Hotel Plzen

... of old time beer making equipment, and beer bottling equipment and capping. We also got a small coin which was used in payment in olden times. Workers with this coin were entitled to a beer. We turned in our coins to get a nice beer. As we were running behind, our guide asked if it was ok for us to eat here as well. We each got a nice bread bowl full of goulash soup and then a plate of bread ...

... I would - as they were pretty impressive, but then you all know how to use google!!<br> <br><br>We then had a tour of the fermentation tanks and details of the vital ingreadients (water, malt, special yeast and bacteria...). The tour concluded in obvious fashion - with a taster straight from the keg, poured by the most photographed man in Plzen!!<br>

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.<br>

(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 ...

... charm, but with a patina of decay, the legacy of communism and several subsequent political unheavals. This country has one of the most fascinating political histories and we look forward to learning more as we explore. We are already crashing our way through Slavic Languages 101. I was getting a little cocky in Germany, where I was starting to get by pertty well after only a week, because there are enough similarities to English to start connecting dots. Well, THAT has certainly ...

... time mind you) giving me an uncomfortable stare along with several stray dogs scavenging in the garbage. I was nearly in tears because of the lack. We were staying at Solni Pension located right in the center of town; however the train station is at least 1km from the town square. We had no idea which direction we were supposed to walk in and there was no one in sight to ask for directions, minus the drunken men. While wandering ...

... attention to key engineering details like capacity, throughput, process descriptions etc. The facility was pretty cool. It has 124 fermentation tanks each with a capacity of 2,500 hecto-liters (hecto is 100). The filling rate for bottles is 60,000 per hour and for cans, 38,000 per hour. The yearly throughput is 1.8 million hector-liters of beer, but the brewery can increase capacity up to 2.8 million ...

... 6 in Brno and 50 at ITC. Each of us was able to pick up some good points. Klugs left at noon on Friday and we went to the supermarket and came home. FM picked up a nasty cold, so we are hoping that spending Friday and Saturday at home will help him feel better. We finally got to see the famous carp markets. They sprang up all over town about seven days before Christmas. Carp is a favorite Christmas meal here. They farm them all over the Republic. The small markets are ...

... amassing. Dinner at the small café across the street. Delicious, very hot goulash with bread dumplings and beer. Cheap. About $7.00. Home for a game of Scrabble (MS won) and to bed about 9:30. Third day impressions: Housing is expensive but not as much as Chicago or NYC. Real estate investing seems the way to go. Red hair is definitely in. The small neighborhood cafés are very friendly. It's wonderful not having radio or TV. (MS saying this. FM is in withdrawl.) The only news we ...

... earth don't they write what we all know it really means.....if you haven't had a enema lately, you will have done so by the morning. By the way, i hope you didn't expect to get lucky tonight, cause frequent stops to the loo is a real conversation stopper. Finally when you leave the pub in the wee hours of the morning, crash to the ground in a drunken stupor, don't worry about those broken bones, you won't have felt a bloody thing. Maybe the ...