Plzen, home of Pilsner Urquell (and some Amanns too!)

It seems crazy to think that one week ago today we were on the train back from Budapest and Bratislava getting ready for our day trip to Plzen with our school group (CEA). While this post is a week late, here is the update for our trip.

Sunday morning was gross! Chilly and rainy, Hillary and I showed up at the rendezvous point on time to find no one else there on time. Not even CEA staff... Not impressed. About ten minutes after we were scheduled to depart everyone showed up, including the bus. As we all packed on to the huge tour bus for our hour long trip West to Plzen, I was pretty excited to see the city of my ancestors and pretty nervous to be forced to try Pilsner Urquell.

After a cat nap and some music, we rolled into the brewery where we entered the visitors center and divided into two groups of about 20 students. From there, we departed to the packaging plant where we watched the beer gets bottled and packed (reminded me of the many coke plants I have seen). After explaining that the plant (built in 2002 and state of the art) was capable of making something like 120,000 bottles and cans of beer an hour! Pilsner is a brand of SABMiller which produces a ton of beer all over the world (MGD in the states- and maybe others).

From the packing plant, we went to the brewhouse where we were invited to taste barley and hops. Barley tasted like any other grain to me, so not a big deal. Hops, on the other hand, was nasty. Smelling it and tasting it were two of the worst decisions I have made so far on this trip. Luckily, we moved on quickly to see some more historic artifacts related to the brewing and creation of the beer way back when. Standing in juxtaposition to one another were the old and new brewhouses where we could see how they mixed the liquids that become their beer. The vessels to hold and mix the beer were enormous copper machines.

From there, the beer must be chilled and stored, so down to the cellar we went! The cellar was an immense underground tunnel maze that was nearly 9 kilometers long! We only only saw a portion of the cellar, but got the impression that the storing of this beer took a lot of space and was serious business. Before long, we found ourselves in front of some massive barrels- which an employee tapped for our enjoyment. The result was unfiltrated (thats what they kept calling it) Pilsner. I had only one word for it: Disgusting. I severely struggled to finish my small cup of 8 ounces before we headed into the brewery beer hall for lunch.

The beer hall- the biggest in Bohemia (seating 550 people)- was a restaurant called Na Spilce (pronounced Na Spilt-suh). Immediately, we were greeted with a hug glass of fresh Pilsner and about twenty minutes later, some potato soup. The soup was delicious, and helped me start the beer. For my main course, I had traditional Czech goulash with three types of dumplings (bread, potato, and some other one we could not identify). The food was delicious, and during the meal, I struggled to down my beer by chasing each sip with some food to make up for the taste. After the main course, I asked for a Coke to help bring my palate something it could tolerate. For dessert we were brought pancakes with apple, whipped cream, and chocolate sauce. Usually I would have been all over that meal, but I was so stuffed and the chocolate was too dark for me so I tasted in and decided my caloric intake for the day had been met.

After lunch, we wandered through the gift shop. I bought a 1L mug with the Pilsner name on it. The huge mug was less than $6 and definitely worth it.

From the brewery, we were bussed into the city center. We visited the Namesti Republiky (the main square) and the Cathedral of St. Bartholomew. A quick talk and we walked on to see the New Synagogue (the third largest in the world). The synagogue was gorgeous, though it only has a current membership of about 70 and is no longer used for services because heating it is too expensive.

On the way out, we passed the JK Tyl theater, walking toward the Liberation Monument thanking America for aiding in the liberation of Plzen during World War II. In my mind it was a huge mistake to bring 40 some odd semi-tipsy American college students there. Upon seeing the monument say "Thank you America!" the students began shouting "You're welcome, Plzen" and singing songs of American Pride. Needless to say, I was thoroughly embarrassed and wanted to leave quickly. Luckily the opportunity presented itself, and Hillary and I booked it back to the bus to secure our seats.

An hour later, we were back in Prague. Home again.

While the weekend was a whirlwind, seeing three cities in one weekend, it was a ton of fun and proved to Hillary and I that we were going to have the time of our lives being able to have so much flexibility and explore everything together.