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12-07-2011, 08:10
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It's become a tradition. A summer trip to Franconia to soak up beer, and gobble down pork. Though not necessarily in that order.


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I once thought that trying to tour the countryside by public transport would prove on the impossible side of difficult. Turns out it's not that hard. Once you get your hands on the bus timetables. And if you plan carefully.

I'll be honest. Both acquiring the bus timetables and the planning were Mike's efforts, not mine. I'm more of a planning executive. Publisher, too, I guess. As I assemble the printed guide. All those years preparing internet pub guides have given me one useful skill.

Our overall plan was simple: fly to Munich, get a train to Bamberg, have fun. Pretty difficult to mess that up. How can you not have fun in Bamberg? After that, it was out into the countryside, armed only with Mike's iphone and my unerring sense of direction.

Mike assembled a list of must-see pubs and tried to cram them into an itinerary. Harder than it sounds, seeing as the bus routes are designed for locals rather than itinerant pub-crawlers. He eventually nailed one together without too many protruding sharp objects. Just the odd scary bit beyond the reach of buses.,

After spending days poring over the German weather archives, we picked the first week of June as the most likely time for a peaceful trip. It worked - only first day was dampened with rain.

Our ridiculously early flight got us to Bamberg in plenty of time for lunch.Lunch . Thanks to the careful weather planning, our eagerly anticipated al fresco lunch at Schlenkerla had to move indoors. Though the careful weather planning did mean that we arrived on the release date of Schlenkerla Kräusen. The only time I've seen two Bayrische Anstich beers in one pub. Lucky us. Thank god for the rain, it had driven all the tourists away so we got to sit in the nice room where we could keep an eye on the barrels.

The Kräusen was perfectly nice, but lacked the deep bacon lure of the Märzen. There was no way I was leaving with lining my inards with a pint or two of that. And some pork. It would be a sin not to. "It's unlucky to walk past an open pub without going in." That's what I always tell the kids. For quite a while, they believed me. Possibly because I never walked past an open pub in their presence.

The buses at Bamberg station are run with typical German efficiency. None of the stops bears a number. "We'll need to be psychic to find our bus, Ron."
"Aaarggh urggghh."
"I said pshycic, not psychotic."
"Just expressing my frustration, Mike."


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We did manage to locate our bus. "See, it worked Mike." "No, asking the bus drivers worked."

Next stop, the new Zoiglstube in Strassgiech. We found the pub despite the fact that it was blocked by the bus stop sign. The pub was woody, the beer was not. But the schnaps was delicious. When Mike asked about buying a bottle of schnaps, the brewer sadly admitted it was only in cask. But being a friendly and generous fellow, he kindly half-filled a bottle as a take-away gift. Sadly, none is left now.

The bus brought us back to Bamberg in time to catch the train to Eggolsheim - the town next to the town where we were staying. After a half hour stroll along German roadways, we found the hotel - which seemed to be locked tight. Turned out we were just at the wrong entrance.

We bagged the best rooms before the senior citizen cycling club arrived. Next it was off to explore the village and locate the other pub. Just past the war memorial (for both wars, by the way), and the left-footer church, we found the pub. Offering St. Georgen kellerbier, in pretty blue and grey ceramic mugs, they also had food. Pretty good food, at that.

Back to the hotel for a good night's sleep, punctuated only by a little light vomitting. The first day is always the hardest. Until the body gets used to the new routine.

Nest day would be exciting: Kreuzberg. A real Kellerberg, really out in the countryside. Could I control my agrophobia long enough to make it there? You'll find out in the next thrilling instalment. Tomorrow or some other point in the near future.https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/5445569787371915337-404401153609112676?l=barclayperkins.blogspot.com


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