I'm actually writing this as an email to myselfbecause for the first time in my blogging history, Iabsolutely cannot get my blog to work. So I'll be publishing this at a later date.
From the postcard worthy town of Cesky Krumlov, wetook at bus to Ceske Budejovice, which I can pretend to pronounce if I say it quickly. I imagine most of you have never heard of it, but you may know the German name, Budweis, and its namesake beer, Budweiser. But before you start thinking about American Anheuser-Busch, I must tell you that this is the real Budweiser, the one that the Americans stole the name from. This brewery has been functioning since 1895. The American company took the name in 1911. Because of wars and beginnings of nationhood, Czech Budweiser couldn't fight for their rightful name until recently and I have little hope of the lawsuit being too useful for them. Right now they have to market their product as Czechvar in the States and Canada. So if you have a Czechvar, you're having a true Budweiser.
So Meridith and I, one good little Mennonite and one good little Lutheran girl, went for a tour of a brewery and quite enjoyed it. We were joined by two men with two little kids and a group of Hungarian men whose interpreter did not have the greatest grasp of the English language. We wandered past the artesianwells that pump up iron free water from an undergroundlake. We smelled the pungent aroma of hops and barley at high temperature. We learned about lengths of fermentation and maturing. The beer bound forRussian has to sit for about 250 fifty days! Then we got to have a fresh unpasteurized beer which Meridith was unable to finish. The bottling part was fascinating, but because it was Friday and mandatory clean up day because of the EU, not much was in operation. I still liked watching the bottles get put in cartons and carried on the conveyor belt.
Once back in Prague, we had the blessing of finding out that our hostel had not registered our reservation and did not seem to concerned to help us since they were now fully booked. Because of Mer's bum ankle, we did get them to call another hostel and thank the Lord, the Tyn hostel did have room for us, at the end of the hall at the top of the stairs. We live with two nice Australian girls and a friendly Brazilian guy. They're nice, but we still miss the Australian Jewish trio from our Berlin hostel.
Our initial feelings about Prague weren't the best. Perhaps they were tainted by Mer's ankle and our lack of hostel. We followed our guidebooks advice for a place to eat and found not one, but two closed down and apparently abandoned restaurants. I felt a little overrun by middle-aged tourists trying to plow me over to keep up with their umbrella-toting tour guides. The problem I had is the girth of western tourists. It's easier to get around Asians. They're smaller.
However, our feelings towards this ancient city have warmed up a lot over the last couple of days. We toured around Prague castle yesterday. It looms on a hill overlooking the river. We had cheesy pictures taken with the guards, who didn't move or show expression, but the eyes in their young faces danced as they observed the crowds of dumb people rushing at them with cameras. We got to watch the changing of the guard a couple of times and even followed the marching soldiers in their entourage. The castle is huge. My favorite was St. Vitus church, and in particular, its art noveau stain glass window byMucha. I think it's absolutely breathtaking. We climbed up a tower with 287 steps with about a million people coming up or going down in a space not intended for that many. We saw the old royal palace where tournaments were once held. We wandered down a lane of tiny houses converted into tiny tourist shops where tourists shove each other to look at trinkets. Kafka used to live in one of the tiny houses. I loved St.George church with its gentle strength. I missed out on the Barbie exhibition at the toy museum, but I think I'll survive. It was an interesting castle.
Asthe sun set, we switchbacked on a steep path in a garden until the guards came with dogs to rush us out. We watched the city become bright with its nightlights as we sat on a bench on a hill. At the top of the hill is a ridiculous looking mini-Eiffel tower. I didn't go up to it. I'll wait and see the real one.
After a breakfast at Municipal House, where Mer's dad Gary recommended we go to eat, we explored Jewish Prague. It was strange spending Sunday morning in old synagogues instead of a church. One synagogue had the names of holocaust victims written on its walls. The tiny writing everywhere was overwhelming. Another room held art made by children in the Jewish ghetto during world war II. It's really telling what children draw about. It made me so sad to see the pictures of long dead children depicting things they had seen with their eyes, things that seem like a vague nightmare to me, certainly not a reality. We also went through a cemetary that is over 700 years old where the people may be buried 12 deep. The high walls keep the huge mound up. It was interesting and I tried not to get too annoyed at the little boy who seemed to always hit me as he played and his parents ignored him. We saw a few other synagogues, including a Moorish Spanish one. The Jews couldn't be like the Christians, so their synagogue looks like a mosque.
We picnicked in another castle garden and then explored the landmark St. Nicholas church. Marble columns and art noveau designs. We didn't stay long, but hurried back over the Charles Bridge (KarlovyMost) to make it to a tram stop so we could go to a hockey game! As a child in small town Saskatchewan, you have to spend a lot of your life at the hockey rink. My brothers and cousins played. The NHL doesn't seem like an inaccessible dream to the kids because of the local heros who have made it. I used to ref hockey in high school. But for the last two years of my life, I have lived in Asia where no one knows how to skate and therefore this was my first hockey game since the last time I saw Gregg play with the Assiniboia SouthernRebels with their coach who looks suspiciously like their logo. Prague has two teams and we saw HC Sparta play in theT-Mobile Arena. It was interesting watching European hockey with its hooking and grabbing and lack of body contact. A guy would be open for a big hit and then barely get bumped, if at all. It was disappointing. But overall, it was great to see a game. Sparta won 2-1 over some team that started with a V. I have no idea what their name really was. One of the highlights of the game was when they played some good old Stompin Tom.
Hopefully this will publish the next time I'm online.
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