Tak jo. I should be studying for my czech language exam but I decided to tell the story of Eric's trip to Plzen yesterday. After missing my train to Plzen due to some unfortuanetly timed tram delays I headed over to the 3rd circle of hell that is Florenc bus station. However my stay would not be long as I found a bus going to Plzen just minutes after arrival. After an hour an a half bus ride filled with studying for my exam and watching an episode of the British comedy Mr. Bean (the czechs thought this was hilarious) we arrived in Plzen.
Plzen is a really nice city in western Bohemia. Its the 4th largest city in the country and about the same population as Greensboro. It was primarily the pre-war home to the country's industrial heart. Later it also became the centerpiece of the communist 5-year plan in Czechoslovakia. Just some of the major industries included the Skoda heavy arms factory (the factory that produced the first howitzer cannons in WW1) and of course Plzensky Prazdroj the famous brewery that produces Pilsner Urquell.
This was the first city in the Czech Republic to be liberated from the Germans in WW2. Patton's army took control of the city and held their position there for weeks waiting for the Soviets to liberate the rest of the country. Today Patton's old headquarters is a giant memorial... interesting how Patton's headquarters was literally a block away from the largest brewery complex of the time in Europe.
Anyway, obviously I was in town to take the Pilsner Urquell brewery tour and I would not be
deterred. I had gone on the Miller brewery tour in Milwaukee and was expecting something similar to my experience there. The Milwaukee brewery was for the most part old and ugly with giant brick buildings rising 10 stories up into the air. For a company that survived two world wars and communism let's just say I expected much worse.
Boy was I in for a suprise. The brewery complex that produces Pilsner Urquell is modern and beautiful. It still has most of the old structures and components used in the brewing process including the ancient water tower and the old original copper mash kettles which are larger than you would ever imagine. However the structures built around these processes are new and modern with everything computerized. It would make sense however that these would need to be much more efficient than Milwaukee considering that they produce more beer at this brewery in a month than in any other brewery in Europe.
After touring the modern facilities we got to tour the old brewing facilities which were quite complex. Much like wine cellars, beer in the past was kept underground for temperature purposes. One of the major brewing differences between Pilsner Urquell and other beers was that Urquell was aged and fermented for a longer period in huge oak barrels in these cellars.
Today they still produce an unfiltered Pilsner beer in these oak barrels using the traditionalbrewing methods. Luckily we got to
taste the unfiltered beer right out of the barrel. It was great! Due to its unfiltered nature it was cloudy (due to the yeast) and also had more of a bitter taste to it. Supposedly there is a bar here in Prague that serves it so I'm going to go back after my tests this week.
After the brewery tour I walked around Plzen before my bus left. I visited the town square (the largest medieval square in Europe) with a lovely Christmas tree and also saw the Skoda works along with the 3rd largest synagogue in the world. All of these were located quite centrally so it made it easy to digest everything in the short hour before I had to leave back to Prague.
For a last trip, I think it was pretty successful. This week I should be done with all work and tests by Wednesday afternoon so I'm planning on doing a whirlwind trip of everything I haven't seen in Prague during those days. I'm even planning an "Eric's Grand Communism Tour" where I spot the best of the communist sites
that most people never get to see (this is mainly due to the fact that they are far from the tourist areas) should be a lot of fun.
After that I'm flying back on Saturday and (with luck) should be back in Greensboro Saturday evening.
