Spa Hotel Svoboda Marianske Lazne

... and sauerkraut. Didn't really care for the dumplings and sauerkraut but the goulash soup was great.

Then on to the brewery. Pilsner Urquell has been purchased by a conglomerate, the South African Brewers or SAB but Pilsner Urquell has also become their flagship as it is such a good beer. It was our misfortune to be there on a day when they were cleaning the lines in the bottling and ...

... 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.

... Chodovar brewery. Beer spa? Yes, beer spa, where you can drink it, bathe in it, and get wrapped up in it, which is precisely what we did. We made an appointment for a two person bath, and when we arrived at the spa, we were told to undress completely and were led to our own little curtained off area in a big, brick, vaulted room. There were other curtained off single baths and another double, all full with beer-soaked people. Ours was stainless steel tub so big it rivaled ...

... paper anywhere on the train - only sandpaper-type paper towels - what a special treat. Every time Laurie got up she told Ryan, in his dead sleep stupor, that he was "in charge" to keep an eye on the door to ward off the thieves and all was good. The train broke down about 15 min outside of the train station and they attempted to "change a tire' - it was comical. We pulled into the train station at 7:40am and eventually found our ...

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.

... like 4 hours. It was nice, in a sad, lonely, pathetic sort of way. But that is just how I roll I guess. On Sunday, I slept in until like noon. I got up and got my favorite breakfast from Bohemia Bagel, "Chef Glenda's Morning Special." It includes two eggs over easy, hash browns, three strips of bacon, and a mini bagel. I like to do the Huck Finn thing and mix it all up into a disgusting blob, then I douse it in Tabasco and shovel the mess into my mouth. Washing it down with ...

... were raucous school groups all over the place. Of course, all of that walking, climbing, and dodging gaggles of teenagers put us in the mood for some good Czech beer. Since there seems to be a beer hall on every corner, that craving was easily satisfied. You may notice, by the way, that I've mentioned beer in all two of my posts so far! After lunch, we checked out St ...

... They came here to take a Teaching English as a Foreign Language course. Now they are doing some English tutoring and enjoying travels around Europe. It was great to see them, but it seemed strange to be together in such an unfamiliar place. They shepherded us through the Metro, the very efficient subway system, and to their beautiful apartment, the best living quarters we have been in since we came to Europe. December 21 On a Sunday morning all four of us took the Metro to St ...

... for 14.5Kc ($.58). The small, family owned restaurants are amazing. We enjoy the food, although trying to decipher the menus can be a real challenge. The larger ones in City Centre have English translations but the small ones don't. Much of the food is fried and heavy on the cheese. They love to stuff pork, chicken, and beef cutlets. They stuff them with pickles, mushrooms, ham, bacon, cheese, you name it. Delicious! Soups are fantastic! You can get a meal with a half litre of ...