More beer?

Yes! The Czech Republic is famous for its beer. And you can't have beer without hops, right? So, the Czech Republic is full of hops, too! Each year there is a hops festival, celebrating hundreds of years (in fact...420 years) of hops production in the country.

Here we are on arrival. We stopped by the "hops park" first thing so that we could make ourselves a couple of crowns :)

Then it was time to go have our first beer. Here we are sampling a new brew with a couple of our work colleagues.The festival was packed...which became extremely evident as soon as this guy (aparently the Frank Sinatra of the Czech Republic) started his portion of the musical entertainment. You could hardly move the crowd got so packed!Another thing the Czech Republic is well-known for is the meat...sausage in particular. At the Hops Festival, there was meat roasting everywhere...and it all smelled really delicious.Before too long, Hannah found a wig stand & picked out a fairy princess wig to go with her hops crown. Here she is with a couple friends from work. They joined in on the wig trend, too.In fact, by the end of the night, nearly everyone had picked out a wig...This is just part of the crew that came with our school. It's a really fun group of people :)

We love Pilsner...Yes we do...We love Pilsner...How 'bout you?

That's right! Just a week and a half after meeting them in Amsterdam, the Baines duo made their way to Prague for a visit. They explored the city during the days when we were working & we all hung out in the evenings and on the weekend. I think the highlite of the trip for all of us was our trip to the town of Plzen, where Pilsner Urquell is made.

Here we are on the train trip to Plzen. The beer we're drinking, Gambrinus, is one of our favorites here. And it happens to be owned by Pilsner Urquell.

Upon arrival at the train station in Plzen, Laura, Chuck and Cisco thought they'd try to make a bit of extra cash through street performing. This is their robots routine.

Alas...no money was made. As we walked through Plzen we saw that the "Earth from Above" exhibit was visiting. We strolled through the exhibit & enjoyed the town. It really is a fantastic display of pictures from around the world. If you haven't seen it, it's amazing...and I think there's a website.Enough dilly-dallying. It's time to head to the Pilsner Urquell brewery for a tour. Here we are walking up to the 14 century gate of the brewery.We were all very excited as we entered the brewery grounds & then we were elated when we saw the "Beer World" sign...It's like the DisneyLand of beer :)Inside beer world, Hannah stopped to pose with a very friendly looking wax man. Pretty realistic, huh?Then it was on to the tour. We went to the packaging area first. This SO reminded me of Laverne and Shirley. "Schlemiel, schlimazel, hasenpfeffer incorporated!"
Then to the storage room. Aren't those copper vats awesome?And then down, down, down into the tunnels where the beer sits in barrels as it matures.Yes...these are all full of Pilsner Urquell.See? Hmmm...not sure if I want to drink from that one.In the last part of the tour, a Pilsner Urquell brewer pours each person a special glass of pilsner straight from the barrel. It was delicious...just like beer tasted in the old days (so they say). It's purified, but unpasturized so it's not clear like it is once it's bottled.
Outside the brewery, the gang enjoyed a good old-fashioned game of beer chess. Only, I'm not sure anyone really knows the rules. Oh well...at least we're all having a good time!
Yummmm....Pilsner Urquell...our favorite!

To Dresden for Visas

In order to get work visas in the Czech Republic, you have to apply for them out of the country. So, our school took us to Dresden, Germany (a 3 hour drive away) to go sign some paperwork. We also got to enjoy a short time looking around the city. Here are some pics from that day.

This church was beautiful. Much of it's structure was bombed in WWII, but it has been repaired. I love the statues of saints all around it. There are views from both sides in the pics below.

We made our way through the streets and came upon another church that just reopened in the spring after being closed (from damage) since WWII. Dresden was one of the German cities hit the hardest toward the end of the war. In fact, it was hit after the war was technically over, but the English general who ordered the attack wanted a bit of retribution.Inside the church was very ornate...with LOTS of gold.

Finally we hit the old palace grounds. This place was incredible! The architecture was beautiful and the grounds were covered with sculpted gardens & fountains.

I got to be queen for the day when we stood outside the palace grounds & Cisco caught a photo of me "wearing" the royal crown. :)

Weekend in Amsterdam

Just after our arrival in Prague, we got an email from our friends, Chuck and Laura, requesting that we all meet in Amsterdam for the upcoming weekend. So...what the heck? We're already IN Europe, and Amsterdam is only and hour and a half flight away...Shebang, Sheboom, a few days later, there we were :)

To our enjoyment, Chuck found us a great little houseboat just outside the city. Here we are relaxing on our deck.

We were visited by lots of waterfoul...ducks, shovelers, swans and even a blue heron. Hannah enjoyed feeding all of them :) She even shared her caramel waffle cookies with the swans & they loved it! And check out the heron on the roof behind Hannah and Laura.

And, of course, if there's any opportunity to add some good wine to the day's activities, we're there! What better way to enjoy our deck?

So, we wandered around Amsterdam & made our way to the zoo. They had an awesome butterfly exhibit. Here are a few picks from that.

The zoo also has a recent addition to their gorilla exhibit. Here's the proud Mama with her baby. So cute!The reptiles are always a favorite, too!Watch out for Hannah the baboon and Laura the gorilla :)

This one is definitely dangerous...Hannah playing the white tiger :)

Have you seen Ocean's 12? If so, you might remember this bridge from one of the scenes.

All in all, a great weekend & forsure one of our favorite cities in the world.

Catching up!

Well...I'm home on a sick day today, so I thought I'd post a few blog updates. Sorry for the delay!

First - We're really starting to feel settled in here in Prague. We're enjoying our school and the people we work with & we love our neighborhood. All is well and we've already had a few good adventures to speak of :) Check out our next few updates for specifics!

Hope you're all well.