Czech borders and beer

Getting from Poland to the Czech Republic was an interesting event. We had left Wroclaw looking for a quiet place for Rich to recover from a nasty cold that gave him a bad cough. We would have liked to stay with our Servas hosts for another night, but Rich was feeling lousy, and coughing a lot, so we hopped a bus to Jelena Gora for two quiet days of rest, gentle walks, and picnic lunchs. And hugging odd carved statues in the woods.






We took a bus from Jelena Gora to the border. Note that I say to the border, not over the border. Why not? Well, for some reason the bus stopped about 100 meters shy of the border and we got to walk across. Rich was in sandals. It was cold. I like to imagine what people are thinking as they see us. Did the border guards call out to each other, check out the crazy american in sandals?

We knew we would like the Czech Republic when the first opportunity to buy Pivo, that’s beer to you and me, was about 40 meters past the border.



And we didn’t even have to walk on the road to the next town, there was a well marked trail to Harrachov.



And in Harrachov there was a brewery combo glass factory. What’s not to love about this town?



We ran into a Rick Steves Czech Beer tour group at this brewery. I bet they didn’t get to walk across any borders. Behind me in this photo is the glass blowing floor. You can’t see in this photo but most of the workers had a pint of beer somewhere in their work area. We assume it was Friday afternoon thing...but maybe not. Maybe they do it when they need to replenish the stock of seconds for sale.



Harrachov was a town of hiking and drinking beer. We took the ski lift up the mountain and hiked and drank beer.



After a cold hike there is nothing like relaxing with a cold beer.




Two days later we took a little chugger train from Harrochov to a slightly larger town, Tanvald, to catch the train to Prague. This was a Sunday.



The train to Prague was pretty empty when it left Tanvald, but at the next station a big group of boy scouts got on. They must have been camping and were heading back to Prague. It got very crowded, with kids standing in the corridors, and backpacks everywhere. Rich had the pleasure of sitting next to a little boy we call ADD Kid. The little guy could not sit still. To top it off, the heat in our compartment was stuck on full blast and it was raining outside so the window couldn’t be left open to combat the fierce heat. Well, we thought, maybe it will put little Mr. Ants in his Pants to sleep. No such luck. He went out in the corridor and stuck his head out that window, got soaking wet, and came and sat back down. But, the kids were actually quite well behaved. As the train continued on more and kids piled on at each station. Cars were added to the train, but still it was standing room in the corridors only. Then, the train stopped and we were all piled onto busses for a ten minute ride to another train station where we all piled back on a different train.

Rich on the Charles Bridge in Prague.