It’s time to go home.... No need to blog today...

Thursday, October 21

Hector and Marg had lunch at the Glockenspiel, we wandered around the Viktualienmarkt. Hector purchased a new double CD by Irmin Schmidt. Dr Stan was allegedly staying on two more nights and going on a trip today. Where was Howard? Hector received a text stating that he had told off the owner at Andechs am Dom, we were all now barred. Marg and I went round to find a very happy Howard. Edelstoff, Weizen and Doppelbock Dunkel were admitted to. We went to the airport. Howard went to Airbrau, why?

Can I have the blandest bier on the planet?

Wednesday, October 21

Five people used three ICE trains to return to Munchen. We were not to see Steve any more, he was going home, but not before he had been to Mango (Zweibrucken Strasse) for a curry. Howard arrived at Mango before 14.30, Hector and Marg were not far behind. But little did we know that this fine curry house closes between 15.00 and 17.30. We tried to stop Dr Stan walking all the way down to Isartor, but once he gets into his stride.

A rendezvous at Marienplatz saw Howard head off towards Andechs? And the rest of us go to Viktualienmarkt: Dr Stan and Hector had a very wet sweet and sour gherkin. We could now face a bier, the Augustiner Grossgastatte was around the corner on Kaufinger Starsse. Marg continued her wander, Hector ordered an Edelstoff, Dr Stan a Hell. Dr Stan does not rate Edelstoff. There is a recurring theme here.

With Marg back with us, we three returned to Mango. The Lamb Madras is excellent! Marg ordered king prawns by mistake, Hector swapped meals half way through. Dr Stan ate his dinner.

The Pschorr Haus sells Edelhell Direkt. No gas, no pumps...it is a very safe undemanding bier. The place was filling up, an office party saw a Fraulein tap a barrel...best to stay here until the town quietens. Howard had not been to Andechs! but had been to the Paulaner micro at Kapuziner Platz. He described the bier as bland. And so we therefore had to go to Dr Stan’s favourite outlet am Dom where Augustiner Hell is served Direkt! It is quite bland too given all that had come before.

Andechs am Dom was inevitable...do you sell Spezial Hell?

The Weizen and the Doppelbock Dunkel were consumed, as per normal.

Oh no!...the morning after...

Tuesday, October 20

Hector and Marg walked into breakfast at the Alte Post Hotel... Hector was greeted with the cry: “look who it is...”
It was Jim Strang and Aileen McKinnon, in the company of the Brocklebanks who were, until then, unknown to Hector. This was becoming like a Paisley Bierfest reunion.
It was agreed that we would meet up at Keesmann that evening.

However, Marg must be entertained and so after a quick walk around a sunny Bamberg, and hence with a perfect five people for a Bayern Ticket, we went to Nurnberg for the day...just the two of us...just like February...

There was a walk through the fine Altstatdt en- route to the castle during which Hector refused to stop for a gluhwein. The castle was excellent, note the increasing use of this word in recent weeks. Lunch at the Hauptmarkt led to a rendezvous at the Altstadthof Brauhaus. Only Steve and Dr Stan were in place. Was Howard at Andechs?

Marg went off for a wander, the rest decanted to Hutt’n. We like Hutt’n, Pyraser is sold there! They have a range of six local biers from a variety of breweries on draught, but this year belongs to Pyras. Steve and Hector had Pyraser, predictably Dr Stan had the Schwarze Ana, one of Neder‘s (Forrchheim) specials....he tells us.
We were joined briefly by Howard who had not been to Andechs! Our next port of call was back through town and beyond the Hauptbahnhof, so we went in search of Marg who was sitting, listening to music, and drinking gluhwein... somewhere. We found her in an enclosed market area: one musician, the audience was a singularity.

Cafe Express took us back to the horrible days when one would walk into a pub and instantly choke to death. To say it was Bohemian in nature would be insulting all those with style. This place made the Ally Arms and its entourage look like Hollywood stars. It was horrible. Faessla/Mahr’s? Kellerbier was served and dispatched. Howard was taking the name of the cafe literally, he swallyed his pint and declared he was going to Andechs! Marg went with him.
At Nurnberg Hauptbahnhof, Howard was nowhere to be seen, he had abandoned Marg... a brave man... We would not see him for many more hours by which time he would have been to Bier Paradies and Andechs! They sell Spezial Hell at Andechs in Nurnberg!

And so it was back to Keesmann where Mr Strang was drinking the Herren Pils...Aileen was drinking tea...we put them right. But not initially for Dr Stan, he had gone straight to Mahrs to discover their Bock was on...guess what Dr Stan thought of their bock...
Eventually Jim joined the party and then retreated to the safety of the mouthwash. It was about this time when we remembered that FC Glasgow Rangers were possibly playing a grossly inferior football team from behind the former Iron Curtain...the score came in, followed by Robin’s text with a Humphrey Bogart flavour...”I kid you not..” Keesmann Bock works wonders..there was no pain...none...bring it on... three own goals? How many balloons?

One should mention The Late Night Bar, a place where Clive has kept me out of bed far too late on too many occasions. Along from Spezial next to the Maisel House is a bar which used to have a music theme, alas our host died last year.

Mention should also be made that Dr Stan received a text from home stating that John Kelly is no longer with us.

The search is over...

Monday, October 19

Four people took three different ICE trains to get to Bamberg. Marg and Hector were there first. Well, I suppose Dr Stan was. He was in London overlapping with the author the previous Saturday. A night in Koln was followed by a Sunday arrival at Bamberg. Hector re-acquainted Marg with the Altstadt and more importantly, the location of Schlenkerla.

After the first goulash soup of the trip, Marg was abandoned and Hector met up with Dr Stan who had just ordered a small lunch at Faessla (Oberkonigstrasse).
Howard was nowhere to be seen. Steve, expected last, was next arriving and quickly insisted that Herr Kalb change his room to a less smelly, non-smoking one.
We went to Schlenkerla, Howard was sitting in the first table as one enters...we couldn’t miss him.

Ah, the Urbock! The king of the rauchbiers!

This was part of the reason why we were here. The first time I had this at source was pure chance. It was Marg who spotted the sign on the wall the last time the October school break was this late.

Then we met the hairy chap from Leipzig whose English was as good as my Deutsch! We bonded. It came to pass that Can remain his favourite band of all time… a very intelligent chap! Then we discovered that we also had grown up listening to all the German bands that nobody else, including the Germans, really bothered about. Novalis, whose Konzerte album is finally out on CD, Grobschnitt, Jane, Tangerine Dream, Neu, Michael Rother et al…

How many to have? Was the Bock on at Keesmann? There was no point crossing the town to find there was none. The Blackberry was called into use. Hector phoned Keesmann. After “we did the litre” at Schlenkerla there was a taxi across Bamberg. Hector’s foot was still an issue. Indeed how many words precede this and no mention of the injured foot?

Keesmann Bock. It is cold and it is beautiful. It’s colour is very fine. If there is a better bier than this then heaven help us all when we find it. However, Dr Stan insists that the Urbock is better and so the search for the perfect pint must continue. Keesmann Bock is well above 6%. It drinks like 5%. This is why we were here. Was Hector last out? He may have been...by that time he was sending deliberate gibberish to the fans across the continent exclaiming the virtues of THE Bock. Even Bernard fell for: “Stan walked to Keesman, what did he finf?”

“He finf ein pfand!”

Farewell My Lovely (Blond)

Sunday, October 18

04.30, excellent! The best time of day to arise in order to catch a 06.40 Aer Lingus flight for £14 (including check-in bag) to Munchen.
Herr Kharazi, mein host at the Royal Hotel, Schillerstrasse, greeted Hector on arrival at 10.30. Coffee was even offered whilst we waited for the room. But no, Marg likes the Glockenspiel Cafe overlooking Marienplatz; we could be there for the 11.00 Rathaus show...but no tables in the front room were available this very driech Sunday morning. We sat in a back room and had breakfast.

After an attempted nap there was a long walk through town and to the far end of the Englischer Garten... no bier, andno band at the Chineser Turm. The Pschorr Haus at the back end of Viktualienmarkt is another favourite of Marg’s and so coffee and Edelhell were consumed. It was time to rendezvous with Howard and Steve.

There was a table booked in the summer for the last night of the season at the Forrschung: St. Jacobus Brauhaus, Perlach. This is the finest bier brewed in Munchen, surely?
Would our booking be honoured? We were four, not six. Hector boldly walked in and went up to greet the Braumeister: we are here! We were shown to the very table we last sat at in July: the only table in the place which was not occupied. Hector went straight for the Blond. Howard and Steve started with the lesser Pils... There was a band playing live and doing walkabout around the pub. Traditional tunes were to the fore, Rosamunde remains a firm favourite.
It was suggested that Hector spend many more lines telling what a wild night we had, alas it all started to peter our around 21.00. The chap at the adjacent table suggested that “now the party was about to begin...” We soon had a choice, risk staying on until midnight and miss the last train, or go to Andechs!

Andechs am Dom does not sell Spezial Hell. We all know this, even Howard. This does not stop Howard asking for it every time he goes and then feigning disappointment. Actually, the disappointment is probably genuine.

Things became somewhat strange after this. Hector returned from the toilet, this is how he remembers it, to find Steve inevitably winding up Marg. The lady stormed off home. This is because Steve had wound her up and because she knew her way home. Tiredness had nothing to do with it.

Next year we find accommodation at Perlach.

The Rake's Progress

Saturday, October 17

And it came to pass that Marg would make her first appearance in the year of the Blog, of course there have been many appearances BB. An Airmiles flight with BA to Gatwick should have been a straightforward experience, alas, a ninety minute delay at Glasgow coast us VDT. Danny was waiting to take us to Crawley, where after a brief check-in at Maison de Johnson we were aboard the train to Victoria.

Soho was the first port of call passing Clive's place of work, Geigers, where Marg did not get " a handbag!"! Then we went on to see the Sir John Snow memorial at Broadwick St. Having watched a certain programme about Cholera many times with his pupils, Hector was motivated to visit the site of the 1848 outbreak which led to perhaps the first application of Geographical Methods and Techniques, to solve the mystery that was Cholera. The bier at the adjacent pub, of the same name, was poor...Smiths from a keg.

Earlier in the year, Clive and Dr Stan took Jonathan and Hector on a tour of pubs which were closed at the Borough Market. This time the Rake was open. Selling two Brewdog biers, but not the best ones, Hector soon started barking at the fridge. Clive was not really aware that there is a fridge selling an array of Belgian and German biers? Marg went round the market and returned with a gluhwein and a smile on her face. We were joined by Ross and his new lady, Emma, who is much more normal than the previous one (“Get me a taxi!”). Ross joined Hector in the array of Oktoberfest biers which were consumed after Christophell and La Chouffe.
Maggie was finally let loose from her Saturday job and we headed towards Brick Lane. We were hijacked immediately but Ross negotiated our release for a £12 curry, with main course, sundries, starter and a round of bier and wine. The starters were excellent, always a worrying sign. The curry was good judging by the fact that Hector could still taste it at 04.30 the next day.

It was at the end of the meal when Emma declared that for a genuine curry we should have gone to Tooting High St. Sadly, Bernard had claimed this the previous evening and even phoned Hector that very morning to tell him where to go...
It has taken us years to get to Brick Lane, apparently we were too late.

The Lost Weekend....Day 1

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.

The Lost Weekend.....Day 2

Saturday, 26 September

The Mathäser (Geißstraße 12) was closed when we tracked it down last year, it does not open on a Sunday, so what is regarded by some sources as the finest ‘pub’ in Stuttgart was found with the aid of technology, last year Hector managed with a map… It was closed, again. A sign on the door said there was illness. Those who recall the splendid days and nights spent in the München version of the Mathäser will share the frustration. And so we went to the Paulaner house (Calwer Straße 45) which was the headquarters last year when the Bon Accord did manage to have a Travel Club trip to Stuttgart’s Oktoberfest. Paulaner Oktoberfestbier at 11.40 is a good start to the day. Hector took an hour to eat a plate of pasta with turkey, Robin had a couple of wiener wurst, Jonathan had already partaken of a hearty breakfast at the Ibis.

By mid afternoon we were back at the Fest and into the Schwaben Brau Zelt. This was where we began last year, the tent was quite different this year or was it simply because it was daylight? The steins were the most impressive ever encountered, shear artistry, the bier was not shabby.We realised that if we were going to make the Grandls Hofbräu-Zelt we could not hang about. We found a reserved table with some attractive young ladies already in place. The biers were brought and the evening of musical recitals and cultural exchange was underway. Robin fuelled by his sausages was in good form. Around 21.00 it was time to break the seal. We never saw Robin again.

A withdrawal to the U-bahn station at the site was strategically sensible. Jonathan and Hector waited for Robin, we had his ticket. No Robin. He phoned but did not speak. Hector phoned, no answer. Communication!!!

Robin eventually told us he was already on the tram and speeding into town where her went straight to bed and had a good night’s sleep. Jonathan and Hector went for a curry at the Indian Palace just round from the Mathäser. The curry was bland...when Hector retires to Traben-Trarbach and opens up my Thursday night only Curry Night... Back to the Paulaner House, some of the same staff were still on. This was clearly a day of endurance...Hector and Jonathan had put in as hard a shift at they had.