Not speaking Czech is hard.

Some things I've learned about the Czech Republic:

- Some of it was founded by the Germans
- Absolutely nobody jaywalks, even if there isn't a car in sight.
- The language is really hard to learn (but I've managed to figure out 'please' and 'good morning' so far)
- When you buy produce, you have to weigh it and get a little sticker or the cashier yells at you in Czech.
- Beer is really, really cheap.
- They seem to love dairy, judging by the sheer number of aisles in the grocery store.

I got so much sleep last night, and it was great.  I was definitely in bed and asleep before ten, and I stayed that way until close to 7am.  I had a lazy morning reading in bed, and then I got up in search of coffee when the caffeine withdrawal kicked in. 

I also woke up smelling of curry.  It was great.

The town square, and impending rain clouds. 

Water fountain in the centre of town.

Hotel Dvorak.  That's Catherine's last name.  Pretty much the only reason I took the photo, really.

The town hall played me a beautiful song at noon.

I found a coffee shop in the town centre that could speak English (!) and got myself my preferred drink of Europe: it's had a few different names depending on where I've been.  In Czechia, it is an espresso lungo, in the Netherlands, it was a cafe crema, at really fancy coffee shops back home it's called a long-pulled espresso, and nobody ever knows how to make it.  I've also heard it called an americano, but that's confusing with what we know as an americano.  It's a shot of espresso, with just a bit of extra water added to it, so I'm usually drinking a 5oz cup.  And it's my favourite.  Straight espresso is nice, but often too bitter.  Regular coffee is too weak.  This is the middle ground.

A wide angle town square.

Anyways, I've had two today.  I wanted to order a second immediately after my first, but I reckoned that might be poor taste.  So I got my coffee beverage and wasn't really that interested in walking around.  Some lady in the coffee shop tried to have a conversation with me, and we had this short, weird conversation where I told her I spoke English, and then she told me she spoke Czech (in Czech), and then we just waved our arms around and made apologetic motions with our faces and shoulders.  She seemed nice. 

I sat in the centre square for a little bit on a park bench with the bread roll I grabbed for 3 crowns (that's ridiculously cheap, fyi - 1 CDN is about 16 crowns/korunas).  It was small and dry, and I got the impression I should have dipped it in my coffee.  And then suddenly, it started to rain, so I took a queue from the locals and ran under the nearest awning until it ended a few minutes later.  It is a lot cooler today, so much in fact that I got to wear a longsleeve for a little while, and I thought the day was really pleasant, despite the on again, off again four minute rainshowers. 

This is the river that the men were fishing on.

After that, I found a park bench and just sat around for a while reading a book.  My calves are still cramping today (I have to take stairs one at a time, and if I sit for too long, I have a limp for a few minutes until the muscles stretch out), so I wasn't that interested in long walks.  I stayed there and watched some men fishing in the river next to the park.  One of them caught something, but I wasn't close enough to see what kind of fish it was.  I saw some baby fishes later on in the riverbanks, and I think they might have been little trouts.  The water was pretty murky, and I couldn't quite tell. 

More river pictures.

The park I was reading in.

I grabbed some smoked salmon salad for lunch, and another espresso, and then slowly made my way to the local brewery for their 2 o'clock tour. 

Ceske Budejovice's original German name was Budweis when the town was founded in the 1200's, and it is home to the original Budweiser (it originally meant 'of Budweis').  They stopped brewing in the 1600s, and revived it in the 1800s, which is when the current brewery was built.  It uses the groundwater under the town (and so does the local hospital!) to make the beer, and has absolutely nothing to do with the American beer of the same name.  In fact, in the 1800s, a fellow who was traveling through Europe, traveled here, and headed home to America to start brewing a beer, that he also called Budweiser.  There was a two hundred year long dispute, that was settled in court, and the Budweiser corporation ended up owing the original Budweiser a lot of money (or so I'm told). 

Even the labels are similar.  Those copyrighting jerks.

Nowadays, it's (according to the tour guide) the only beer brewed in Czechia made 100% from Czechia materials.

Part of the tour involved tasting, and it tastes a lot better than the Bud back home...but still too light for my tastes.  I bought a can to bring home for my Bud drinking roommate, so I guess I'm not flying carry-on anymore for the rest of the trip.  It's okay, I was going to buy liquor in Latvia anyhow.

After that, I got groceries, and headed back to the apartment, where I am now.  If Karel is free tonight, we're going to go get a drink and a bite to eat somewhere.  If not, I have groceries now, so I can approximate something that resembles food for myself.

This is where we make the mash, do-do, do-do!

And this is where we chill the beer before bottling!

A note on food allergies: Nothing is affecting me as badly as in Canada, but my stomach has been feeling raw since I got here.  I've been living mostly off bread and fruit because of the convenience and the heat, but my stomach isn't great.  It isn't bad enough to go out of my way to try and find things that don't have that giant list of foods I can't eat in them, but I've been avoiding most of it as best as possible.  This is also hard because I can't even read the ingredient lists, but the worst reaction I've had so far has been to dairy, so other than a little cheese, I've just been avoiding it altogether.  I'm also just not that into the food here, as it's mostly giant meat dishes with bread and dairy.  I'm making due.  The fresh fruit is great.