A Side Trip to Cesky Krumlov

I’ve managed to fall a few days behind on my blog due to a lack of internet but I will try to catch up quickly.  On my second day in the Czech Republic I took a one day side tour down to a popular medieval village in the south of the Republic to tour a historic village and castle.  The tour required a two hour drive south thru the bucolic countryside.  I’ve attached a photo of just one of the many yellow vistas we passed along the way. I am told the yellow flowered plants are the basis for making canola oil.

The castle itself was nice but nothing spectacular, the real treat is the town itself.  The town looks like something out of a period movie.  Spectacular views, beautiful architecture, and very nice accommodating locals.

The most amusing part of the day was during a fantastic lunch of grilled chicken breast, lamb, pork loin, and vegetable on a spit and new potatoes I made the mistake of asking my waiter for his best local beer and how it would compare to an American beer.  Holy Crap – you would have thought I questioned his mother’s virtue.  He went into a rant about how American beer is fake beer!  Schooled me that beer has only two ingredients – hops and barley.  He said that Americans pollute the beer with contaminants like wheat, rice and sugar and that is no longer beer!  He thought this contamination was somewhere between a capital crime and a sin against God.

In an effort to calm him down I mentioned that we had traveled thru the town of Budweiser (American spelling) on the way to their and I was surprised to see an American Budweiser Brewery.  Big mistake on my part.  I had just spun him up again.  That brewery is the real Budweiser and the American Budweiser is a fraud!  He asked – how can Budweiser be brewed anywhere other than the town of Budweiser?  It would be like distilling Scotch in China.  Absurd!!!

I stood corrected and properly humbled but still enjoyed lunch and two big pints of the local Eggenberg Beer.

Photos of the day attached.