Today was our last day in the Czech Republic. We were awoken by the door buzzer as a construction crew was going flat to flat trying to find out who parked their blue Skoda in the no parking spot out front. They needed to bring in their big crane and couldn’t get it through. We were driving a blue Skoda. To the other residents of Podvinny Mlyn 16, we are sorry for waking you up.
Our friend J.C. not only woke up this morning to the sound of the door buzzer, but also with a nasty cold so we decided to have a low-key day and forgo our hour and a half trip to Kunta Horna to see the bone church. Maybe next trip. Instead, Doug and I ventured back to the center of Prague to visit the Museum of Communism. We’ve been fascinated this whole trip with the personal stories people we’ve met have conveyed to us of their experiences living under the Communist regime. It was interesting to see an entire collection of items and stories about the 41 year Communist rule. We would highly recommend the museum to anyone who has an hour or two to spend in Prague’s center.
For lunch, we stopped at the Plzeňská Restaurace at the historic Obercnîm Domě. The restaurant was at time Pilsner’s Urquell’s largest beer hall in Prague. It has beautiful Art Nouveau architecture and traditional Czech food. It’s a bit pricy compared to the other traditional Czech meals we’ve had, but the ambiance is really nice and the food was great.
After the lunch, J.C. picked us up at a nearby metro station and took us about 30 minutes east to her weekend cottage in the Czech National Forest. A lot of Czechs keep a weekend or summer cottage which is handed down from generation to generation. The cottages are small and very rustic. Perfect to decompress after a busy week of working in the city.
Back in the city we prepared to fly home tomorrow and reflected on our experiences in the Czech Republic. For starters, we sampled 31 different beers totaling about 30 liters. Every beer we had, with the exception of an accidental non-alcoholic Radagast and a skunky bottled Budvar, has been excellent. Doug and I both agree that the B.B. Bürgerbraü strong dark lager was our all-around favorite. Straight from the lagering vessel in the cellars of the brewery, this beer had the most intensive malt flavor with wonderful smoked peat notes.
All along the way, we’ve been mapping out how we would plan the itinerary for the official May 2008 beer tour. The one thing we plan on adding that we didn’t get a chance to do on this expedition is a trip to a hop farm to see how hops are grown and harvested. We can say that this fact-finding mission has been a complete success. Our immersion in the Czech culture has taught us a lot that will come in great use when trying to lead a group of 20 beer enthusiasts around the Czech Republic.
See the last of our photos.
Na zdravÃ!