Friday, 25 September
This trip was originally conceived as the annual September Weekend Bon Accord Travel Club trip to foreign fields. Alas mein host had other arrangements for 2009 so only three mortals remained on board. Howard was not to be one of us despite gentle encouragement on a daily basis over the past six months. And where were Steve and Dr Stan?A 04.30 alarm clock setting was required to get this trip underway, collecting Robin at his Dumbarton Castle en route to an 07.00 Prestwick flight to Stansted and then on to Hahn. Memmingen was our originally intended destination but Mr O’Leary had brought that flight forward and so Hahn it was.
A ten minute window at Hahn enabled us to catch the bus down to Mainz, and a connecting train to Stuttgart saw us reach the Ibis at Marienplatz by 16.30. Jonathan was already there, he had not returned after the Wolf Fest as he has so elegantly described elsewhere?
Within the hour we were at the Cannstatter Wasen , or the Stuttgart Oktoberfest which may be a more congenial description. The Dinkel Acker Zelt was the first one occupied, the band was in full flight and the place was starting to fill up. Sadly the bier was not up to the high standards expected and so it was decided to move on. The Grandls Hofbräu-Zelt was booked out and admission was by reservation only and so we decamped to the lesser Hofbräu-Zelt opposite… this place was already going crazy, so we joined in. A safe seat on the periphery meant we could join in with the favourites - Viva Colonia – and sit out the rest.
By 22.00 Jonathan was convinced that it was time for Robin to leave, that he was lying unconscious on the floor… is completely made up… food back at Marienplatz was beckoning…there was none. The worst Franziskaner on the planet was being served at the Ibis, and so day one came to an end. This lack of food did not deter Hector who officially blogs that his doctor told him he is fat. The pain of the left foot and suspected fractured metatarsal was not a bother by the end of the evening.
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