Birthplace of Pilsner

We woke up and tried to finish packing. We have way too much stuff. Even with my bag extended, Sheila had to sit on it so I could get it closed.  We left the hotel at about 10:45 AM with the goal of going to Pilsen and touring the Pilsner Urquell Brewery before heading to Mainz, Germany for the night. The traffic was horrendous and it took us about 40 minutes just to get out of the city of Prague.

We made it to Plzen by 12:45 PM and tried to buy tickets for the tour. We were told the tour was completely sold out and the earliest they could get us in was for the 2:45 PM tour. We still had a long drive ahead of us and so were sadly forced to decline. It was still good to be in the birthplace of good pilsner beer and we headed to the beer museum instead. The beer museum is sponsored by Pilsner Urquell but is a little weird and run down. There are lots of beer-related artifacts and the museum itself is housed in an old building with some visible medieval ramparts. It was mildly interesting and not bad. Along with the entry fee, adults get a beer voucher for a small unfiltered Pilsner Urquell at an adjoining tavern. We stopped there and I really enjoyed the beer. We also decided to eat lunch there and we had Bavarian Sausage, pretzel with mustard. I also had a fantastic garlic soup.

We then headed to Mainz where we were staying at the Hyatt Regency Mainz. Somehow, when we booked this place, we thought the hotel was 15 minutes from the airport. However, when we drove here, we found it was a good 35 km away. Still, it’s a beautiful hotel, right on the River Rhine. We got put on the Regency Club floor with access to the Regency Lounge, which was nice.

I had a glass of nice Riesling in the lounge and we headed out for a walk to the City Center. Managed a few Pokelstops on the way. The Old Town Square is fantastic, like every other one we have seen on this trip and the walk through the quaint streets was delightful. When we got back to the hotel, we printed our boarding passes and Sheila insisted I go for a run. I headed out at about 10:30 PM and rain in very warm and muggy conditions for about 2.7 miles. I then came back to the room, had a bunch of potato chips (a bag we had bought and need to finish before leaving) and a glass of beer (I had bought a bottle of Kolzen in Prague for 7.90 crowns – yep, about 35 cents!). It’s already midnight and it will be a while before I get to sleep – I’m watching the coverage of the Republican Convention.

We plan to leave for the airport by about 8:45 AM tomorrow morning, bringing this amazing trip to an end.