Hotel Palace 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 ...

... put before him...


The tour starts with the production line - the cleaning of recycled glasses, the airation & subsequent dispensing of beer into glasses and laser scanning of the bottles for imperfections, this was pretty much how it worked for the cans aswell (minus the recycling step).

If I could bore you with all the ...

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.

(76 miles) Slowing ourselves down has really helped us go longer while feeling like we are riding less. Today we entered the Czech Republic and found out that the roads are not as nice and little towns are run down. It's interesting the change. Everything is much cheaper here as well. We find ourselves dodging potholes more and eating out more. However so far I have taken less pictures ...

We finally made it to the Czech Republic after a delightful delay of German bike touring. We waited an extra day to cross the border so that we could early in the day....just in case anything went wonky....only to find the border crossing unmanned. No papers, no stamps, no inspections, no officials, no nada. Czech Rep. is a different world...sorta like going from the US into Mexico, and pretty much what you might expect from Eastern Europe. Pastoral landscapes, small villages, and old ...

... lake, but it was still a beer fairy tale complete with a life-size beer chess board. After taking us down into the basement where beer is still fermented in gigantic wooden kegs we were allowed to try unfiltered and unpasteurized Pilsner Urquell straight from the wooden barrels... it tasted like heaven. With each sip you heard a choir of angels singing, you may think I'm exaggerating but I implore you to go try it for yourself. You ...

... t impressive at all compared to St. Vitus' Cathedral in Prague or St. Barbara's Cathedral in Kutna Hora. Otherwise the city was pretty large and was modernized with tidbits of history interlaced. What made the trip worthwhile was a visit to Pazdroj Brewery where they make Pilsner Urquell. One interesting thing is that SAS Miller (from Milwaukee) owns this brewery! I was able to take a tour of the brewery ...

... time seeing everything but the castle and theater. They don't have any electricity or plumbing so they are closed for the winter. The courtyards, however, are open. We had lunch in the dungeon of an old jail. The lighting was at a minimum and all the rooms were stone with barrel-vaulted ceilings. The lunch was cooked over an open wood fire that you first saw when you entered. We had a wonderful Czech lunch with soup, vegetables, potatoes with sheep cheese, and grilled ...

... On the way to a phone we had tried to get money from Fred's cash card. The machine ate it and he got a message saying: "Contact your banking institution. HOT CARD!" Now we really were nervous! Finally we got the right numbers and cancelled our Visa and Master Cards. We called Joanne at Landmark and she cancelled the cash card. She promised she would have the Landmark cash and credit cards sent to her and she would then express mail them to us in care of ITC. MS didn't have any ...

... few of these suckers, you will know doubt think you are a good lookin bloke, any babe would leap at the chance to rip your clothes off, leave your Viagra at home big boy, the equipment will not miss a beat tonight!" But it continues..."Pilsner Urquell beer also supports the treatment of digestive problems. It has a beneficial effect on kidney functions and it consolidates bone development". By this time i had burst into bouts of hysteric's, why ...