Long Weekend

Me Serving at the Pilsner factory.
Me Sharing a brew and a sausage with a plastic guy at the factory.

So Thursday was the last day of classes until this coming Wednesday when I'll be having the rest of my midterms. Most of the people went out of town this weekend, and although I was considering doing such, I decided to stay around here instead. I had planned on going to 2 breweries, maybe even 3, but relaxation weighed in and I only ended up going to Plzen. I'll discuss that later though. Anyways since I didn't end up doing a brewery tour, I figured I should at least try lots of new beers, and so far, I have had 14 new types of beer in the past few days (meaning I have had at least 7 liters of beer, even though the full amount is closer to 20-25 since Thursday). I got these at Tesco, which is basically a Walmart with a giant Sunset underneath it. It was my first time there and was really fun. I had so many choices, which I'm really not used to at stores here, that it took me forever to decide what I wanted. All of the new Czech beers I have had are delicious, although some not as fantastic as the rest. Honorable mentions: Bernard, Zlaty Bazant, and Svijany. Least preferential of the newbies: Zlatopromen and Samson.[this picture is actually from the Pilsner factory that shows how many varieties have been produced by SAB, the comglomerate company that owns the brewery, since 1999. It just reminds me of my choices at Tesco]
So Thursday night I went to dinner with Joey and his mom and grandmother because they were visiting for the weekend. We ate at the fantastic buffet at the Intercontinental, and were pleasantly pleased. I then just went and hung out at the dorms with Joe. Casual night but fun nonetheless.
Friday and Saturday days were both filled with working out, decent cooking, and walking around Prague. On Saturday, I even found avocadoes from Israel and felt obliged to buy them; they were really good of course. Back to Friday, however. For dinner, I tried going with some guys to 'U Medvidku,' a restaurant/hotel/bar/micro-brewery that I found online that is supposedly rated as one of the top places in Prague. They have like 20 types of Czech beer and make there own 20% beer, which we were really excited for; that is, until we saw we wouldn't be able to eat there. We ended up going next door where there was an opening if we were able to finish our dinners in under 45 minutes [lunches in the CR take usually at least an hour 15]. All this meant was that we got served really quickly, which included my delicious bread bowl beef gulash that reminded me of Panera. We met up at M1, a real expensive and nice club in Prague. It was very difficult to find and I wish I had known how expensive (so I could drink more before), but it was ana absolute rage. I even saw Lawrence and his basketball teammates there, who were celebrating after their victory earlier in the night. Saturday night was far from the same extent of celebration unfortunately. Mom, please skip the next paragraph.

[I'm serious mom]
The night started off with me leaving my wallet on my desk before going out to Kross Club. Kross Club was much better than it had been last time (see previous post about really weird Czech people with lots of metal in their bodies), and I hung out with a few Emory people. I feel that I should mention now that to get there, although a tram/metro pass is necessary, it must not be showed every time. This meant that I just assumed that my pass was in my wallet in my pocket. Google Maps claims that Kross Club is 5km north of me, but that is going on the highway, not taking trams and metroes (that don't take straight paths always). I somehow managed to buy 2 drinks at Kross Club, which further convinced me that I had my wallet with me. I am almost positive that a friend bought me one drink, and I have no idea about the other. 15 minutes later, I noticed that I did not have my wallet and absolutely freaked out. I asked the bartenders, all of my friends, random Czech people, and even searched the bathroom- despite not having used it. I was a mess, and unfortunately at that moment, began to feel sick too.
Knowing that I was beyond my limit, I figured it was a good idea to leave, which was definitely the right decision. Everyone else was going to another club in another 30 minutes, so I just parted from them. At this point I called home to cancel my cards and thus prevent any credit card fraud. I then got on a night tram, all of which come twice an hour, and headed to Lazarska, the hub of all night trams that would connect me home. As hard as the ride was, I made sure to stay awake and make it home. Unfortunately, 2 stops before Lazarska, I faded. I faded hard and I faded fast, and only when I got jabbed in the ribs by a policeman's flashlight did I resume my rememberance of the remainder of the night. Long story short from here, I made it home, despite being very far away when that happened, despite it being 35 degrees, despite not having a wallet. I then found my wallet, called my parents again and luckily still have working cards, and even saw my friends again when I re-made it to Lazarska (that's how long it took me to get there).(gate at Plzen factory] Saturday of course led to a long and hard Sunday wakeup, which was accomplished without much ease. I hurried over to the train station and met up with my friends on the train so that we could head over to Plzen! Plzen is the beer capital of the CR, and the CR has the highest per capita consumption of alcohol in the world. So basically, Plzen is Mecca. Plzen is also the founding city of the Pilsen style of beer, which includes Pilsner-Urquell (the original), Gambrinus, Kozel, and a few more less known companies. When we got there, we immediately headed over to the brewery, despite not meaning to. I think the alcohol in my blood was attracted to the alcohol in the factory, similar to a compasses magnetic polarization, and pointed us straight there. We then walked over to a restaurant that served the best Pilsner I've ever had and some ridiculously good meat (I've stopped trying to figure out what I'm eating if it doesn't say chicken in it).After a fantastic meal, we walked around the city. Highlights include St. Bartolemu's Cathedral, the tallest in the CR. At 102 meters, it took forever to reach the top. I am uploading pictures right now for you guys to see on flickr, but the steps were usually about a quarter the width of my shoe's length, and the stairs were slanted at an angle steeper than a ladder against a wall. It was also really tiring after the 10th floor, which is when the climb got most difficult. At times I was on all fours - despite climbing vertical - and other times I had to bend down so much that my backpack was hitting the ceiling. I also had to climb over beams, around columns, and under ledges, all the while barely having a handrail as we ascended into the sky. At the top, it was really pretty and you could see well past the city limits, in addition to the big square at the base of the cathedral and the nice synagogue a few blocks away. Most of the ladders were also just wide enough for 1 person by the way, so coming back down was like going through a one way tunnel and required lots of waiting. I was real impressed, and it was the perfect thing to do before going to the brewery (possibly the only thing too). The brewery tour was really cool. Some things to note: barley has a terrible texture, not much flavor, but luckily no after taste. Malt is at least edible [made from the barley], and hops are attrotious. Not only do they have a horrific taste, they have a lingering aftertaste that kept reminding me that I needed to wash the flavor out of my mouth a half hour later. Pilsner also uses the same methods that they did 150 years ago, minus no longer using massive oak barrels. They only use those for the beer on tour, which tastes better than Pilsner draft or bottled. I am really not that much of a fan of Pilsner, especially when compared economically and gastronomically to other Czech beers, but the Pilsner in Plzen is definitely better. And it definitely wasn't mental, because everyone agreed with me, and it looks different too.
So I read the whole train back - a new book, The Guide, which is my first Indian novel - and ate KFC for the first time here. I have no idea why the Czechs love it so much, but they do, and it is pretty good over here. It's not too expensive and they are great with chicken in this country. I then went back to the dorms and hung out with Joey and friends nearby. Props to dad for meeting the Israeli ambassador at AIPAC, which I was informed of at this point.
Today has been a real lazy day, and the fact that the sky matches my walls, making it difficult to see where the windows actually are, makes it even less likely that I did anything. With a long, intoxicated lifestyle all weekend, I decided to spend all day lazying and lamping. I have thus watched a ton of TV today and am going to yoga soon. Hopefully the included pictures help a little, but the rest are on flickr as previously stated. The video below is me walking around the top of the Cathedral, so you can see how small the 4th largest city in the CR, Plzen, really is.

PS: since returning from yoga, I have seen 2 absolutely out of place objects. The first was a Rolls Royce driving down the street. I think it was lost on its way to Luxembourg or Germany or something, because finding an Audi or BMW is rare enough. The second was a unicycler. Not just any unicycler, but a guy on a mountain-uni (I'm not sure if that's the proper name for a unicycle with mountain tires) at 730pm in a pitch black park. I'm not sure which I should have thought to be more out of place.