Detour

On our way back to Belgium from Prague, we detoured a couple of times. Jim is famous for this and it always makes our trips more interesting and fun.

First, we drove through the town of Plzen and as it turns out , this is where the term Pilsner (as in beer) originated. The story goes that in 1838 the citizens of Plzen, Bohemia (now the Czech Republic) found their beer to be spoiled with bacteria and the brew masters of the town rolled 36 barrels of ale into the street, opened them up, and let the beer run through the main square of town and into the nearby river. After watching their work run down the street, the brewers decided next time would be different. Using light barley and Saaz hops, the new beer was the color of straw and light and refreshing, unlike the dark and heavy ales they were used to and the Plzen or Pilsner beer was born. It's pretty much been brewed the same ever since and the brand name Pilsner has become the common name for this type of beer which is probably the most popular beer in the world.

Next, we could see this structure from the highway and decided to try to find it. We did - at the top of a very large hill. It is Burg Leuchtenberg serving as headquarters for the Landgrave (a count having jurisdiction over a large territory) of Leuchtenberg since 1124. Views of the German countryside from the top are incomparable.

When I think of wine, I usually think of France, but Germany has some serious vineyards. Along this stretch of highway from the Czech Republic to Belgium, there are vineyards as far as you can see.

Next detour: Nuremberg and Wurzburg.