Hostel River Plzen

... plus a large hop warehouse fire and the worldwide hop supply was dwindling while growers had to replant. Now the hops are back and it isn’t quite a crisis anymore.

We are finally down to the cellars after going past the large copper covered tanks where the beer is mashed and hops added. Down here we are treated to a new beer. It has not yet been filtered and pasteurized but boy is ...

I seemed to have developed a taste for beer on this trip (partly b/c it's too hot to drink wine!!) and no tour to Czech republic would be complete with a tour of the Pilsner Urquell brewery...


The town of Pilsner is fairly nondescript (ie/ it has no redeeming features, other than a summer installation of a pilsner beer garden and a bouncy ...

Today we went to the Pilsner Urquell brewery in Plzen. Pilsner, the type of beer, originated here, where Pilsner Urquell was brewed from local crops and local mineral water. The tour was awesome. We saw the traditional brew kettles and the modern ones, as well as a very modern new packaging plant. We also tasted some unpastuerized beer directly from fermenting barrels.

... we camped at this weird, seemingly abandoned hotel. After we ride miles out of our way to get there this lady tells me in broken few words and mostly hand gestures that we can't stay there it's only for people of an association. I'm not sure if it was my puppy dog eyes or my deadly looks but in the end she let us camp out back. It was kinda weird because we were the only ones there.

... nipped in the bud. Czech is a whole different ball game. Like cricket. It sorta resembles something familiar, but you soon realize everything is differnt. Differnt field, different rules, different variations on familiar things. Even the liquid refreshment is different ...rather than breaking the action for tea, they break for beer here. And sadly, I have NEVER figured out cricket. Perhaps the beer will do the trick and I will eventually remember how to say hello without my crib notes.

... I may have also mentioned that I don't like pork). It didn't end well... Anyway, after a fitfull nights sleep, today we set off exploring the city of Plzen. Unfortunately the Plzen underground (Plzen has a huge network of underground passages under the city centre built in the 15 century) is closed due to a burst water main and once you have looked at the city centre (about 3x4 blocks) there is not a lot more to be seen. The town square and ...

... plied us with food and alcohol (particularly me, since I had nothing to contribute to the conversation!). The kids parroted the English phrases they knew (hilariously one kid knew only 'central heating') as we sat out in the yard. It was a gloriously warm day and it felt very much like an Aussie backyard BBQ, except that the beer was in plastic bottles. The next port of call was Andrew's grandparents, who live in a home just out of Pilsen ...

... name which we had been told had relation to the Kautsky family, the name was Kravohlova. The cemetery was situated on the edge of a hill in a beautiful location. It was wonderful to walk along and think that some of my past family may have walked in these same places, or attended these same churches. From this point we found another church nearby called Kostel Svate Ludmily. This church was built in honor of an early Czech martyr named Saint Ludmily. Ludmilla was also the ...

... walk to the bus in about five minutes and to the metro in about 8 minutes. Driving and parking are a nightmare and I'm glad we don't have a car. You know what, we don't even miss it! We are 5-8 minutes walk from the meat markets, the delis, the greengrocers, and the supermarkets. You have to take your own bag or buy one. I'm finally in the habit of throwing one into my coat pocket when we leave the apartment. There are little convenience stores on almost every block. They don't ...

... members make about $40,000 per year. 28 October-Tuesday We spent the morning studying our Czech. MS spoke with BG Hess. She is the woman who was an exchange student with the Wiemeri's (the people who live across the lake from us. She asked us to join her and her husband at their new house and then have a late lunch. On the way to the house MS hit an uneven part of the pavement and went down. No damage except a scrape on the right knee. The house BG and her husband have ...