Our major goal for this extended stay is to use Prague has a home base for side trips throughout the Czech Republic and neighbouring countries in central and eastern Europe.  The only things holding us back, of course, are the limitations of time and money.

So as soon as I had my Open Card endorsed for “Free Fare” –I will write about this separately– we planned a pilgrimage to the birth place of our favourite brew, Pilsner Urquell.  Pilsen is about one hour by public bus and just under two hours by train.  We chose the latter because trains are our favoured mode of travel.

Our pre-planning consisted of checking the train schedules –there is one every hour for most of the day– and the brewery tour schedules –in October 4 per day in English.  It made for my kind of day out; not leaving home until after 9 A.M. and being back in time for dinner –theoretically, as we usually eat out on this type of occasion.

In the photo above (click to enlarge) on the left side you can see the ultra modern building where beer is currently brewed by sophisticated computerized controls.  To its right is the old brew house that served for about a century.  To the right of that, the white building is the original brewery from 1842.

It turned out to be a rainy day which did not distract from thoroughly enjoying the expedition.  As always, Karin has done a much better job of detailing the sights than I ever could.  Here it is:

Trip to Pilsen and Brewery