Look! No border guards, day 4

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Plzn




 

Up with the lark and down to the restaurant (a few minutes walk away) for a typical German breakfast¸ cold cuts, cheese, eggs and bacon, just the thing to get you ready for the task in hand which was Pilsen in the Czech Republic. Time for a few photos and change money. The smart Czechs aren’t in the Euro. I also came across a plaque in memory of Von Stauffenburg, one of the organisers of the plot against Hitler ‘Operation Valkyre’. It’s a couple of hours drive away so in no time we were pulling into one of the Beer Meccas. Betty got turned back at the border, ie. She only has a map of Germany so it was back to the tried and trusted custom of ‘Ask a policeman’ or in this case, the desk sergeant at the local police station. It wasn’t that complicated as were only one block away but it took three of Pilsen’s finest to figure out how to get there. Our hotel was the well-appointed Rango, right by the main square http://www.rango.cz/?akce=en_restaurant. I am immediately reminded of the beauty of Czech women. It was a ghost town and I thought the crisis had hit here worse than the  8^th AAF in ’45 but no, it turned out to be a mega-bank-holiday weekend ‘a la Española’. It didn’t take long to stroll around the old town and take in the architecture, the main square and it’s church, with the highest spire in Bohemia the locals proudly boast. First stop was a Bar/Restaurant called ‘Svenk’ after the Czech cartoon character. Klobasa is the sausage of choice in the Czech Republic and who are we to argue, so a couple were hastily dispatched. We then landed into what has to be the best bar in Pilsen – ‘Na Parkánu’ close to our hotel and attached to the Brewery museum. It was buzzing, the service was excellent, gotta love those Czech girls, and the food was a healthy traditional Czech mix. This time it was the turn of ‘Koleno’ or Codillo in Spanish or Pork Knuckle in the English. A hefty dish whose main mission is to send you to bed early which it accomplished admirably, all the better for what’s in store for us tomorrow.