Marianske Lazne (aka Marienbad)

GOT into Mariánské Lázně - formerly Marienbad - last night for an event on the CzechTour that I have not previously attended.
The weather forecast during the tournament is for a high of -2C, but with no snow (falling - there is plenty on the ground) and little wind-chill.
The place, which is in west Bohemia, was founded by German settlers, becoming a famous spa with the name of Marienbad in the 1800s, which is also when it officially received its charter as a town.
It was renowned for attracting royalty and was the site of a widely publicised meeting in 1904 between Britain's King Edward VII and Austria-Hungary's Emperor Franz Joseph.
Marienbad became part of the new state of Czechoslovakia after World War One, getting its Czech name of Mariánské Lázně, and German speakers were expelled following World War Two.

Mariánské Lázně's Church of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary

The communist coup of 1948 led to the town being closed to most foreign tourists, but this policy was reversed with the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 and the coming of democracy.
Today, judging by café menus and signage around the town, most visitors speak - apart from Czech - German or Russian.
I was warned very few people would speak English, but, as I suspected, this has proved false, although it has to be said locals have tended to reflexively say "danke schön" when I hold a door open or do some other little kindness.
It is early days, or rather early hours (as I type this, I have not quite been in town for 24 hours), so impressions may easily change.
But I am enjoying myself so far and the chess - I am playing in the Seniors - got off to a reasonable start today when with Black I beat a 1625, although I can hardly claim to have played particularly well.