Sunday, September 28, 2008

Linden "Marathoner" Mueller

The Mildrens would like to give a hearty congratulations to

Linden Mueller
Marathoner Extraordinaire!

Linden completed her first-ever marathon in Berlin, Germany in under 5 hours!


We are so proud of her!

If you'd like to congratulate Linden yourself, go to her blog and post a comment.


Sidenote: We'd also like to thank Rob for being there and running most of Linden's training runs with her, for giving her daily emotional support, and for believing in all of Linden's goals and dreams. We love you, and we are proud of you, too!!!

Friday, September 26, 2008

New Apartment, New Kitty!

Rafa, our new Kitty!!

Before going into the more exciting part of the blog (scroll down if you just can't wait for Cute Overload-worthy photos) we moved into a new apartment over the summer, and boy do we like it!

It may not be as fancy or bright as our first apartment which we definitely definitely miss, but it has several benefits that make it worth the move:
  • It is on the ground floor, diminishing the constant shaking feeling from any and all earthquakes!
  • It is in a safer area of the zone we live in, and there is even a neighborhood watch! This is not your typical small-town watch, either. There are guys with guns who drive around on motorcycles and stand on street corners to make sure everything stays safe. Nice!
  • We have a patio that we can hang out on!
  • It came with three incredibly comfortable couches that beg you to be lazy :)
  • Rent is lower here, so we are able to save some money as well.
The Living Room area


The Entrance area and Dining area


The very spacious bedroom


The Kitchen


The Spare Bedroom/Office with a huge window looking out to the patio


A bathroom


The Patio!
Complete with an avocado tree growing into our area


Second (and much more importantly) we temporarily adopted a kitten! He is from our friend Patricia's friend, Manolo, and we got him when he was only 4 weeks old. He's so small and adorable, and we have certainly missed the companionship of a pet. We are pretty sure we are going to name him Rafael ("Rafa" for short) after our favorite tennis player, the Spanish Rafael Nadal. We like the name also because when we call his name we get to roll our R's -- "Rrrrrrrrrrafa!"

Saturday, September 20, 2008

Bone Chapel and Beyond: Capturing Kutná Hora

Yes, this odd sight is explainable!

During our time in the Czech Republic, we took a day trip from Prague to the small, quaint town of Kutná Hora which packed in the landmarks for such an unassuming place!


Bone Chapel

Don't judge a chapel by its cloisters!

At the top of the sight-seeing list (and the main reason for visiting the town) was the Sedlec Ossuary, or more simply put, the Bone Chapel! The chapel and surrounding cemetery date back to the 1300s, but the redecorated interior of bones was added in the 1700s. According to the city's website,
Remarkable masterpieces include a massive chandelier, a cross, chalices, a monstrance or Schwarzenberg coat-of-arms. According to estimates, bones of approximately 40,000 people were used to decorate the chapel, creating this unique ossuary – a reminder of the transience of human life and the inevitability of death.
Needless to say, it was a truly awesome and unique sight!

The IHS monogram of the name of Jesus name

One of several bone chalices

The Schwarzenberg coat-of-arms

Chapel arches were tastefully done in skull-and-bones style

A close-up of one of the many free-standing stacks of bones

This chandelier is said to contain every bone in the human body -- and then some!

The chandelier was above several angel-topped skulled columns

Cathedral of St. Barbara


This cathedral was one of the most amazing structures we saw while in Europe!

The cathedral was designed by Peter Parler, the same man who designed the famous St. Vitus' Cathedral in Prague on the banks of the Vltava River. The Cathedral of St. Barbara was constructed extremely quickly -- 150 years -- in comparison to St. Vitus (900+ years). It is the Cathedral of St. Barbara, the patron saint of miners since the city was originally founded and flourished with its silver mines. The stone used was also from the mines, and the stained glass art depicts hard labor and mining scenes. There is even a Miners' Chapel.

Frankly we were more impressed by this cathedral than St. Vitus in Prague due to its massive size, plethora of gothic spires, and the view cleanly competed with the city of Prague, as it looked out over the city of Kutná Hora and surrounding lush valley.

Does this look familiar? It should! The same famous Bohemian architect, Peter Parler, designed the cathedral and the statue-laden path on the way to the church, much like his design of St. Charles' bridge on the way to St. Vitus' Cathedral in Prague.

A side view of St. Barbara with the spires in all their gothic glory

The equally impressive back of the cathedral, which houses the nave

A view of Kutná Hora from the cathedral, including the view on another church in town


Plague Column

According to the city's website, the Plague Column is the "Baroque Jewel" of Kutná Hora.

The Plague Column was created between 1713 and 1715 as a reaction to plague epidemic that struck Kutná Hora in 1713 and left thousands of victims behind.
Click on the image for a better look at this Baroque jewel


Stone Fountain

According to the city's website,

The Stone Fountain was the town's burghers’ wordless tribute to water. That is to say water was always lacking in Kutná Hora, therefore bringing a rich spring through a system of wooden pipes right into the heart of the town was a creditable effort. The Stone Fountain was built in 1495. This polygonal structure that was originally decorated by a number of statues stands at a beautiful location on a small square surrounded by a splendid complex of burgher houses.

All in all, our impression of Kutná Hora was a small town that packed a big punch! We would have been satisfied with just the Bone Chapel, but we were pleasantly surprised with all the other sights that awaited us. This is not a city to miss!



Wednesday, September 17, 2008

The Creepies and the Crawlies

This week I saw some new itsy bitsy creatures that go up the water spout...

A crazy caterpillar....


Its spikes are supposedly poisonous!


It was about 5 inches long and very healthy


A small scorpion in a friend's room at an eco-lodge at the Lake


A nest of daddy long leg spiders!


James after being bitten 25+ times by a swarm of ants!

***

Good night

sleep tight

don't let the bed bugs bite!

Friday, September 12, 2008

Visiting the Pilsner Urquell brewery in Plzen, Czech Republic

July 19, 2008

We spent ALL of Friday, July 18, walking around Prague, so we took Saturday a little easier and headed over by train to the town of Plzen for some relaxed exploring. Plzen was a town I wanted to visit ever since I saw it featured on the old PBS series "The Beer Hunter" because it's home to one of the most influential and famous breweries, the Pilsner Urquell Brewery. It's influential because the style of beer known as "pilsner" or "pils" originated here, and more than two-thirds of all beer produced in the world owe their inspiration to the Plzen original. Budweiser/Miller/Coors/Corona--their beers are all pilsner style, though lighter and watered down compared to the original.

Quick history on the brewery and beer
The city of Plzen traces it's connection with beer all the way back to 1295 when its founder King Wenceslaus II granted a brewing license to 257 city houses, allowing them to malt, brew, and serve beer. Sadly, for the next 700 years the beer produced was lackluster and the city struggled to keep up with competition. In 1839, the residents had had enough and dramatically emptied 36 barrells of undrinkable beer in front of city hall. This spurred the town authorities to combine forces and build a modern brewery. In 1842 the Mestansky pivovar (Burgess' brewery) opened its gates and welcomed their first brewer, Josef Groll. Later that year, and before his 30th birthday, Josef succeeded in producing the first golden, crisp, and delicious bottom-fermented beer--Pilsen lager. The renown of Pilsen beer quickly spread beyond the Bohemian borders, and the rest is history!

When we arrived in Plzen, we made our way to the city center, which was a short walk from the train station. The main square was expansive and lined with lovely old buildings that are well-maintained; a large, old church and tall clock tower provide the main focal point. We climbed the narrow and steep stairs to the top for the best view of the city.





After briefly exploring the city center, we made our way to the brewery in time for the 12:45 English-speaking tour. Walking up to Pilsner Urquell, the famous gates greeted us into the impressive grounds that house the original and new factories, visitors center, brewing museum, bottling center, water tower, and gift shop. The brewery is a big tourist draw, and we witnessed full groups of Germans and Japanese taking tours. Our group was around 20 people, and our guide was a local Plzener in his late 20s.



The Tour
The tour was impressive, informative, and fun, and not just for me, but for Rob, Linden, and Beth, too. It started off in a spacious theater with a well-made short film about the brewery's history. Next we walked outside to hear explanations of all the buildings, with the oldest dating back to 1849. We then went into the old brewery-now-historical museum, riding up the largest elevator in Czech Republic (*an odd fact*) and entered another theater. This one was unique in that we all stood on a revolving platform in front of screen that wrapped around 3/4 of the room. We watched another film, this one explaining the origin and process of making the Pilsner Urquell beer. It was really cool! They utilized the screen and rotating platform to present the info in a really engaging way.

Bottling line (and a cool shot using the color accent mode on the camera)

We then went on to a room with information and samples of the special barley, malt, water, hops, and yeast that go into making the beer. You could touch and taste everything. That was followed by a walk-through of a room housing the old copper mashes (which mix the ingredients when making beer) before making our way into the new brew room. The new facility is state-of-the-art and totally computer-controlled, not to mention very warm and smelling like hay! Only five people at a time are needed to oversee the process of making all the beer during this stage of production.


Linden playing with the barley.

The Cellars
The last leg of the tour was the best. We got to see their underground cellars which were hewn out of the sandstone beneath the brewery and stretch to the unbelievable length of five and a half miles. The ceilings feature a unique cooling method by suspending blocks of ice overhead. The place felt like a cold, murky labrinth, with halls splitting off everywhere and full of gigantic barrels. Despite the brewery's upgrade to an ultra modern factory, beer is still produced in a small section of the cellars using a variety of wooden containers that follow the traditional method of open-air fermentation (no lid on the barrel). This beer, while offered for tasting to the visitors as a special part of the tour, is also used to make constant comparisons of the taste and quality of the beer produced using the traditional method and the modern method.

Our guide explains to us the map of the cellars.

Linden looking up at the suspended cooling units while Rob and I marvel at the size of the barrels.

Open-air fermentation in progress. The scum on top doesn't look too appealing, but what eventually pours out sure does.


The Beer
Tasting the fresh and unfiltered beer straight out of the holding barrel was the highlight of the tour. Compared to the bottled variety you can pick up in stores, this one was cloudy (due to it being unfiltered), brighter and more orange than golden yellow, had a noticeably stronger and fresher aroma and flavor, and had a fuller, softer body. Mmmmm! Following the tour, we chatted with our guide about a good place to eat in town and have another beer. We were surprised and delighted to learn of the Na Parkanu restaurant, the only other place that serves the traditional beer we just sampled. So, following our hearty Czech lunch and more sight-seeing, we played cards and enjoyed one more round before catching our train back to Prague.


Brewery worker pouring us our beers straight from the barrel.

Linden, Rob, James, and Beth enjoying their beers underneath the brewery.

Tasty, traditional Czech food and beer

The restaurant where we enjoyed more of the special beer.