Hector stranded in Europe!

easyJet let us down and leave Marg and Hector in München for an extra two days.

What is Hector to do?


Last night almost went to plan. Hector and Marg found a decent seat in the Hofbräuhaus facing the spot where München´s most famous musician would sit. Eye contact was made and Reinhold duly sat with us during his break. He was shown his part of the Blog and took the details away with him. Reinhold drinking a litre of water: "I´m driving." What is the world coming to?














A charming mature American couple joined us towards the end of our stay. They knew their bier. Irsee, a new brewing Kloster on a lake? We need to do more research. They are now on their way to Brugge, and no, nobody got soaked at this proclamation!



Arriving at the Indian Mango, to give the restaurant its full name, in the thickening snow...at 21.00...closed, inevitably. No customers for an hour.

And so up to the Augustiner Tap and Edelstoff, for a change. As written before, when one finds something one likes... There is pan dish with a small pork knuckle, a quarter duck, and a pork fillet, or was it turkey? Either way, this was a meal and a half. Not a vegetable in sight.



And the soon to be former Mein Host of course remembered Hector from Silvester!

This morning started with the usual excellent breakfast for all at the Royal Hotel. Saturn had nothing to tempt Hector and so coffee at Andechs am Dom was in order. The snow was becoming even thicker underfoot. And so back to the Mango for the Fish Badami, a creamy sauce with a hint of coconut.

Rather than wander around the city in the continuinally falling snow, it was decided to go and sit it out at the aiport. The Blackberry gave me a departure gate long before the board did. We cleared security, alone, no queue, nobody but us. There were delayed flights then a few Lufthansa domestic cancellations. Hector broke with tradition and had a bier at the airport Hofbräu Helles. We sat watching the snow ploughs do their bit and marvelled at how efficient jet engines are at blowing snow off the runway...just keep the planes flying and surely all would be well?



All was well until a familiar accent was overheard to say the dreaded phrase...

And so the moment Hector has dreaded in ten years of cheap flights...straight on to the one man with a PC in front of him at work, and a credit card if necessary.
Howard managed to get us on a Saturday flight back to Edinburgh.

A big thanks to Howard.

On leaving the Royal this morning Hector had discussed with Mein Hosts the possibility of having to return. The Kharazis will be surprised to see us at breakfast tomorrow!

Marg has definitely missed her hockey meetings tonight. She could arrive in Edinburgh on Saturday in time for the second half of her hockey match, but with no kit, ooh er missus.

Reality bites: what is a man to do, stuck in München?

For a start, Hector did some washing. Domestic chores, always so practical.

Marg has suggested a train ride tomorrow to a lake not too far away... Tegernsee I think she meant... Oh well, if she insists... and there is tonight and tomorrow night...just the two of us... will Marg cope? Will Hector run out of clean t-shirts? Will someone mention Brugge? Can we fit in a visit to the new Indien?

All this and more will be revealed in days to come. Photos will be inserted too, ....if we ever get back to Blighty.

In München steht ein Mango House

The rest of the people on this trip are in the shower, Hector was not invited.


It is snowing here in the fun capital of Sud Bayern. Since we arrived in Ulm/Memingen the highest temperature I have witnessed is +0.1C. Let us hope Mr Stelios sends his plane for us tomorrow and does not wimp out.




Meanwhile the fun can begin proper after an afternoon "shopping" and an eternal ten minute visit to the Spielzeugmuseum (Toy). The Glockenspiel Cafe (Marienplatz 25)is Marg´s clear favourite coffee house in this city. The lady has been entertained, now it is the time for more masculine pursuits, sorry to all female readers who like bier.

Marg and Hector are off to the Hofbräuhaus: hopefully Herr Frank will be playing and he can be shown his blog presence. The fish curry at Mango awaits and then up to the Augustiner tap.

News

In Schillerstrasse, the old basement Weissbierkeller is no more: and Indien Restaurant now occupies the spot. However, on a one day visit it will have to wait.

Im Memmingen steht ein Curry House

Hector is waiting patiently for Manchester blogs so that the Barrel Party can be written up...how can he regale the troops with tales of bier at Ulm and Memmingen?

These tales will be told, songs will be sung...meanwhile, on a train from Memmingen to Ulm, Hector wishes it to known that The Tandoori at Memmingen Bahnhof does an excellent curry.

Hector will be back for the fish.

A weekend in Manchester, Stalybridge...

Hector was not invited.

Hector is a professional and does not throw 'sickies'...

Hector was in Sheffield, Huddersfield and Derby and will be delighted to inform his readers of the official part of the weekend... however, the others will have to do their bit first.

The Mayor of Stalybridge...

... and other stories

THURSDAY 21 JANUARY

A cold, Thursday morning saw Craig, Yvonne and me meet at Glasgow Central - the purpose - to catch a train to Manchester for an extended weekend away. The plans for the weekend were (1) to meet Dr Stan, Howard and Tracey at the National Winter Ales Festival in Manchester, (2) to continue our trips to railway station bars (this one in Stalybridge); (3) to then meet Hector in Sheffield and (4) to revisit The Grove in Huddersfield.

As may be expected from a national CAMRA festival, the range of beers on offer at the Winter Festival was impressive. This was somewhat wasted on some of us who concentrated on the German biers available from the Foreign stand - particularly the Schlenkerla Eiche Doppelbock - a new Christmas oak-smoked bier served from oak barrels.

FRIDAY 22 JANUARY

Friday morning saw Dr Stan go his own way, whilst the rest of us took the short train journey to Stalybridge, to visit the Station Buffet - a superb wee pub offering six or so real ales (sadly for Craig, none were even close to 5% - saving a number of people receiving wind up texts… - although he did seem to find the 3.9% Millstone rather palatable). Despite the lack of strong beers, we still managed to spend a happy afternoon there, thanks to a chance meeting with Michael Gallagher, one of the local signalmen, and a former Mayor.

After returning to Manchester (on a single carriage train that defies description), there was a quick visit to the Marble Arch before I left the others and travelled to Sheffield with Simon. The others followed on, but didn't get past the new pub at Sheffield station, the Sheffield Tap, that evening…

Those of us who were being more adventurous visited the Fat Cat and the Kelham Island Tavern (CAMRA's current national pub of the year), meeting Dr Stan and Hector on route.

SATURDAY 23 JANUARY

Having learned from previous trips, after the now-mandatory Wetherspoons breakfast, we took the train almost directly to Huddersfield, for a visit to The Grove - a pub that cannot be recommended highly enough (see the entries for September 2009) - all I can add is that you should visit it!

Eventually dragging ourselves away from the Grove, the train took us to Fernandez Brewery Tap in Wakefield. Unfortunately, engineering works meant that coaches took us from there back to Sheffield. It was kind of Northern Rail to lay on a bespoke coach for some of us (although, probably due to Hector's stint behind the wheel, it took us longer to get back than those on the full coach that left 2 minutes before!)

We were, however, back in time to end the evening at the Sheffield Tap - which serves both Thornbridge and Brewdog beers - a place that would make it far too easy to miss your train…

Bier in our time

Or, what to do on Hogmanay to avoid temptation and preserve one’s stamina for what lies ahead.

For twenty years Kenneth and I have visited München knowing full well that a possibly distant relative of Hector did rise to fame in this city. In is only in the last ten years that tours to this effect have been on offer. And it came to pass that Hector took Marg, Kirsty and Eleanor, our young History teacher on a replica, as near as, of what Kenneth and I did some time back.


The Hofbrauhaus was the starting point of the tour, a place where Hitler did speak, but not the bier hall that became more famous by reputation .The Bierhalle Putsch is historically famous, but this bier hall was demolished to make way for the Hilton. Odeonsplatz is where Hitler (what was Hitler’s second name?) nearly came a cropper in these early days of his rise to power. The east side wall has bullet holes which allegedly are from this time.


The adjacent Hopfgarten contains the memorial to the fallen in WW1 and at the north east corner of this park lies a black marble block. This is the memorial in the city to those who perished camps.


It is not a long walk, but on this day it was, to the current music college, Hochschule für Musik und Theater München (Königsplatz). This was the highlight of our official tour first time around. Our guide took us in and up the stairs...’this room is where the 1938 Munich Peace Accord was signed, and here endeth our tour.’
A few short years ago Kenneth was straight down the stairs and on finding the janitor, demanded that he open the room. There was compliance and we had our photograph taken in the room, at the mantelpiece where all the activity had taken place.








When Howard was taken there on a previous trip, Hector assured him that the room was now just a store cupboard. Howard found the door unlocked and marched straight in to find a music recital underway...entschuldigung... This time there were signs at the entrance to the building, in clear English, that no unauthorized people should enter. And so Hector spoke in loud, clear English that he wished to take his party into the building and upstairs. There was compliance, but the door remained locked. Still, everyone gets a chance to wave a piece of paper.


Eleanor has now expanded this story. Apparently the Checks were not allowed in whilst Mussolini, Hitler and Chamberlain, and probably a cheese eating surrender monkey discussed the fate of the Sudetenland. The Checks sat on the stairs outside.








In the afternoon the bier-avoiders took the S Bahn out to Dachau. The middle of the afternoon on December 31 and still there was a sizeable gathering. Hector still asks why after all that happened there one finds separate memorials to the dead along religious, even sectarian grounds. Have we learned nothing?
There is another trip, Berchtesgaden.





If one finds oneself in the Sud Bayern area on a fine summer’s day then this trip is a must. It is easier to go on an organised tour, but the economical way is to get a Bayern Ticket. This is a whole day trip. At Berchtesgaden one has to get a bus to the base of the Eagle’s Nest, or Kehlstein as it is more correctly known. One is then taken on an official bus up the snake path to a parapet/car park at the base of the summit. From there one walks into a tunnel to the most impressive brass walled elevator which takes one straight into the heart of the Kehlstein building. This is clearly the original. From the top the views are magnificent, right across the Austrian and German border regions.

Oh, there is a Hofbrauhaus in Berchtesgaden, a reason for Hector to return...an undiscovered country...

Nostalgia ain’t what it used to be...

It was 11.00 exactly one morning in early July 1976, when Gerry (Hector hadn’t been born yet…) and Archie entered the Kaufhof at Karlsplatz-Stachus in München. The ‘Europe on $10 a day’ guide assured us that cheap food would be available on the top floor restaurant at that time. A beautifully mature lady in a traditional Bayerische outfit asked us if we would like a bier? Minutes later, two perfect half litres of Löwenbräu were presented. After the disappointment of a Köln ‘test-tube’ the day before, this was a resounding improvement. The bier went down, the rest is history.

The same evening we entered the largest Bierhalle on the planet, so the guide said: The Mathäser Bierstadt (Bayerstrasse 5). There was a Schnell Imbiss at the door then a long corridor with tables and chaps enjoying the Helles. An enclosed restaurant was to the left, then the serving area at the end of the room with stairs up to the right. A bier garden was visible...and occasionally the strains of music were audible in the distance: no need to explore. It was in 1978 when we returned to access the main Festhalle, we had never strayed from the entrance hall in all the 1976 visits. We had to be told! (thanks, Sam) This became the München tradition, you find something you like, stick with it.

Alternatively there was the Hofbrauhaus (Am Platzl), the Löwenbräu Helles was significantly better than the Hofbrau, but over the years a taste for dunkles was developed and the Hofbrauhaus won this contest; however as a bier hall it was definitely number two.

The Mathäser, was huge, it was a party, even in the afternoons. 1450 Sitzplätze was the official seating in the main hall, the smaller rooms added the same again. By nightfall it was wedged but the big advantage was – you could see the band from the majority of the hall. In the afternoons, Theo and Reinhold would play alone, when the full band played in the evening it was sublime.



 

Sometime in 1997 the Mathäser closed. How could this happen? This left the Hofbrauhaus as the only place guaranteed to play ‘the musik’. It had become apparent that what was the bier hall for the locals had been catering more and more for tourists. The blocking of the seats at the stage for the daily parade of Japanese/Korean bus tours – having one litre, a chicken and chips and a photo and out – was not a good development. The Macarena, every hour on the hour… this was meant to be better than the Oktoberfest!




And so Hector arrived in the Hofbrauhaus one evening in 1997 to find Reinhold Frank playing with his own band! I returned in April 2001 with Marg – her first visit – with some photographs of ‘the old days’. Reinhold was touched, he has had his photograph taken every day of his working life, but he never gets to see them. I had given him photos of chaps that were no longer around. In 2010 he plays upstairs in the cabaret hall on a Monday and downstairs in the main hall on a Tuesday and Wednesday.











Upstairs in the Hofbrauhaus




This is a hoot. If one wants a plastic traditional Bayersiche night out, then this is it. Hector took the staff there a couple of years ago for the last night of the trip. They were appalled when they arrived: a queue of over a hundred for the buffet. We were sitting with our backs to the queue, hassle… After a litre or so they dissolved into the usual hysteria that the downstairs was until a couple of years ago.














And so what now? Once the Mathäser closed, it was clear that one could not go to München for the Hofbrauhaus alone. But we were older and wiser. The taste for Weizen had been acquired. Andechs had been discovered, and then Bamberg and even Löwenbräu-Buttenheim.









The band in the Hofbrauhaus now only play traditional Bayerische music, nothing 'foreign'. Even Sierra Madre is banned. It is a quiet night, but one can still have Ein Prosit and think back to the good old days, ah nostalgia…