On my way south from Prague, I had a six hour layover between trains before I continued onto Cesky Krumlov. Doing what I enjoyed the most, I stepped off of the train not knowing anything about the town. It was a fantastic surprise! I soon learned that "C. Bud" (as I like to call it) is home of the largest town square in all of Europe.
It was in this square where I sat down at a nice outdoor restaurant called Fontana and prepared to order from their menu. It had been close to 12 hours since I last ate a real meal and I was starved. I chose a trout fried in breadcrumbs and asked the waiter about their drink selection.
"Tell me, can you recommend a good local beer?" I asked.
"Yes,' he replied, 'Budweiser!"
"No, no! I don't want any of that cheap American beer." I said, assuming that he didn't understand my question. "I want a local beer!"
"Yes! Budweiser!" he repeated, pointing down to communicate that it is from C. Bud.
I looked at him apprehensively, but agreed on trying a Budweiser.
When the meal came, I gobbled up the trout as fast as I could without eating any bones. And sure enough, the "Bud" looked like it was indeed brewed here in C. Bud!* But this wasn't the beer I grew up to hate. This stuff was great! It went down easy and tasted like fresh barley. I liked it so much, I ordered a second one before finishing the first.
After a moment, I was on floating on cloud nine. As I took the last gulp of the second beer, I took a closer look at the label. 7.2% alcohol!!!! Oh man, no wonder I'm feeling so good. Two of these on an empty stomach and I was gone. After thanking the waiter for the great beer selection, I put on my 60-pound backpack (with difficulty) and stumbled out into the square.
My recollection of what I did before getting on the train bound for C. Krum is hazy to say the least, but it always makes me laugh when I think of what I looked like stumbling around the small town.
*
I learned that Budweiser comes to us thanks to the Germans. From what I was told, Germans call this town "Bud." So when they bought the beer and bottled it, they called it Budvar (meaning "from Budweis" or "Budweiser" in English). But we can always thank the Busch Family for their crappy American counterpart.
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