday dinner (947.91 KiB)
- Price estimate (1 EUR approx 24 – 25 CZK)
- ESTIMATE(!) of expenditures during workshop (34.88 KiB)
Thanks to Krzysztof the workshop has its Facebook page 
.
Location
The city
Olomouc (102 thousand inhabitants) is one of the most important cities in the Czech Republic. Due to its rich history, time-honoured university, culture and crafts traditions, but above all its central location in Moravia, Olomouc has always been an attractive location for tourists, merchants, and businesspeople.
More details (in English, German, French and Spanish) available at Olomouc-tourism server.
Workshop place
The workshops and most project activities will be held in our new faculty building.
Google maps location (the building is new and is in a satellite map):
Travelling to Olomouc
Our town is about 250 km away from Prague and Vienna.
Via Prague
There is a straight train connection from Prague to Olomouc with an average one express train each hour during a day. Therefore we suppose it might be suitable to use public transport. As the motorway takes a longer way than train, we think we cannot save time by arranging a special bus taking you from the airport to Olomouc; if there is a general agreement you would prefer that, we can order a bus. The public transport also gives an opportunity to spend some extra time (or even a night) in Prague to those who might be interested.
The traffic at the airport is organised in the way, that flights from/to the NON-Schengen countries go through the terminal 1, flights from/to Schengen countries through the newer terminal 2. Both terminals are in fact connected and it is possible to walk from one to the other.
According to the latest information, Ryanair will stop its Prague flights by the end of this October because of high airport taxes. If this is relevant for You, please consult this company.
From the airport to the railway station
There is a straight bus connection (AIRPORT EXPRESS – AE line) from the airport to the railway station operating every 30 minutes at 50 CZK (aprox 2 euro), you pay to the driver. The railway station “Praha hlavní nádraží (hl. n.)” (Prague main station) is the final stop of the bus, so it cannot be missed. The bus stops at the airport are outside the arrivals/departures halls.
- Timetable in PDF (Praha, hl.n. = railway station, Praha letiště = Prague airport)
From Prague to Olomouc by train
The basic price of the train is 310 CZK (aprox. 12.4€) in 2nd class, which is considered as standard (1st class price is about 50% higher), there is a group discount (“Skupinová sleva”) up to 30 persons in the 2nd class, under which one person pays the full price and all the others half price. Normal express travel time is travel time is 2h 45min - 3 hours, with a supercity (SC) train 2h 15 minutes; there is a supercity extra charge (200 CZK = aprox 8€) including seat reservation. For other trains the seat reservation cost is 70 CZK (aprox 2.8€). If you let us know the time of your arrival, we can wait for you at the station and help you with the way to your accommodation. Please note, that Olomouc is not the terminal station of the trains (mostly the terminal stations are Bohumín or Ostrava for Supercity, Bohumín, Luhačovice, Veselí nad Moravou, Vsetín, Zlín, Český Těšín or Žilina for the other fast trains); Olomouc is listed as among “via” station both on the information panels and near the carriages doors.
Timetables:
- Prague → Olomouc (1.36 MiB)
- Olomouc → Prague (1.46 MiB)
- Electronic timetable (there is a link for a German version at the bottom of the page)
Via Vienna
If some partners find a better flight connection to Vienna, we will organise the transport for them.
The price for a minibus to Prague /Vienna should be comparable with the price for the bus in Portugal.
By car
This might be interesting for our British, Romanian and maybe German partners.
Please note, that in each case the motorway goes through Brno (i.e. you go via Prague, Brno from the west or the north, or via Budapest, Slovak capital Bratislava and Brno from the south).
The motorway can be used with a special stamp (coupon) (“dálniční známka”), the cheapest variant is for 250,-CZK (approx. 10€) valid for 10 days (for the car weight ≤ 3,5 tonnes). It is available (e,g.) at petrol stations and post offices and should be fixed at right bottom corner of the front window. The penalisation (if the police stops you without this coupon) is 5000,-CZK (approx. 200€).
Accommodation
Hotel Sigma
We have reserved accommodation in renewed (better quality) rooms in the three star Sigma hotel, which is located 10 minutes walk from our faculty (our workshop place) and 75 metres from the railway station (once You get out from the railway station You can see the hotel in front of you behind the trams and municipal buses stops). They provide us 15% discount, which means
- 1520 CZK (60 EUR) for 2 people in double bed room for one night (i.e. 30 EUR per person per one night)
- 1300 CZK (52 EUR) for a single room for one night
Breakfast is included, TV, phone, shower and WC in every room.
Our reservation under these conditions is valid till 15th July 2010. Please, do not make your own reservations individually. All we need are the names and room-sharing preferences (if you have any) (mail these data to Lukas: lrichterek@gmail.com). Do not be afraid about receipts – you will pay individually (or as a national group) at the place.
University hostel
For those who would prefer cheap accommodation we can offer our student
hostel 150 m far away from our faculty where the workshops will be held at
310 CZK (12.4 euro) per person per one night. All together there are 66 beds available in case of in-time reservation (till 30th June).
Again, there is no need to do your reservation individually, all we need are the names and room-sharing preferences (if you have any) (mail these data to Lukas: lrichterek@gmail.com). Do not be afraid about receipts – you will pay individually.
The accommodation does not include any meal, that we can arrange separately (or can be bought in the student canteen nearby). The rooms are arranged in “cell system” (two rooms for 3 and one for 2 persons have a shower and a toilet together), there is no TV available. It is possible to arrange free wired internet connection for each room (but we have to order it in advance for you). Free internet will be available during workshop in our faculty building as well.
Currency
Please note that the Czech republic is not in Eurozone, the official currency used in the Czech Republic is the Czech crown (“Koruna česká” in Czech) which has the international abbreviation CZK; the situation will not change till October. The ratio is about 1€ = 25 CZK. Credits cards (Visa, Master) are accepted at many places, it is possible to change at the airport, railway stations or other places, or to use bankomats. There should be no problems to change euros or British pounds, at some (not all) places it is possible to change Romanian new leu and Turkish new lira (in Olomouc from 8 to 19 o'clock on week days and till 14 o'clock on Saturdays). Banks are closed on Saturdays and Sundays.
It is possible to check up-to-date exchange rates for you:
Weather
Unfortunately, we cannot arrange the weather, but the October is not extremely cold, sometimes we even enjoy “Indian summer” with trees in many colours. There is a very low probability of snow (perhaps with the exception of the highest mountains, which is not the case of our town). Long time average temperature is about 10 centigrades, with the maxima at about 20 degrees and minima around zero.
Local weather forecast:
Electricity
Electricity AC in the Czech Republic is 230 volts. Plug and socket sizes are very similar to those in the rest of continental Europe, so German, Spain and Portugal (probably also Romanian) appliances should be compatible without any reductions or adapters.
