If it’s Wednesday it must be Köln.

That was the end destination but Hector and Marg took the opportunity to visit the Gronau Lake: it was on all the postcards, we had not found it. A slight navigation error took us west instead of north and so we did not get to see the Schloss as well. Seen the lake, Gronau is ticked.













A direct train to Köln saw us arrive early afternoon, or in time to check in at the Ibis at Barbarossplatz. We took the U Bahn back to Neumarkt and walked back through the shopping streets of Koln. Stan and Jonathan were due to arrive imminently, Lord Clive and Maggie were on a flight due in the early evening.


It was a case of does the mountain come to Mohammed: Hector and Marg were at Früh (am Dom) first. The smoking ban has seen a rearrangement of the rooms since the last visit. The shop is now a cafe too, but the much needed new polo shirt was procured here before settling into the main room on the right. Jonathan arrived soon and managed to get fee bier. Stan joined us and did not. We did the litre as is the custom. Gravity bier, the correct way to serve Kölsch.

We decanted to the new Gaffel am Dom (Bahnhofsvorplatz, 150667) which for much of the last thirty years was the Alt Köln am Dom, serving Gilden. This was a brief stop and despite an appreciation of the bier, why do they serve it under pressure?
The discovery of this visit is the new Gaffel Limonode: this is comparable to a Ginger Ale, it is quite the best lemonade Hector has ever tasted and hopefully cases will be brought back in the summer.

Marg was permitted to taste her own drink, eventually.

















The U Bahn down to Poststrasse then followed, and the highlight of every trip to Köln: Reissdorf (Kleiner Griechenmarkt 40, 50676 ). Lord Clive and Maggie had just walked in before us and were negotiating a table. The main room on the left was the customary room of choice. However, the smoking ban has not been fully implemented and it is the area to the right (larger by law?) which is the non-smoking area. We basically had this to ourselves the entire evening. We ate. We had over 100 Kölsch between us. The bier is of course gravity dispensed.

Hector spotted a chap at the door wearing a brand new style of Reissdorf polo shirt: I managed to introduce myself and discovered this was the new manager. He brought one over to us later and when Hector stated it was for a future birthday present, a discount was proffered.






Having now made friends with the new management, it was inevitable that Hector would relive the days when he used to walk in to Reissdorf and be recognised by name. This meant getting behind the bar to pour one's own. And yes, it was paid for, I think.


Were we last out? We must have been else the night would not have been memorable, I cannot remember...
Back to the Ibis and the ladies withdrew, as ladies do.
Bad Boys kept Hector up drinking large glasses of Sion until 03.00.

I remember Sion, Marg was not amused.