Excursion to Budweiser Budvar Brewery (Budějovický Budvar), České Budějovice, and Český Krumlov

Ana and Hanza, our Czech coordinators, planned a whole day of events around the South Bohemia region in the Czech Republic. The first stop was a WWII monument recognizing the last battle of the war in the Czech Republic on May 11, 1945. From there we traveled on to see a small neighboring town and church, then moved down the road to the famous Budweiser Budvar brewery.

Budweiser is one of Czech's most popular beers, and has been brewed solely at the same location since the 1800s. We got a great tour around the brewery, and got to see each of the many processes in making beer. The bottling room, full of large machines moving empty, full and recycled bottles to the different stations for washing, filling and packaging, was especially interesting. After the tour, the brewery restaurant served us a great lunch of potato soup, salad, wiener schnitzel and crepes for dessert.

Ceske Budejovice and it's Cerna Vez, or Black Tower, was our next stop. We climbed its 225 steps to reach the top of this great tower overlooking the city.

We then visited the stunning town of Ceske Krumlov, and its Castle Chateau. The rain didn't stop us from having a good time walking through the cobblestone streets to the base of the huge castle. Once inside, we were taken on a tour that described the castle's history starting back in the 1300s! After our tour in the castle, and a few stops along the way for photo taking, we headed to dinner and then back to the campus.

So far, all has been great here in the Czech Republic!