Beer

This visit has been all about the beer, quite obviously. For Jamie though he has enjoyed the drinking company of some of the local animals in the petting zoo rather more than that of Jono and Tom....

We attended the opening of a new local garden at which the mayor (ess) was present. Jono, perhaps after a little too much of the 50p per pint brew, took it upon his shoulders to dance (in his own way) with every local woman. Including the mayor who, whispering into Jono's ear, claimed that he was her first dance of the day. Well it certainly wasnt going to be the first anything else......the husband was supposedly linked to the local mafia (who held a BBQ last night - they seem rather civilised).

We got friendly with Rolf.

Tom got friendly with the local horse meat. Then the local DJ turned up the volume..........

And, finally, Jono clambered into the wrong bed in our hotel. Concluding a day in which he fell off a bench, pissed the DJ off by requesting some dub, danced with the mayor and ate a dubious, although delicious, steak tartar.

The day must be summed up in a photo.

T,J,J.

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Continental Breakfast.

Czech breakfast is no better..... being stared at by several hungry sting rays while trying to eat is more off putting than a builder clearing the tables or a look-alike of Vince Vaughn miserably serving at the bar (made even more miserable by one of what we are now terming Tom's "moments")

The man who offerred to "big willy suck" last night seems to have followed us back to our hotel, outside of which he now permanently camps in the bus shelter. Hmm. Expect our wills uploaded shortly. Or a video of Tom running away from a man in a long coat - we are tempted to use him as bait....Jamie is too fat and Jono too vain to tickle his fancy.

Photo: all three in the Ajax stadium in Amsterdam.

We are tempted by the 30 degree heat and stunning village to go and have a proper look around....of course Jamie is currently asleep, returning to bed after breakfast, and so we will wait for him to rise from his coma. Meeting with Rolf at 2.30. Taking the princess to the brewery beforehand (under Rolf's orders) to be loaded with several crates of Czech Republic's finest beer - 'Zatec Blue'. mmmmm

This is some of the very stuff being fermented..... what you cannot see in the picture is the layer of ammonia just above the surface of the foam....pungent.

The outside of Rolf's palace. 8.5 acre site overlooking the river from which he draws the water to make the beer. The brewery first brewed beer in 1004 AD, the original building being a castle...only a small section of that remains.

a note to leave this morning's blog on:

J, T, J.

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Night in Zatec

Went out for supper with Rolf, a little tardy after a rather long nap to catch up on what we lost last night. After which we found out that Jamie weighs more than Tom.....picture enclosed

Then we returned to the hotel to find the first attractive Czech bird on reception. Competition is on.... results to be published soon.

Several strange encounters tonight including one man "i suck big willy free my friend". No thanks. Even if "mudder and farter sleeping hotel".

The day summed up in a photo for you:

yes that is ROLF MUNDING. thanks for a great day! off to see the mayoress tomorrow. beaut. Jono is holding him to the £1500 bet. buffting.


J, T, J

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Zatec brewery and lunch with Rolf Munding

A welcome sight in Zatec after having travelled all night. Showers were a relief from the pretty basic night spent in the car.....

Rolf taking the motto of his brewery rather to heart...... (translated as "where there is beer being brewed, life is good").

We learnt several useful things: 4 pint pitcher? rest it against your arm (demonstrated so tactfully by Rolf above) hops? we can distinguish between the three types which are most common. And lagering? most "bitters" in Britain are actually "lagered". POW

We had an extensive tour including tasting....Jono got into one of the huge tanks (empty) which each hold 40,000 beers. Fascinating start to our journeys around CZ!

X

Jamie has just gone to sleep again.

Our final day in Amsterdam and the trip to Zatec

Visiting the rijks museum, the Anne Frank museum, travelling on the trams and metro we experienced the last the city had to offer. A visit to the Ajax stadium before we left was the icing on the cake. We embarked on the nine hour drive across Germany through driving rain we made it to Zatec this morning where we met Rolf Munding (a rather eccentric character depicted above nailing a pitcher).

Jamie is the envy of both Tom and Jono having slept a good nine hours even if the "princess" was parked under blue neon by Jono at a petrol station in the early hours of the morning to grab some kip.

T, J, J
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Breakfast and the route for tonight...

Find below the picture of our route to the brewery just outside Prague. Estimated journey time: 8 hours/810 km.

Just been cooked some Romanian scrambled eggs for breakfast (very tasty) and were beginning to think that perhaps this hotel isnt quite as Fawlty Towers esque as we first thought before the waiter came to clear our plates dressed as a builder.

We are glad to be leaving the Rembrandtplein Hotel.....

Today on our cultural rounds we are going to visit the Reichs museum followed by the Anne Frank museum. We plan to leave for Zatec Brewery just outside of Prague at around midnight tonight

T, J, J
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Red Light Distict

Tonight we had a rather different experience of the city than Subway provided us earlier on. We visited the rather seedy areas of the city which both shocked and intrigued us..... see the picture below

T Comment: Jamie and i were under strict instructions from Jono's gf to keep him away from the girls untill he got back and then she will make it worth it and i  quote "i will even get a vajazzle as a present if you last". 

Although the weather rather put a dampener on things we have experienced a little of everything that Amsterdam has to offer now but we still have two museums to visit tomorrow! We didn't meet up with Archie and co as was originally though as they decided to take an early night! On a more positive note we rather more enjoyed our experience at supper time when coming across the local Subway staff. The picture below speaks for itself and our mouths are still burning from the deluge of chilli sauce that the small sandwich maker treated us to along with the cries of "Durka Durka Salad please - its more healthy". Another moment of hilarity occurred when returning to our hotel we found Dimitri hiding behind the desk...absolutely gone."Would you like some cornflakes?"

 note the clip cited: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UCdOZiybxqw

And finally Jono decided to treat himself to some evening entertainment! (click on the photo below to enlarge)

T, J, J x

Dimitri and the half day exploring.....

Having wandered Amsterdam since just before lunch we have concluded two things....Our hotelier "Dimitri" is still completely stoned (photo evidence) and the cultural delights the city has to offer are no less spectacular in the daytime than they are at night.

Tonight we will head out and probably meet with the other guys (Archie, George, Henry and Tozer). The red light district has yet to be visited so expect a heavily edited blog later. Everyone having a sleep now to prepare for a long night ahead as it is our last proper night in Amsterdam before we have an overnight journey to Prague to make it in time for a show round of the Jatets brewery about an hour outside of Prague!!

Perhaps now is the right time to unveil another of the photo's from last night:

Today we visited the home of Dutch beer....the Heineken Brewery provided many thrills one of which was a 4d experience. We proved just how valuable our schooling was as we werethe only ones to answer the beer tasting questions correctly. Tomorrow we are going to visit the Anne Frank Museum and then take a trip to the Reichs but unfortunately there is only a small section of the museum which is open due to renovation!

T, J, J.

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Documenting the Trip over

Ferry over was good with the exception of a few wierd yanks and Dutch people.

Managed to overcome the boredom by going to watch the film limitless.! The early night last night didnt turn out that way as we got up at 10 pm and went out with archie and his cousins and ended up at the cousins house! Jamie and Tom ended up for an hour at a vending machine trying to get some beers and eventually succeeded! We got back at 5:30am and Archie and George De Klee slept in our room with Jono having a conversation lasting hours with the Romanian bar man who spoke very little English yet they were speaking about the Romanian political system!! Up today with lovely weather and are now off to the Reichs museum followed by the Anne Frank museum and then rounding off the cultural tour with a trip around the Heineken Brewery! And then further exploration of the city's more dubious areas by bike.

T.

First Night Out

Had an amazing night out in Archie's cousin's friend's appartment. Thanks for an awesome, if never ending,  night.

All the museums tomorrow etc.

Thought id leave a note to finish on for the night (everyone minus George, Jamie and Quinten with Archie's cousin Seb. )

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Amsterdam 11th July

Jono Update: 

PICTURE: Tom makes a new gf so im not the only one to be in a relationship on the tour.

Arrived safely. We got here after negotiating the one way systems around Amsterdam while Jamie was walking around for 5 hours trying to get to the hotel. He has collapsed after supper (photo below).

Early night tonight and exploration tomorrow.... Museums etc. Going out tomorrow night. Long term relationship strained by hysterics and immature jokes.

Tom Update:

PICTURE: farting tennis between Jamie and Tom broke the rules and at the same time jeapordised Jono's relationship via Skype. 

Absolutely mirked a Subway 12 inch. Came back to find our hotelier completely out of it...pillows were not supplied to our rooms for 3 hours.

Watching ron weasley and harry potter...mmm

check loo paper before going for a shit.

Jamie Update:

PICTURE: "early night? thats what they think" power nap and Harry Potter 1 later energy infects others and we head out on the town. 

Arrive earlier than others. Bummed around slept in an internet cafe and then met others in rembrandt square. Found a coffee shop and cruised over to calm the after effects (of the caffeine) at Subway. Woken up and the team have decided to head out to meet Archie Burgess and his dutch cousin....here we go.


And perhaps something for good old glase to see......?

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