Germany and Czech Republic - preliminary itinerary
Oct 9th, 2010, 04:17 PM
#21
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moon, tastes differ but I think that the Czech beer is the best I know. Pilsner Urquell and Budvar are in my opinion also top beers.
There is one small beer garden in Prague which I just love. If you come from the old town to the Charles bridge, turn left by the river. After a few hundred meters there's a metal stair down to it. You can sit directly at the river with a phantastic view, some live music and a nice beer ... heaven. The place made me think about dropping out and starting a life which would somehow allow me to spend all summer afternoons there.
Flights have become very cheap in Europe if you book early enough (often cheaper than trains). I don't like carriers as Ryanair since they often drop you off far away from your destination but even cariers as Lufthansa are absurdly cheap if you book a few months in advance, so you might think about checking this out for the travel to Prague.
As an alternative to going from Prague to Frankfurt via Nuremberg: there are direct flights from Prague to Cologne with Germanwings (a daughter of Lufthansa). From Cologne there's a high speed train connection to Frankfurt airport taking only one hour (though I'd recommend figuring in at least 30 minutes for delays).
Cologne has its own beer, the Kölsch. It's quite light and served in small glasses (0.2), so in brewery pubs you don't order a refill but tell the waiters to stop bringing it. For brewery pubs I can recommend the Frueh close to the cathedral (the biggest and most touristy place) and the Paeffgen and Muehlenkoelsch.
Cologne was pretty much destroyed so it isn't really pretty. But beside the cathedral and a lot of museums it also has a vibrant night life. It's an interesting mix of a big university, the media and gay capital of Germany and quite a lot of industry.
There is one small beer garden in Prague which I just love. If you come from the old town to the Charles bridge, turn left by the river. After a few hundred meters there's a metal stair down to it. You can sit directly at the river with a phantastic view, some live music and a nice beer ... heaven. The place made me think about dropping out and starting a life which would somehow allow me to spend all summer afternoons there.
Flights have become very cheap in Europe if you book early enough (often cheaper than trains). I don't like carriers as Ryanair since they often drop you off far away from your destination but even cariers as Lufthansa are absurdly cheap if you book a few months in advance, so you might think about checking this out for the travel to Prague.
As an alternative to going from Prague to Frankfurt via Nuremberg: there are direct flights from Prague to Cologne with Germanwings (a daughter of Lufthansa). From Cologne there's a high speed train connection to Frankfurt airport taking only one hour (though I'd recommend figuring in at least 30 minutes for delays).
Cologne has its own beer, the Kölsch. It's quite light and served in small glasses (0.2), so in brewery pubs you don't order a refill but tell the waiters to stop bringing it. For brewery pubs I can recommend the Frueh close to the cathedral (the biggest and most touristy place) and the Paeffgen and Muehlenkoelsch.
Cologne was pretty much destroyed so it isn't really pretty. But beside the cathedral and a lot of museums it also has a vibrant night life. It's an interesting mix of a big university, the media and gay capital of Germany and quite a lot of industry.
Oct 10th, 2010, 06:17 AM
#22
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Czechs gave birth to both Pilsener and Budweiser tye beers - Pilsener from Pilsen and Budweiser from Ceske Budovijice - the latter at least has brewery tours of the original budweiser type beer - now in a trademark dispute with Budweiser (owned by a Belgian-South African conglomerate) of U.S., who refuses to allow Czech beer with the Budweiser name on it in the U.S. market so these original Budweiser beers have some off label name on them resembling budweiser but not budweiser - in europe the Czech beer can be marketed as Budweiser.
Anyway Czechs wrote the book on Pilsener and Budweiser beers.
Anyway Czechs wrote the book on Pilsener and Budweiser beers.
Oct 10th, 2010, 05:31 PM
#24
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PalenQ - Thanks for the info about the rail passes. I will definitely make use of those links in researching the best option. And I've been reading about this battle over the Budweiser name. Interesting to see how it will turn out.
Hans - Thanks for the additional travel and city options. I KNEW I needed to start planning this trip early so we would have time to mull over all the possibilities.
Hans - Thanks for the additional travel and city options. I KNEW I needed to start planning this trip early so we would have time to mull over all the possibilities.
Oct 11th, 2010, 07:13 AM
#25
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Budweiser and Budvar | Trademark Disputes | Food and Beverage ...
As a result, Budweiser Budvar is aggressively targeting the UK market for ... SABMiller, a merger of South African Breweries and Miller Brewing of the US, ...
http://www.brandchannel.com/features....asp?pf_id=191
Nov Moon - it's a complicated issue - the American Bud actually was produced 19 years before the Budweiser brand beer in Ceske Budevijce (sp?) - this link says the American name was plucked off a map - Budweis is the German name for Ceske Budovijce and back then parts of Bohemia, as i believe it was then called, were German controlled - not sure of that but perhaps why Budweis was the name plucked off a map - anyway rather interesting!
Cheers
As a result, Budweiser Budvar is aggressively targeting the UK market for ... SABMiller, a merger of South African Breweries and Miller Brewing of the US, ...
http://www.brandchannel.com/features....asp?pf_id=191
Nov Moon - it's a complicated issue - the American Bud actually was produced 19 years before the Budweiser brand beer in Ceske Budevijce (sp?) - this link says the American name was plucked off a map - Budweis is the German name for Ceske Budovijce and back then parts of Bohemia, as i believe it was then called, were German controlled - not sure of that but perhaps why Budweis was the name plucked off a map - anyway rather interesting!
Cheers
