Hotel Victoria 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.

(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 ...

... quite a hangover, we found out that the Solni Pension was sold out for the day, a fact that would have been nice to know before hand. So we quickly ate the breakfast of bread and vegetables and wandered around until we found a room at Pension City. We met this cool kid named Thomas who works at the pension a couple of days a week; he had nothing but hilarious words coming out of his mouth... "What do I think of the EU? ****ing EU ...

... the tour.. the beer tasting. They gave us unpasteurized, unfiltered Pilsner. Had a more unique taste then the usual stuff you get at the pubs.. and was definitely worth a taste. (in other words.. normally the beer will be pasteurized using Flash Boiling technique.. a very high temperature and short timed pasteurization technique.. and unfiltered, meaning the yeast -- used ...

... Best of all, the staff were really relaxed - no packing up the breakfast at 5 past 10, it just kind of sat there until everyone had had their fill. There's also safety deposit boxes at reception and a cage to put your luggage in after you've checked out. Five minute walk to old town square, supermarket round the corner (you can also cook at the hostel) and clubs, bars etc. all within easy walking distance.

... 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 ...