Hotel Ulrika Karlovy Vary

... part of the plant but one line was running so we saw the bottles scuttle past on their way to being filled.

We wound our way through the plant and saw a multimedia presentation on the brewing of Pilsner Urquell. They mash it or boil it three times which is unusual. They also hop it three times. Using Saaz hops from the region. A few years ago, there were several natural hops ...

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.

Today I went to Karlovy Vary in an orginized tour, which was nice, though I went up the mountain and almost missed the train down and held up the whole group. Got back at night and went to the Bodies exhibition and then to an Irish pub, where I had baily's and a good big oily dinner.

... the rafters with bikers (the area appears to be popular for motorcycling) but had simple good food, so we shuffled into a spare spot on a table and had lunch. Back in Prague, my last Saturday night here (sob), we decided to lash out and have a fancy pants dinner at a restaurant on the hill facing the city, just below the observation tower. We caught the funicular there, and had a really nice dinner...oh and were able to take more nighttime shots of the castle ;-)

... and architecture. We could have spent hours just examining all the detail. I want to come back someday when I have money to take all of the guided tours and visit all of the museums. After that, we had planned on visiting the beer gardens, but it got too cold and so we just chilled and enjoyed our new friends at the hostel. TTYL

Arrived in Karlstejn on the "City Elephant" train at 1.20pm and walked 2km to the Karlstejn Castle. Went on the 2.30pm English tour of the castle which took about an hour. No photography allowed inside the castle. Took in the views over the town before walking back to the train station and catching the train back to Prague.

... Meg and I went and met up with Taylor, Linda, and Jennifer. There was a dinner provided and we had to pay for drinks, and it was FREEZING! As I am sure most of you know, my clothing choices are not always weather appropriate. I am going to leave it at that. The second the boat docked, Megen, Jennifer and I bolted for the tram. I guess the party on the boat kept going until like 1 am or something. There were two reasons for leaving; 1. We were very cold 2. Megen and ...

... I could say that about. And I know I said that Budapest might have the largest ratio of gorgeous buildings to others than anywhere I have been, but Prague blows Budapest so far out of the water, I don't know how I could have even said it in the first place (Budapest is beautiful still but no contest). Everywhere you go all gorgeous buildings and architecture. It has to be like 95% of the buildings here. I love it. Not sure what the style is(what is Baroque anyway?) but ...

... t know, Marty had his wallet stolen out of his front pants pocket two days after we arrived. We were on the tram. The men were so adept that we didn't know the wallet was gone until we got home and started emptying our pockets. No money lost, but credit cards, phone numbers, driver's license, insurance card, etc. We were able to get the cards cancelled quickly enough so that we had no losses. Through our friend BG, we have been introduced to a woman who wants tutoring in ...

When we arrived in Prague we were greeted and approached by several hotel/hostel representatives... Despite our initial apprehension, we chose to go with an old lady named Jana (pronounced Yana)simply because she had kind eyes. (Of course she didn't speak English) but she was friendly and paid for our subway ride into the city. (We had no cash and the lines for the bank-machines in the train terminal were very long so, she insisted on paying for us. A nice touch.) In Prague, we were ...