Adventures of Series: beer

We woke up disoriented from the overnight bus from Budapest. The whole ride felt like dreamy haze featuring pristine gas stations lit in green and immaculate food displays with plastic-looking croissants. The layout of Prague's street's didn't help. We were lost, trying to decipher which way was North. Not being able to see where the sun was because of the tall building made it impossible. It was 6:45am and I was secretly amused by our situation. I was happy just wandering and waiting for Prague to reveal more of itself to me--Show me all the beautiful things!!! But we had to find them for ourselves.

Walking through the center, I shamelessly craned my neck upwards towards the sky to get a better look at the architecture. At first glance, and from far away, it's beautiful and impressive, but when you look closely, it's a little creepy. Especially the decaying blackened arm hanging inside the Saint Johns Church. Apparently, a man tried to steal from the church and they chopped off his arm and left it as an example for others. I stole some photos there. My arms are still in tact.

We took a day trip to Plzen, the birthplace of Pilsner Beer, and went on a pretty cool brewery tour which let us explore the underground beer tunnels. Due to lack of funds, we made our own two-bar bar crawl in Zizkov, a city outside of the center. Our first official stop, where we got our first beer (and more), was called Kenny's Island. You should check this place out if you like surprises. Next (and last) stop was at Budvar, where an old man who had eight beers, sang and played a stringed instrument while his friends did the same.

Some photos below, for you (and for me the next time I reminisce about this beautiful city and pink castle sunsets).

Links to Part 1 and 3 of The Budapragna Triangle: Budapest and Vienna

View from a tower.

The synagogue that was surprisingly not destroyed by Hitler. Our guide told us it
was because he wanted to make a museum of a lost race here. Very scary.

Disney castle in the distance! This is up on a hill near our hostel in Zizkov. It was a pretty cool lively area that reminded me a little bit of an eclectic Brooklyn neighborhood.

The underground beer tunnels. Brrrr.

Kegs.

View of the brewery.

Post brewery tour map

Logan admiring mountain men.

If you listen carefully, you can hear them playing...

Apostles spinning on the hour. Quote from the crowd:
"I wonder when this thing going to go off..."
"Um, on the hour like every other clock in the world, Martin!"

Vladislav Hall at the Royal Palace

Charles Bridge. Prague is beautiful, but I'm glad we stayed
outside of the center. There are so many people!

Last point on the triangle: Vienna for a day

So, this summer, my lovely lady friends Veronica and Pnicole came to visit and we embarked on the greatest tour of depressing world events, ever!

First stop, Chernobyl. I learned so much about this confusing and secretive disaster. I never knew that "they" were so close to almost wiping out all of Europe! The tour took us to the abandoned kindergarden, and through the red forest to Pripyat (Припят), where the plant workers and their families lived. It's deserted now, with overgrown weeds and leftover traces of radioactive dust, or "hotspots." Don't worry. I was radioactive-free and I know this because I went through multiple detectors, before and after eating lunch near the plant. I also "walked faster than everyone else" which I was told to do since I forgot a long-sleeved shirt.

This tour was OK. I don't think I'd recommend it because of the price, which was $170 USD. However, it was really interesting and I learned the story of Chernobyl while seeing some of the aftermath.

Next stop, Lvov. I think every single train ride in Ukraine is an adventure. The train ride to the beautiful city of Lvov was like being in a wooded cabin at summer camp, talking with good friends late into the night...and sweating. Lvov was actually a break from depression. Instead, we took a tour with the Kumpel brewery and learned the history of Lvov and beer. We got to taste 5-6 different beers and talk with a great and energetic man with many secrets about Lvov, including the secret about how Jesus was a red head. (That one was especially for me.)

Next, we traveled to Poland. We took a bus to the border of Ukraine and Poland for about 20 UAH and walked over, only after passport control giving Veronica a hard time for her gypsied up passport, seeing old ladies trying to slip cigarettes into peoples' bags, and getting herded like cattle through metal gates. At first, there was a long line in the hot sun, but as soon as they found out we were foreigners, the process was expedited and we made it over in a few minutes. I heard one man say, in English, as we sped ahead of many Ukrainians: "Rrrrrrussian Tradition!" with a nice rolled 'r'.

Poland was great. We talked and heard all about the Pope (not Benedict). To get to Krakow, we took a short bus ride (maybe an hour?) to the elektrichka train station in Poland, where we could get tickets to Krakow. 4 hours and three sleeping friends later, we arrived in Krakow and found the Secret Garden Hostel, which was the best hostel I have ever stayed at. It was more like a hotel and it had free breakfast every morning. It was about 100 UAH a night, which is about $12 for my American readers;). Krakow was a really cool Medieval city. There are hundreds of bars, clubs, and restaurants paired with beautiful churches and a trumpet player who plays on the hour every hour (read about him, here: the interuppted/ing trumpeteer). It's a great city, day and night, full of light AND an underground market museum, which I recommend.

We spent a few hours on tour at Oświęcim (Auschwitz) before leaving Poland. It was a good experience. It made me reflect on a lot of things, like how I never have the right to complain about anything ever again. The most powerful moment for me was at the beginning of the tour, when we were looking at photos of people taken to the camp, without knowing what was going to happen to them. I almost lost it then. After seeing Auschwitz for an hour or so, we visited Berkinau, which was a much bigger camp. I really liked the modern art memorial sculpture. So sad.

Poland was also great because we missed our flight and were told to get off our train to Kiev and then watched it leave without us. So, it was fun trying to figure out how to get back to Ukraine. We did, eventually, thanks to an awesome, kind, grandfatherly Polish man named Yatsik. He drove us from Poland to Lvov and helped us catch up to the train we "missed." Long story (which includes my heart dropping when I saw a line of cars at the border waiting and stopped for days, someone mistakenly telling the border police we were from from Spain, a garbage can toilet, confused friend faces wondering what was going on and why our driver was yelling in Polish, Ukrainian, and Russian, and a bribe) short(ened), we made it. Yatsik even walked us to our train (which we found out was late) and waited with us for an hour and saw us onto our train! Once again, the kindness of strangers saved the day and I will forever return the favor by being nice to and helping frazzled travelers.

OK, I lied. This was not a depressing tour. We saw some sad things and reflected on life and terrible historical events, but mostly, this trip was a wonderful reunion tour with friends and it was so strange and amazing to see them! I think I needed someone to pinch me when I saw P and V walk through the gates at the airport. And, I think that because I wasn't pinched, the whole thing seemed like a dream...

But here's some evidence of our adventures: