Czech Republic '08

Daniela went to the Czech Republic in June to visit family. I accompanied her in July. Since I was without the camera for most of the summer I never got to the blog. I plan to make up for it in the next few posts. I am having some technical difficulties as well. I hope to have them resolved soon.















About 20 minutes by car from where Daniela's parents live is Cesky Krumlov. Cesky Krumlov is one of my favorite towns in the Czech Republic and I love just walking around the streets. You can climb up a series of stairs to the top of the tower, which we have done on a few occasions. The castle on the left was built right into a mountainside. Just before you enter the castle you need to cross a bridge, which spans over a moat housing brown bears. Bears have been kept in the moat since 1707.















Daniela and I also visited Hluboka Castle. This is where we had our wedding ceremony for her family. On our trip this summer we made it to the top of the turret to get a nice view of the area.















Since I didn't look very good in any of the pictures we took at the top of the turret I'll post Daniela and her mother.















We did spend a fair amount of time in Ceske Budejovice. This is the town where Daniela and I lived right after I graduated from Kansas State University. Daniela was in her final year of graduate school then. We returned to the Black Tower (Cerna Vez) to take this picture of the town's square. This is also where I proposed to Daniela 10 years ago.
















During our time in Ceske Budejovice we were able to take a tour of the Budweiser Brewery. This is the original Budweiser and not the version found in America with the Clydesdale horses in the commercials. The taste is a bit different and not watered-down.




















Here are the copper tanks in which the yeast ferments. It was a chilly day outside so the 90 degree temperature in this room suited us fine.















Conversely, the celler was not quite 40 degrees. We did receive "all you can drink" samples of the unpasteurized and unfiltered beer. I will not be posting any of these photos. I think it's safe to say there was much learned from the former president of Iowa Central Community College, "Drunken Pirate" from MySpace fame and a slew of others. Just take my word for it. It was real good and suprisingly filling. Sadly, because of the beer's stout nature I was only able to down one cup. However, our tour guide was able to gulp down three cups before continuing our journey to the bottling area.