Brandon O'Brien

Sunday, October 12, 2025 @ 6:53 PM in 2025 Oktoberfest Trip

I didn't get to bed until around 1 in the morning, so I tried sleeping in but still woke up around 7:30. I finally got up around 8 and brushed my teeth and got a little work done. Anton and I headed out for breakfast and then an aimless walk around old town. We went to a breakfast place not to far from the AirBnb where I ordered Shakshuka (poached eggs with tomatoes and peppers) along with a coffee. The meal was pretty filling and probably a lot more food than I actually needed.

We came back to the AirBnb and met up with Ben, who ended up going to sleep much later than us since he was up talking with Casper. After hanging out for a little bit, we went out and met up with Casper for a cup of coffee before he got in his car to drive back to Poland. Afterwards, we did a little more aimless walking around but finally walked through a few big buildings with huge atriums/arcades.

We were pretty close to the Church of Our Lady of the Snows and it looked gigantic so we found the entrance and popped in. The altarpiece was incredibly ornate and the arches and windows were huge. By now it was getting close to 2pm and we were starting to get hungry so we found a ramen place that had really good reviews and decided to go there for lunch. It was called Takumi Ramen Quadrio and had some amazing lychee lemonade and delicious ramen. I got a spicy chicken one and it really hit the spot and was much easier on the stomach than traditional Czech food.

We still had a couple hours to kill before Anton needed to catch his train, so we tried going to one brewery but it ended up being closed. We found another nearby called Pivovar U Tří růží. We tried their red, dark and pale lagers which were all great. We ended up having two rounds there before finally heading back to the AirBnb so Anton could grab his bag. We're all pretty tired of drinking now so two beers was more than enough for today.

It's almost 7pm now. I ran out a little bit ago and got Dakotah a small toy car from a local Czech children's store. We're going to head out in a little bit to get dinner which will probably be from a place that makes focaccia sandwiches. Tomorrow is another huge travel day. We're catching a ride to the Prague airport at 7:30am then getting on a 9:35 flight to Munich where we have about 6 hours to kill before our international flight home. We're going to store our bags at the airport and take a 25 minute bus to Freising, just outside the Munich airport, to Weihenstephan where we plan to have one final beer in Europe before heading home.

The rest of the night tonight will be showering, packing and going to bed early so we're ready for all the travel tomorrow. This has been a really fun trip, even if the weather hasn't been the greatest. We've been able to visit a lot of really cool breweries, try some amazing beer and eat some incredible food. I think the amount of time we spent in each city was pretty spot on, without ever really feeling too rushed.

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Tags: prague

Posted from: Czech Republic

Saturday, October 11, 2025 @ 11:50 PM in 2025 Oktoberfest Trip

Today was another long and full day. After getting ready in the morning, we set out for a cup of coffee at the shop around the corner called "onesip" again. We didn't need to meet with Ondrej until almost 11 to catch our transport out to a town called Uneticky where they have a really nice brewery and restaurant. Ondrej showed up on time but the tram we were supposed to meet was late and extremely packed, meaning we would have missed our bus connection at the end of the line.

Rather than wait for another bus, we decided to get a ride share out there. It was extremely cheap but the driver was doing a lot of fast accelerations with really hard stops. We did make it to the town just fine, but Anton was pretty car sick afterwards. We walked around for a few minutes to clear his head then went into the brewery for a drink. The brewery had a small but nice outdoor area, but since it was pretty cold and cloudy we went inside. I ordered their 10 degree unfiltered lager which was great. For lunch, we split a sample platter that had shaved ham, sausage, gouda and blue cheese crumbles. I ordered a bone broth soup that had a lot of carrots, onions and noodles in it which was great. I was still not super hungry thanks to the huge meals we've been having lately.

We had another round of beer there before heading out and walking around the town a little bit. There isn't much there so we got another ride share back into Prague and stopped at a little bottle shop called Base Camp. They have probably 10-12 refrigerators filled with various craft beers from around the area. They also had a wall of empty cans and there were a couple cans of La Cumbre on there, which was really funny to see.

We each picked a beer and split them while chatting for a while. They had some really good IPAs and a cocoa porter that tasted like eating straight cocoa nibs. We finished with a wild beer that was aged in wine barrels and that was also really nice, even though it had a slightly off nose. Ondrej's girlfriend met up with us and by now it was around 5 so we started working our way back into town. The plan was to meet up with a guy from Poland Ben knew from a Mazda Miata Discord server, then go get dinner at a place called Basta. Basta brews their own beer and also specializes in duck and poultry dishes.

The walk back to the AirBnb was really nice. It took us through a big park across the river from our place that has a big metronome sculpture. Along the way, I saw a big area for kids to ride their bikes through a fake city that had all kinds of road markings and street signs. It looked like a fun way to learn the rules of biking in a city. We got back to the AirBnb and I dropped off my bag. Ben's friend, Casper, got in and is staying at an AirBnb right around the corner, so we went over there and met up with him where he shared some home made chocolate chunk cookies with us. The cookies were incredible! No nuts, but chopped chocolate bar with some white chocolate chips as well.

We took another big ride share over to the restaurant since the trams would get us there a lot later than we wanted. We showed up around 6:40, ordered some beers and dinner. I wasn't super hungry and had some duck last night, so I got chicken schnitzel and fries instead. It was good, but slightly dry. I should have ordered the pulled duck sandwich that looked amazing as well. I had hit my drinking wall at this point, but we hung out there for a while longer after some more of Ondrej's friends met up with us.

The final stop of the night was another little craft beer spot around the corner. We got a big table upstairs and I ordered a Keller beer. I kinda nursed it for the remainder of the time there. When we left, it was around 11:30. Fortunately we were able to catch a tram that took us right back to our AirBnb. We got to our station a little after midnight and then grabbed a slice of pizza at a little shop that Anton got a slice at the other night. The pizza was fine, but tasted good as a late night snack.

We came back to the AirBnb where we stayed up chatting a little longer before finally passing out. Tomorrow is our last full day in Europe, but I'm not quite sure what we'll do. Anton has a 6pm train back to Berlin and Casper leaves some time during the day as well.

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Tags: prague, uneticky

Posted from: Czech Republic

Friday, October 10, 2025 @ 9:55 PM in 2025 Oktoberfest Trip

We were up really late last night. Our brewer friend Anton arrived from Berlin at 9:30 last night. We met up with him and another brewer friend from Prague named Ondrej. First, we met up at a hole in the wall brewery that had some really good beer. We had a round there then walked over to another place called Pult. Pult was much more modern and had modern takes on Czech beer. We had several of their lagers and then a round of sour beers. One of the beers, Spon, was a really nice spontaneous fermentation beer that had a light tartness and great flavor. On the way back to the AirBnb we stopped so Anton could get some food. There wasn't much open aside from a pizza and kabob place. They got some slices and we ran into some really drunk American that showed us videos of him and his friends shooting guns out of the window of their cars into the forest. It was really weird. We finally got to bed around 2am.

This morning, I woke up around 8am and Anton and I waited around for a little bit for Ben to get up but decided to head out and get some coffee by about 9:30 since Ben hadn't woken up yet. We went around the corner to a place that had decent coffee and some croissants. By the time we got back to the AirBnb, Ben was awake so we started out for the day. The plan was to walk up to the Strahov Monastery and check that out before getting some beer and lunch at their brewery. We started off by walking around the river to the bridge we needed to cross to get to the Monastery.

The walk up he hill took us through some really old parts of town and by all the embassies. We eventually made it to the Monastery where we got some tickets to go in and check out the library. We thought we could walk into the library but they had it gated off so we could only see a hall of curiosities and the library through a doorway. A little disappointed, we decided it was time for a drink and lunch. I was at this brewery back 12 years ago when I was in Prague and remember the beer being really good. This time, we got several of their beers and they all tasted really nice. I settled on their dark lager which had some nice chocolate flavor.

For lunch, I had a goulash that was really good. Maybe not quite as good as our first night here, but the dumplings were really fluffy and the meat was tender. The dumplings were really good at soaking up the sauce from the goulash. After finishing up, we walked through the narrow roads of Novy Svet, then walked back into town via the Charles Bridge.

We tried stopping at a brewery called U Fleku but it was slammed. We walked over to a different place called Benedict where we had a few more beers that were also really good. Their dark lager was much lighter than the others I've had here, but was still really good. With no other real plans now, we headed back to the AirBnb to drink some beer that Anton had brewed, an Extra Special Bitter, as well as a pale ale we picked up in Schonram.

We were starting to feel a little tired from the late night last night, so we decided to head out before we got too tired. We went to a place called Sibeeria and I had a coconut vanilla porter that tasted great. The last stop was back at the same restaurant we ate at the first night for some more Czech food. I had the roasted duck with some grilled veggies and kraut which was fantastic. Anton had the huge pork knuckle that Ben had the last time we went. He couldn't finish his either. The amount of meat on that is insane.

We've been back at the AirBnb for a little while chatting and now we're all going to head off to bed. Tomorrow we're meeting up with Ondrej again and will probably do some more drinking. Hopefully we'll sleep well tonight and be rested up for tomorrow.

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Tags: prague

Posted from: Czech Republic

Thursday, October 9, 2025 @ 7:27 PM in 2025 Oktoberfest Trip

The main focus of today was getting to the town of Plzen (Pilsen) for a tour of the world famous Pilsner Urquell brewery. The town of Pilsen is about an hour and a half train ride away, and the train we booked was set to depart the station at 10am. Since we had some time, we went out and got a cup of coffee from a place called "onesip". They had some really nice coffee, even though the place was extremely small, with only two spots to sit.

We made it to the train station with plenty of time and saw our train on the board. The problem was, there wasn't a platform number assigned to it. As it got closer and closer to our departure time, we were starting to worry about what was going on. There was another American couple next to us that were supposed to be on the same train. When the departure time passed and no train ever showed up, we thought maybe there was another bus reroute but couldn't find anything. We finally went to the information booth and they told us we can get on the next train that was set to leave at 10:35. This was cutting it a little close because our planned tour at Pilsner Urquell was for 12:15 and the new train was supposed to arrive in Pilsen at 11:58. Google was telling us it would be a 14 minute walk to get between the station and the brewery.

In talking to the American couple a little more while we were waiting for the new train, it turns out they live in Carmel, IN, the same town I grew up in and the woman went to the same school as my mom and also went to Purdue. Extremely small world. They were also set to do the Pilsner Urquell tour but had booked a 12:30 slot instead, so had a little more time to work with.

The ride was uneventful and the train got to the station on time. Fortunately it was a really easy walk over to the brewery and we got to the visitor center with plenty of time to spare. I really had to pee and all of the bathrooms on the train were locked or broken, so having a little time to go before the tour was great. The only problem was the guide who spoke English was out sick so the replacement was someone who didn't speak English. Instead of getting the info first hand, we had to download an app that acted as a virtual tourguide. It worked but would have been more fun to have the info given to us in person. Unfortunately the 12:30 tour was full or we would have switched to that one.

The first 3/4 of the tour was pretty normal with fancy marketing and some views of the bottling facility. Where it got really interesting was when we went down into the cellars and got to see where they used to ferment the beer where it was cold. They had some original barrels that they still ferment some of the beer in for quality purposes, to make sure it tastes the same as it did back in the 1800s when the brewery was founded.

The tour concluded with being served a glass of beer directly from one of the fermentation vats in the cellar. We got to drink Pilsner Urquell in its unfiltered form which is pretty unique. It was a lot more bitter and had more yeast taste, but was really good. After the tour, we were starving because it was about 1:45 and we hadn't had lunch yet. We made our way into town and found a Vietnamese place to get some food. We wanted another break from meat and dumplings and this sounded like the best choice. The food was not as good as it is back in the US, but it was vegetables and light and tasted good enough.

After that, we walked around the town of Pilsen for a little while before making our way back to the train station to catch our train back to Prague. Fortunately there weren't any issues and we were able to get in our train car with our assigned seats. Back in Prague, the sun had come out so we walked to the Astronomical Clock again. There were huge crowds of soccer fans chanting and chugging beer. There was quite a bit of police presence, so I guess those may get rowdy. We made our way over to the Charles Bridge, through some packed touristy areas, and then took some photos of the bridge from the banks of the river.

Rather than walk back through the crowds, we walked along some paths that followed the river basically back to our AirBnb. We got back here and I showered before we plan to go get dinner and meet with another brewing friend of ours who gets in late tonight from Berlin. For dinner, we're going to a meat shop around the corner that is supposed to make some fantastic sandwiches.

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Tags: prague, pilsen

Posted from: Czech Republic

Wednesday, October 8, 2025 @ 7:59 PM in 2025 Oktoberfest Trip

Today was another travel day to our final destination of the trip, Prague. It was actually nice for the first time since we'd been to Salzburg but we didn't have any time to do any sight seeing. I had a banana and yogurt for breakfast and then we started walking to the train station around 9:30. The mountains surrounding Salzburg had a lot of snow on them thanks to all the colder weather and heavy rain that passed through. At the train station, we each grabbed a sandwich to eat on the train since we figured we wouldn't have time for an actual meal.

It was supposed to be an easy journey where we took a train to Linz, Austria, then a second train from Linz to Prague. Unfortunately, they were doing some kind of line work on a section so we had to take a bus from Linz to České Budějovice, then another train from there to Prague. It wasn't too difficult, but the bus added an extra hour or so to the trip. We did get to ride through a lot of cool Austrian and Czech countryside which seemed a lot like driving through Kentucky or Tennessee. Lots of rolling hills with farmland and cattle.

When we got to České Budějovice, we only had about 3 minutes to run from the bus station, across the street and then up to the train station to catch our bus. Fortunately we made it and settled into a 6 person seating area for the hour and a half ride to finish the trip. Two other women came into the car at one of the stops and apparently had reserved the window seats. At least no one else came in to claim the other seats we were sitting in. Sam had called me while we were on the train and I got to talk to her and Dakotah while they were getting ready for school.

We got to see a few minutes of sun on the journey, but unfortunately the rain had followed us and by the time we arrived in Prague it was raining again. We walked the 15 or so minutes to our AirBnb which is on a pretty busy street. I'm a little worried how loud it's going to be at night, but I guess we'll see. After settling in, we went to a restaurant around the corner called Hostinec U Sádlů. They specialize in Czech food and were really highly rated.

Ben and I were pretty hungry since all we had for lunch was the sandwich on the train. We both ordered some Budvar beer to start. I got a bowl of garlic soup and a beef goulash. Ben ordered steak tartar and a pork knuckle with potatoes and cabbage. It was an enormous amount of food, but it was extremely delicious. We finished with a dark beer from Budvar and then decided we were done with drinking since we were both so full.

We walked down to the old town and Astronomical clock to help make us feel a little less stuffed, then worked our way over to the Palladium mall where they have a big grocery store on the bottom floor. We each got some breakfast snacks for the next couple of days. We're calling it a little early tonight since we have plans to head to Pilzen tomorrow to do a tour at Pilsner Urquell. Tomorrow night another brewing friend is going to meet up with us after about 9 and we're going to have several days of beer geeking out.

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Tags: salzburg, prague

Posted from: Czech Republic

Sunday, September 29, 2013 @ 5:51 PM in 2013 Europe

Day 95

I mentioned it last night but the Use-It map for Prague has 3 different walking routes outlined on it. I did one yesterday and today I wanted to do the other two. These two routes took me on quite the adventure today. Here's the route all said and done: 11+ miles in Prague.

The end of one of the walks started pretty close to the hostel. Rather than hike to the official start I ended up just doing the walk backwards. It took me up Vitkov hill to a decent view of the city and the Zizkov Television Tower. The TV tower was the next big sight. It's a very interesting building. Some people hate it but it is what it is. In 2000, an artist put some giant crawling babies on the side of the tower which made it even more strange. From there I zig zagged through the city back to the Wencleslas Square where I started the next walk.

I headed north and ate a sandwich and had some mulled wine (hot spiced wine) before continuing across the river into Letna park. I hiked up and gained some elevation until I was behind the big castle. The route had me follow through a really old neighborhood called Novy Svet which has some really cool old windy streets and buildings dating back to the 14th century.

There's an old monastery in the area that has been brewing beer for a long time. I stopped in and had a beer then went over to Petrin's tower. It's modeled after the Eiffel Tower and you can climb to the top for some good views. It was pretty crowded and I didn't feel like dealing with more crowds and lines so I kept on going.

The park around the tower is extremely confusing to navigate. There are paved paths that double back on each other, split into 3 different directions, merge, change direction, etc. All of this while surrounded by big trees and steep elevations so you can't actually tell where you're going. Eventually I made it down into the city and made my way back across the overly crowded Charles Bridge.

The crowds here in Prague have been pretty bad. I'm not sure if I've just been lucky earlier in the trip, but it seems like the crowds here are far beyond what I've run into elsewhere. Rather than continue walking around I just went to the grocery to get some food for dinner and came back to the hostel. I had a full enough day and it felt good to get back and shower and take my shoes off.

Tomorrow afternoon I get on a train to Vienna where I'll spend a few nights before heading into Italy.

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Tags: daily journal, czech republic, prague

Posted from: Czech Republic

Saturday, September 28, 2013 @ 4:47 PM in 2013 Europe

Day 94

After checking into the hostel last night I started talking with an Australian guy in my room. We went out to the lobby and the lady working at the hostel counter had just ordered some Vietnamese food from across the street. It smelled good so we went out and had dinner there. When I get sick in Albuquerque I pretty much solely consume green chile stew or Vietnamese Pho to help fight the cold. I jumped at the chance to get some Pho which I happily spiced up with chile sauce.

After that, I watched Breaking Bad, took some cold meds then went to bed. This morning after breakfast I set out to walk around the town and explore Prague. I started out by walking to the famous Charles Bridge. By the time I got there it was already pretty crowded. The bridge goes to the other side of town where the castle, cathedral and basilica are on top of the hill.

I walked up there for some good views of the city. Unfortunately I got there in the early afternoon so the sun made it a little difficult to photograph and see the city. After that I walked down the hill and started on a walk outlined on a guide map that I was given at the hostel. The walk took me along the river through some parks and scenic parts of town.

Along the way I made a stop to try a trdelnik. It's actually a hungarian treat but they make them here as well. It's basically a cinnamon roll that's made by wrapping the bread around a rod and heating it up rotisserie style. Mine wasn't quite as warm as I was hoping for but it still tasted good.

The movie Mission Impossible (1996) was filmed partially in Prague so I ate the trdelnik by the river overlooking the Charles Bridge where they filmed several scenes in the movie. There was some kind of rowing race going on. It was funny to watch because each boat had someone yelling "row" but no one was doing it at the same time and it just looked like no one could follow directions. I'm sure whichever team got their act together and actually rowed on pace would have destroyed everyone else.

I started to follow another walk outlined on the map guide but decided to cut it a little early. I made it back to the old square / astronomical clock area where I was distracted by all the food stands set up. I read that while in Prague I really needed to try one of the sausages. Eventually I found a stand that was selling them and ordered one. Instead of being served on a normal bun like an american hot dog, they're served in a cut open baguette.

On the way back to the hostel I stopped at a grocery store and picked up some apples, oranges, a couple beers and some food for dinner. By the time I got back to the hostel it was getting close to 4 so I'll probably just stay here the rest of the night. My cold is still present so I'll take some more meds and hope that another full night of sleep helps.

Tomorrow I'll take another walk on the guide map which will take me through some parts of town I haven't visited yet. Some of the cities I've visited so far have maps by a company called Use-It. Each city map is created by locals for tourists. It's all free and they're usually really informative and don't have any kinds of ads or anything on them. That's what I've been using here in Prague.

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Tags: daily journal, czech republic, prague

Posted from: Czech Republic

Friday, September 27, 2013 @ 7:23 PM in 2013 Europe

Day 93

Today was pretty much entirely a travel day. I left Berlin around 12:45 this afternoon on a train for Prague. When we were in Dresden something went wrong with the engine and we had to wait around 45 minutes while they got us another engine car.

South of Dresden we started following a river and there were some really nice views along the way. The towns and villages we passed were very "old fashioned" looking and there seemed to be a pretty active mindset with people hiking and biking around.

I finally made it to Prague and checked into my hostel. I'll probably head out and get some food then call it an early night so I can help fight this cold.

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Tags: daily journal, czech republic, prague

Posted from: Czech Republic