007 for a day

So I was in this office complex this morning, meeting a pair of new clientelle for the Caledonian School. Since I was early, I took my sweet time walking around the foyer and (after swiping an ID card given to me by the receptionist) walking up the stairs to enjoy the view out the all-glass façade of the multistory building.

Waaaiiit a minute... these stairs... and this façade... a bit familiar, no? Have I seen this building before?

Indeed I have! After a bit of digging on the internet (most helpfully, this site), my suspicions were confirmed. This was the very location - the "Danube House", Karolinská 650/1 - in which the opening scenes of Casino Royale take place. I climbed the very same stairs that James Bond himself presumably climbed before confronting and assassinating Dryden.

So there you have it. Twice a week I get to feel like James Bond. Hopefully my students will continue to make steady improvements; otherwise I might have to "encourage" them with a silenced Walther P99. :-)

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UPDATE (23 Sept): I should point out that the Danube house wasn't the only filming location used in Casino Royale; another scene takes place in the interior of the Národní muzeum, which I've already visited, and the Strahov Monastery, which I haven't yet visited (but hopefully will before long). The Danube House location is however the only location that was actually supposed to be in Prague (and not representing, for example, a posh Venetian hotel or a British governmental building).