A few differences between Czech Republic and U.S. in no particular order

In no particular order, a few observations:

• Dogs are welcome throughout the city.  Water bowls are provided outside many shops for canine refreshment.
• The main floor of buildings, 1st floor in the U.S., is 0.
• In some office buildings, toilet paper is not provided in individual stalls, but rather is located in a central dispenser mounted on the wall, and you grab some as you go in.  What a time-saver in terms of maintenance, is my thought: one large roll to restock, rather than many.
• Dogs are welcome on the trams and on the Metro.
• There is apparently no equivalent to OSHA:  in the manufacturing sites we visited, workers were without goggles, gloves, and other protective equipment.  Many workers wore open-toed shoes or nonprotective shoes such as Crocs on the factory floor.
• The U.S. is more liability-conscious:  it's difficult for me to imagine that any group of outsiders would be welcome to walk through a factory without signing a waiver, or being issued a hard hat, or being repeatedly reminded not to touch anything, etc. 
• Hotel and some restaurant staff will smile in greeting; otherwise, I have generally found it to be true what Yasha and Kristina had said, that perhaps as a holdover from Communism, Czechs do not smile at strangers.  Certainly, there is a higher initial level of reserve.  Many years ago I had found the same to be true when I worked for a German/Swiss technical and arts publisher (Birkhauser).
• Did I mention about the dogs?     ~ Elisa