June 11, 2016
I'm lucky enough to get a paid work trip to Prague every year, to deliver training. Although I enjoy walking around the city and doing touristy things, I'm getting a bit snobby about the crowds there. There are waaaaay too many people on the Prague streets in the summer; literally billions of tourists (yes, "literally", in the American definition of the word, which means "not literally"). So this year I thought to try something I hadn't done before: leave the city and visit the birthplace of Pilsner beer.
They brewed the first blond lager ever, a beer known as Pilsner now, in the town of Plzen. Pilsner style beer makes up over half of the beer in the world now, though with literally billions of microbreweries around the world, that will probably change. Plzen was part of the Austrian Empire when it started brewing Pilsner in 1842, but generally the city had been brewing beer since the 13th century. The word Urquell comes from German, meaning "ancient source". I still can't figure out how to pronounce it, because some say "Ur-KELL" (like Steve Urkel's alter ego), while others say "ur-kwell". It was hard to clearly distinguish the pronunciation of the word during the brewery tour, because they all said it in a quick Czech accent. Maybe nobody actually knows how to say it, so they say it quickly on purpose. So I've adopted the method of coughing when saying it: Pilsner Urq-COUGH-ell.
Plzen is a pretty small town, but nice to walk around for the day. In addition to the brewery tour which showed us how they make the beer, we also did the underground city tour, exploring some of the 8 km of cellars used for storage of food and beer, as well as for protection from medieval invasions. My favorite part was the giant refrigerator room, in which they dumped ice to cool the beers. Smart people!
That's enough facts and history...here are some pics.
We also spent a day in Prague, of course, and this time paid money to access the "Golden Lane" near the castle. I had never been before because I'm super cheap and don't pay money to walk down a street, but I made an exception to impress Zosia (she was impressed!). The street is where the alchemists supposedly lived during the 15th/16th century. The houses are super small and now consist of shops and museums.
The rest of Prague, well, you've seen it before. Here are a couple more pics.
I'm lucky enough to get a paid work trip to Prague every year, to deliver training. Although I enjoy walking around the city and doing touristy things, I'm getting a bit snobby about the crowds there. There are waaaaay too many people on the Prague streets in the summer; literally billions of tourists (yes, "literally", in the American definition of the word, which means "not literally"). So this year I thought to try something I hadn't done before: leave the city and visit the birthplace of Pilsner beer.
They brewed the first blond lager ever, a beer known as Pilsner now, in the town of Plzen. Pilsner style beer makes up over half of the beer in the world now, though with literally billions of microbreweries around the world, that will probably change. Plzen was part of the Austrian Empire when it started brewing Pilsner in 1842, but generally the city had been brewing beer since the 13th century. The word Urquell comes from German, meaning "ancient source". I still can't figure out how to pronounce it, because some say "Ur-KELL" (like Steve Urkel's alter ego), while others say "ur-kwell". It was hard to clearly distinguish the pronunciation of the word during the brewery tour, because they all said it in a quick Czech accent. Maybe nobody actually knows how to say it, so they say it quickly on purpose. So I've adopted the method of coughing when saying it: Pilsner Urq-COUGH-ell.
Plzen is a pretty small town, but nice to walk around for the day. In addition to the brewery tour which showed us how they make the beer, we also did the underground city tour, exploring some of the 8 km of cellars used for storage of food and beer, as well as for protection from medieval invasions. My favorite part was the giant refrigerator room, in which they dumped ice to cool the beers. Smart people!
That's enough facts and history...here are some pics.
Not sure what this means...no lederhosen allowed?
Ignoring lunch while making picks for the Euro 2016 soccer tourney
Still making Euro picks (this is before Pokemon GO)
She can't wait to go back above ground for the internet connection
Plzen center
Gate into the Pilsner Urquell brewery
The main brewery
They have a different production line for re-used bottles
Probably spitting in the beer
Cool (both in temperature and hipness) cellars under the city
Trying some fresh beer straight from the barrel
We also spent a day in Prague, of course, and this time paid money to access the "Golden Lane" near the castle. I had never been before because I'm super cheap and don't pay money to walk down a street, but I made an exception to impress Zosia (she was impressed!). The street is where the alchemists supposedly lived during the 15th/16th century. The houses are super small and now consist of shops and museums.
Golden Lane in Prague
The rest of Prague, well, you've seen it before. Here are a couple more pics.
Water and beer are the same price
Prague is beautiful, even with the crowds
Of course these beers with straws belonged to Polish girls (for real!)
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