Bees!

   For Bees and Beekeeping, my class took an excursion to the Bee Institute in the Czech countryside. Here are some photos and videos from the trip.

   We began our journey at the Prague Institute, then walked to the metro and got off at a a stop near a train station in Prague. We took a train across the countryside and got off at a stop near a farm with a chicken coop and a lake, which was teeming with ducks and swans. It felt good to be in a wide open space again, but made me a little homesick.

There were so many ducks! It was only about 25 degrees, so they must have been chilly.

Our sturdy looking ferry that took us across the pond to the Bee Institute on the other side.

Empty bee hives that are usually full during the Spring and Summer.

   I'll post a video below of my first sighting of the bees. It was a beautiful and exhilarating experience.

Sleepy, docile honey bees. 

They cluster together to stay warm. 

   I could feel the heat the bees were giving off when I held out my bare palm next to them. I was very surprised by how warm a cluster of bugs in the snow could be.

Our fearless,  kind-hearted bee professor.

The "paBEErazzi" taking photos. A phrase coined by my roommate Morgan. :)

A bee resting on a students hand. No one was stung on our trip, can you believe it?

Mitzy, the bee cat.

Watching bee insemination. Which was, surprisingly, quite disturbing. 

Trying all eight varieties of honey!

My favorite flavors were "Clover," "Creamed" and "Buckwheat." A few other types were "Lime," "Sunflower" and "Rapeseed." Unfortunately I can't remember the other two types.

Morgan looking at the beeswax honey comb.  They are used to start new hives.

Stacks on stacks of wax. They sell the wax for use in candles and other products.

   After tasting honey and viewing the wax sheeting machine, we went to the honey mead brewery in the cellar.

   The brew master gave us a taste of regular white wine first, so we could compare it to the flavor of honey wine. Then he gave us a taste of a yellow, sweet and fizzy liquid that was created during the brewing process. After trying this, we were given cups of the honey wine/mead. It smelled like the liqueur "Amaretto" and was amber in color. It was about 10:00am so I chose to only take a tiny taste of  the honey mead, which was very strong.

Drinking the fizzy honey drink!

Yum. 

In the tasting room of the brewery. The brew master is in the upper right corner. Charming fellow.

   After the wine tasting, we had lunch. Which for everyone except me, was a traditional Czech goulash with potato dumplings. I was given fried havarti cheese, potatoes, a salad, bread and more cheese. The fried havarti cheese is another traditional Czech dish and it is delicious. Sometimes it pays to be a vegetarian. :)

   When lunch ended, we were taken to a shop where they sold honey, mead and my personal favorite, honey chocolate. My friends and I call it "bee chocolate," but it is simply a chocolate bar, with gooey honey chocolate deliciousness in the middle. I may have a small piece of the chocolate left I can photograph to illustrate. Needless to say, it was an excellent way to end a very interesting day at the bee farm.

The "bee chocolate."
Featuring a picture of the Bee Institute in the summer, which looks quite different than the snow covered landscape we saw that Saturday morning.

   Once we finished lunch we took the boat across the pond again and walked back to our train. Bidding us farewell were some less than enthused swans.

I eagerly approached the adorable swans.

They growled at me.

Overall it was a very interesting and exciting day. I have a new appreciation for bees and all of the useful things they provide us with.

Until next time,

Miranda