What’s that coming over the hill? It’s a Münster!

Another week long extravaganza gets underway,

So, the calm before the storm. Hector and Marg fly to Köln with Germanwings and then head up to Münster. We catch our connection at Köln Deutz, just - because Hector was embroiled with teaching the locals at Köln-Bonn Flughafen how to work the DB ticket machine.
Arriving before sunset gave us the chance to see a little of the town before embarking on more typical nocturnal entertainment. This is very much a university town with bicycles everywhere and the risk of being run over always uppermost on every pavement and crossing. The old city wall is now a walkway/cycle path around the old town centre which provided an excellent method of keeping one’s bearings.





Cheese cake? Garlic Bread? Yellow Altbier!
Brauhaus Pinkus Miller (Kreuzstasse 4) is the home of the town’s brewery. There is an array of bier but one had to start with the Alt, which was yellow!
One feared initially that a Pils (!) had been given in error, then one wondered if Kölsch was the name of the game…no…this was a yellow Altbier. There was no normal dry Altbier aftertaste, and it was established that the house Pils came in a different glass: this was the real McCoy.














The ‘Pinkus Special’ is clearly the house Bock, an Ungespundet bier with a very mild taste.

Then it was time for the famous Altbierbowle 'mit frischen Früchten'…yes bier served with fresh fruit…that a certain sister-in-law relates the story of…once or twice a mention of Deutschland…The surprising thing is, it works! There was fresh orange in the glass, it provided quite a refreshing taste. Who would put fruit in bier, even the Belgians wouldn’t…





The Hefeweizen was not the thickest sample Hector has ever tasted, however the citrus from the Altbierbowle was still on the palate.
Finally, and the glasses were all 0.4l; or less, it was time to try the Müller’s Lagerbier, bottled only. The taste was distinctive, but what was? Like the chaps in ‘Fargo’ it was ‘a bit funny’.






We crossed the road to find a really old building which claimed it was the Gastatte and dated back over a century. The ambience here was superb. Stopping only to sample more of the ale we sat in the small ‘pit’ on the right. Some pit: the wood carved bar, ceiling, in fact the lot, were magnificent. Clearly what was needed was a lowered ceiling, polystyrene tiles and some spot lights…not!















Inner Space: The Can Studio

Can, Hector’s favourite band of all time. Pioneers of rock since the late 1960’s and inspiration to bands such as Joy Division et al, their equipment has been relocated from mothballs or the original site at Weilerswist, a Köln suburb, to the Museum of Rock’n’Pop at Gronau near the Dutch border. This day was going to be the equivalent of a trip to Mecca.
This was the real reason why Marg was dragged to Münster…so as we could have an afternoon surrounded by the memorabilia… And so we arrived at Gronau without having to pay on the train (we were given license to travel as their machines were down), thank you, DB! There was the museum, and yes, it was closed!


Hector was not perturbed. The museum door opened and two chaps were let out by a charming lady. I could tell she was going to be charming. ‘No we are closed on a Monday and a Tuesday.’ No, I cannot let you in.’ ‘I am too busy to let you in even for a few minutes.’
And so, minutes later, Hector and Marg were being escorted straight to the Can exhibit.. a sign said no photos, great, we had agreed a short visit to get photos..there had been a wee bit of persuasion…I have come from Scotland etc…

Hector brought his real camera, the Canon Eos, all the way for this moment. For some reason the flash refused to work. Then everything was fine, but the photos Marg took were blurred. And so there is but a solitary photo of Hector at the keyboards of Irmin Schmidt.