Day trip to the Czech Republic (Plzen)

On Saturday, we took a day trip to the Czech Republic. First of all, I never in my life imagined that I would visit the Czech Republic (we have been to Prague too, but just stating a fact). Second, I never in my life imagined that I would live so close, that we could drive for the day there. The border is about 1 and a half hours from our house. Our destination was a city called Plzen - where the original Pils Beer came from. O.K. - I know it sounds bad - last weekend I was in France in the Champagne region and this weekend we were on the opposite border in Czech at the Pils Capital of the world - but when you have the opportunity to go there though - it is crazy not to take advantage :-). So...we went with 4 kids (our 3 and our adopted 2nd son - Camden's best friend). We went first to the Pilzen Urquell Plant to take a tour of the manufacturing plant. The kids were not very excited, but ended up really enjoying the tour. As part of the tour, they actually allowed us in to see the plant and watch the bottles being; recycled (washed), checked for defects, and then refilled. It reminded me of Laverne and Shirley (remember...they worked at a bottling plant?). They also brought us down into the beer cellars which was really cool. After leaving there, we parked in the middle of the city and walked around a bit. We saw the 3rd largest Jewish Synagogue in the world - along with a a photo of the devastation to the Jews during the war :-( - so horrific. We discovered quickly that in Czech - with the exception of one or two stores, everything is closed in the afternoon on Saturday (a bit different). The Cathedral tower was still open though, and we were able to get a great over view of the entire city. It ended up being a really fun day. The weather was perfect and kids enjoyed themselves too (which is always a plus :-). Definitely a fun day and would highly recommend it as a day trip to visitors!

Our running joke is to try to get the border crossing photo. Bryan did a good job this time, but it is always comical trying to snap the photo at the right exact moment :-.

One of the signs from the highway.... I think this is a famous Czech Water?

Pilsner Urquell

Taste testing from the gift shop :-)

a little bit of American Football before the tour (it was funny because a few tourists took pictures of the kids playing)

The famous entry into the plant....

Lots of old kegs

This was super cool - we watched the the process of the bottling plant - amazing to see so many bottles filled so quickly... We could see the workers checking for defects, lazers scanning for defects, bottles being filled etc...

The kids really enjoyed watching the process in the plant.. (in Ireland, they wouldn't let tourists into the plant, but here it was allowed )- really cool

They allowed us to taste the samples of Barley, Malt, and Hops. The Barley and Malt was very good, but the hops was disgusting... Camden is an extremely picky eater , but after a little reluctance sampled it also...

This is the old brewing area....

The cellars were really neat...

This was the man that invented Pils. The funny thing is - he is from Bavaria, and was only in Czech for a short time. Czech gets the credit, even though he was from Bavaria - too funny! After he went back to Bavaria, he opened up a little brauerei (brewery) there.

These barrels were actually were being used - and filled to the rim...

This was adorable..this was the man that filled the cups at the end of the tour. He even had a cup for himself (only in Europe). Not a bad job to have!!!