Back to Erlangen

We rise early and after breakfast and a shower, load the car and then go downstairs to pay Frau Leitner and to thank her and her husband for their hospitality. I am sad to leave the Wolfgangsee, having had a memorable holiday, but intend to return again, perhaps in the winter. Herr Leitner assures me that there is guaranteed cross country skiing to be had in the Post Alm, above Strobl. My grandson starts his third year of an engineering degree at University College London and has opted to take an exchange to Munich from September. So, who knows, perhaps I can combine a visit to see Clement with a winter skiing holiday here. We are all loaded up and on our way by ten o'clock, the weather today is even colder and more miserable than yesterday, but the traffic is mercifully light, as we are ahead of the wave of German tourists returning from Italy and Lake Garda. We stop for lunch at one o'clock north of Munich and hear that there has been an accident between Salzburg and the Cheimsee exit, just after we passed. There is now a three mile tail back. We arrive back in Erlangen for two thirty, drop Irene and David at the Hotel Kral and then make our way to Michael's apartment on Fichte Strasse. He has kindly offered me his sofa bed and thus saved me the eighty euros that the splendid Kral charges per night. We have eaten and drunk well this holiday and with a trip to Holland and Germany coming up in less than eight weeks, the saving is welcome. After unpacking we put our feet up for an hour or so and then walk the short distance to the hotel to collect Irene and David. David wants to return to a restaurant called The Poseidon, where he says they had a superb dinner last year. It is in the centre of town and it is around seven o'clock by the time we have walked there. The maitre D' asks if we have a reservation, but when we say no, he finds an empty table for us in the corner of the restaurant. Michael explains, that during the beer Fest, this is a standard tactic, allowing the restaurant staff time to evaluate the state of intoxication of potential guests. The restaurant is almost full and there is a pleasant hum of conversation from the tables, inevitably it is another Greek restaurant, Michael is addicted to Greek food and retsina, but this one is much more up market than the one we visited en route to Austria. Irene says she doesn't want a starter, so we three men decide to share a hot Mezze for two, with sides of olives and pitta bread. The mixed starters are superb, particularly the lightly battered Aubergines, Irene forgets she didn't want any and proceeds to eat most of the Mezze and then looks up and asks why we are all laughing? I have ordered roast lamb for my main course, the only meat I didn't eat in Austria, it comes accompanied by rice and vegetables and surpasses the quality of the starter. The food in this restaurant is stupendous, David has ordered a Greek red wine, which the waiter invites me to try, it is a deep crimson, full bodied, complex wine with a black currant taste, perfect for the lamb. We order ice cream for dessert and then coffee, I decline the complementary Metaxa brandy, having already had the obligatory ouzo, a beer and then wine. The meal isn't cheap, but considering the quality not too expensive either, around forty euro each. Afterwards we walk through the town centre, looking for a bar that is showing the European Champions League Final between Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund. This being Bavaria, everyone is rooting for Bayern Munich, the combination of the football and the beer Fest has brought the local Police out in force, and there are Volkswagen Police Vans, in their green and white livery, stationed every hundred metres in the town centre and all the way to the Berg, where the Fest is held. The police are just letting everyone know they are there, more of a deterrent rather than an active presence at the moment, and they smile and wave to us as we pass. The only football seats to be had are outside a pub, with a portable screen, by now it is into the second half and the score is even at one all. Unfortunately, being outside, the seats are packed with smokers, so we give it a miss and make our way for a last look at the Fest. It is surprising how many people smoke in Germany, Michael tells us that their taxation of tobacco is much lower than in England and thus less of a deterrent. The beer Fest is as packed as ever, but we only walk through it, not stopping to drink, as we have a four hundred and fifty mile journey in the morning, and the weather forecast is awful, wall to wall rain all the way. We are calling in to see my brother Graham and his wife Liliane, in Rotterdam and aim to be at their house for three o'clock, or thereabouts. So we need to make an early start. We walk back to the hotel Kral through the swankier part of town, elegant villa's set in tree lined boulevards, each costing between five and ten million euros. Michael tells us that Erlangen is reckoned to be probably the richest town in Germany. With twenty thousand Siemens employees and two universities, for a town of less than one hundred thousand it is easy to believe this, we deliver Irene and David back to the Kral for eleven and then make our way back to Fichte Strasse to the sounds of jubilation and triumph from various bars Arjen Robbin has scored the winning goal for Bayern Munich in the dying minutes of the game. There will be sore heads here in the morning, but at least they won't be ours.