Blog #8: Chillin’ in Plzen

Blog #8: Plzen, Czech Republic (5/31/2005 to 6/2/2005)

Plsen was a great little town to visit. At this point, I was near the end of my two weeks with Dana, the traveling guru. After over-touristy Prague, it was a good change. The central town area is small and can be completely explored in under an hour. We discovered this when we continued to search for places to eat and we were continually coming up to the same choices. The first day we unwound over some good food and a few beers. As we were warned in Prague by our host Pavel, the Czech Republic really likes pork. Every menu asked you: would you like pork... or something else? Usually, pork was the right answer. If you know me, you know I will rarely turn down a good taste of pig, but I think even I reached my limit in Plsen.

Plsen was unusual in that it was very friendly, at least ostensibly, to Americans. Most places I have visited tolerate Americans and show very little ill will toward them, but I cannot help but believe that some of it is because we are there spending money. Plsen, however, remembers WWII. Patton’s troops actually liberated Plsen back in 1945. I had forgotten that it was recently Memorial Day, but Plsen dedicated a statue and memorial to Patton and his troops just a few weeks before we arrived.

The second day we visited the world famous Pilsener Urquell brewery. This was quite a fun tour. Not only did they show us the new brewing technology (i.e., big metal tanks), they showed us the cellars and old oak barrels that had been used since the 1840s. The coolest part was that they still brew some of the beer in oak barrels, the old-fashioned way. For a tour it was a nice attraction, but it also makes sense because they use the authentic, oak barrel method for quality control with the mass-produced product. The funny part of the tour was doing it with Dana. She was over there playing an episode of Lost in her head. I have never seen it, but it is the popular show where the plane crashes on a remote island and everyone is surviving, blah, blah. It has been done before. However, this was funny because Dana was picking people out: the group leader (the cocky Italian-looking guy), the first person to be eaten (the obnoxious Aussie with all the questions and socks pulled up to his knees), the cynics (that was us).

The major reason that we went to Plsen, other than to get out of big, touristy cities, was because Dana has a connection in the town. Her grandmother has had a pen-pal in Plsen for about 20 years and they have never met. Since Dana was in the area, she decided she had to meet this friend. Since I was only in Plsen for a couple days, she waited until I was gone to contact Blaza. I wish I had been there when she did, though. From what I hear, Blaza showed her pictures and told stories about when the troops liberated Plsen so long ago. She actually stayed in contact via letters with one of the GIs she met. What an amazing perspective!

So getting OUT of Plsen was one of the bigger adventures I have had thus far. The people at the train station in Plsen did not speak English, but I was able to understand enough that I was to buy a ticket to the next big town, then I would have to buy a ticket from there, and so forth. Not a problem. I get to the next big town and it is too late to make reservations for the night train back to Zurich. Same story, second verse: buy a ticket to the next town and deal with it from there. This is a problem. I buy the ticket and hop on the train to Linz, in hopes that I will be able to weasel my way onto the train. You see, sometimes train schedules are not the most helpful things in the world… and sometimes ticket agents are nigh the most useless things in the world. In the end, I obtained a seat on the train, although from my train schedule I was uncertain if there would be any seats on the night train. You see, with my Eurail I can take a seat on a night train for free, but the beds require reservations. Then I found $5. Yeah, that story went nowhere.

Again, it was not until I left that Dana found the Patton Memorial we had searched for. Apparently it was outside of town a little way, not where we had expected it. I enjoyed the town, but apparently not as much as Dana. She was tired of traveling after three months constantly on the road, so this was as good a place as any to hang out for nine or ten days. She made friends, stayed in somebody’s apartment for free and met up with Blaza a couple times. Meanwhile, I was returning to Zurich for class. Poor me.

Pictures of Plsen are in Blog #7.