Glasgow was useless, in Manchester is has has taken twenty minutes to sign up for thirty minutes free, how generous... Hector feels a new stand alone Blog being set up.Anyway, the challenge is to meet first of all Clive and Maggie at Dusseldorf Flughafen and then Dr Stan and Jonathan at some place in downtown Dusseldorf. No doubt a Bier or ten will be part of the evening's entertainment. At 0.25ml a serving this will not be too much of an indulgence.
Whilst Hector sits at Manchester, Clive is worried about the snow at Gatwick. The FlyBe flight to Frankfurt has just been cancelled,the next Blog entry will reveal the outcome. The Gluhwein is calling.
Hector's 'plane took off 30 mins late, one hour thirty minutes to Düsseldorf, or Duuusseldorf as the Flybe people call it...where are my Umlauts?
Clive announced he has a gate, Hector arrived in Düsseldorf at a remote stand and then had to queue to get passed the Controlle, crap.
Ah, Clive has texted to say that 'Comfortably Numb' was playing , as it had been at Glasgow: a Prog Airline? Bernard, eat your heart out!
It came to pass that Clive and Maggie were re-routed to Köln and so never did appear at Düsseldorf, where they had a room booked.
Dr Stan declined his invitation to the north and blamed some dodgy trains. In the end end, Hector and Jonathan made a rendezvous at Uerige and the Hector thirst became a prominent feature.
Now Jonathan had been in town for a few hours. Jonathan had his day planned. Hector arranged a Bier at Uerige at 22.35, I was there on time, where was my Bier?
Jonathan had a space at table. One guy knew we were Scottish, it took another to create conversation. He was a sailor.
'I have sailed around the Hebrides, to the north, through Scapa Flow..'
Hector could not contain himself: Jonathan was appalled..
'Did your Boot sink?'
'No, it was not a warship...' Now he mentioned it first..
Saturday
A new hotel was a feature if this trip. Hotel Engelbert, Engelbertstrasse.
Two stops from the Hauptbahnhof in the out of town direction. The U75 towards D-Eller, or is that Eder, no way! There was an adequate Fruhstuck but no Jonathan, and he is my driver today.
Loadsa snow
Düsseldorf becomes a suburb very quickly, the roads were slippy, but after a tour we found the Autobahn. Half an hour later we are negotiating the streets of Köln. The car is parked and then Jonathan and I lose each other. The walk to Christophstrasse and the search for Hotel Colonia., another new hotel.
A coffee on arrival was certainly appreciated. Two floors up, Jonathan is three up, oops.
Where are the power points in the room? A double room, fine. There is Wi-fi!
Now for a Curry-Heute – the meal at The Govindam is Blogged on the sister site.
Hector joined Clive, Maggie and Dr Stan at our usual rendezvous Gluhwein hut outside the Gaffel Haus.Jonathan joined us and we moved down towards Heumarkt where the quality of Gluhwein was decidedly better.
There was a Pfand
The Pfand on the Rhein is mine all mine.Pfand enchanted evening.
Pfand on the run.
The party was getting into full swing. Stopping at the ice rink briefly we found another hut at the end of the market. The sun was setting and so it was time to go to the Mediaeval Market. Clive and Maggie disappeared off to change hotels.
The market felt smaller than before. The Gluhwein was excellent but the pottery goblets were becoming very cold very quickly as the level of liquid dropped. Clive and Maggie returned. People were becoming very cold and hungry?
Muhlen to Fruh
The pit in Muhlen has been redesigned, it is much improved. We did the litre. We remembered Sion and so stopped in here. The sarcastic barman was on again, ah the German humour. The Fruh Keller was the final stop of the day. Didn't we do well?
Sunday
Hector can make no comment on the breakfast at Hotel Colonia, he never intended to make it. Another Curry-Heute for lunch was planned. Read about the visit to Bombay on the sister Blog.
When I joined the others at Heumarkt, Gluhwein was the last thing on my mind. The snow was becoming ridiculous, so we walked Reissdorf. I arrived first and selected table in the non-smoking side. The intake of alcohol was minimal today. Not even the litre at Reissdorf. A tram took us back to Heumarkt and we had dinner in Sunner washed down with less than a litre of their fine Kolsch.
We are tired and tomorrow will be another day of adventure. Will Weeze and Edinburgh airports both be open? What about Koln and Stansted?
Monday, the day of reckoning
Hector says farewell to Jonathan at Hotel Colonia and heads off to Köln Hbf. The train is late, but arrives 25 minutes early and leaves as soon as we are onboard, ah, the previous train!
This means I am at Krefeld in time to catch an earlier train which is also now late.
At Kevalaer there was no taxi bus to meet us nor any news of one. Some French had a number and an eight seater arrived, there was room for Hector.
Marg had phoned en-route, all should be well. At Weeze there was apparent mayhem: the security queue spilled out of the roped area towards the far wall where it turned back on itself and almost reached the starting point. The queue in effect was the length of the terminal.
How long?
Somehow I was on the other side in some 35 minutes. So this was an organised queue in the end. I did witness a chap who turned up too late for the check-in desk and had another name on his Boarding Card and was therefore refused entry. Just where do these people come from and what are their level of expectation?
In the ‘departure lounge’ there was a further throng. Spanish flights from the early morning were assembling for boarding. I managed to acquire a coffee, a Bockwurst a seat, but no Senf. I appear to have a flight and have confirmed it left Edinburgh 30 minutes late, not that the board here shows any late departure for us.
There is no public Wi-fi at Weeze, but on this day of chaos I am happy to have a 'plane.
Now how can one end this perfect day?
In the end my Edinburgh ‘plane took off some thirty minutes late. I was met in Edinburgh Airport and whisked off for a Curry-Heute at Yadgar!
Clive and Maggie were incommunicado again. They were delayed on the expensively purchased Germanwings flight to Stansted. On boarding they were further delayed due to a broken wheel. Then the ‘plane had stuck to the stand and had to be de-iced.
This meant they were so late back to Stansted, which is up in the north of England, allegedly, there was little transport to Crawley.
Hang on, a chap in an orange jacket asked if they were Gatwick bound. Serendipity or what? ‘Just say you are off the Thomson flight from the Maldives.’ So dressed in their finest warm clothes they boarded the bus and were taken to within a hop of their house.
What about Jonathan?
Tuesday
The man who suggested we all take the ferry to Hull from Zeebrugge… he was last reported broken down between Manchester and Hull on the M62 with no chance of getting home today, and even less chance of getting to Bradford for a Curry-Heute. He took refuge in Morecambe for the night.
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