Howard has a bad shirt day, again…
Yvonne was astonished that five of us could travel from Bamberg to München for €6 each. Such are the joys of DB and the Bayern Ticket, amongst others. There was a mandatory change of train at Nürnberg and so there was only one place to spend the next ninety minutes or so: The outlet for Kloster Andechs, where they of course do sell the Spezial Hell. Well they did on Wednesday when we were last there, so there was a good chance. Hector had a lemonade, far too early for Bier.
Having checked in after a noisy second leg on the train, we went in search of Spaten Oktoberfestbier. Craig and Yvonne had located this by chance on Tuesday whilst Howard and Hector were at St. Jacobus. The official Brewery Tap was closed and so we followed our experienced Festbier Drinkers to a wooden pub called Funkstadl, quaint.
The Spaten was easy to quaff, but best not to. Having had some over-sweet Bocks in Bamberg this week this Bier was a pleasant change. However, Hector feels it was not that distinctive. Perhaps his tastebuds were already salivating at what was to follow – the return to Indian Mango for Curry-Heute.
With our Bayern Ticket still valid we jumped on the S Bahn from Hackerbrucke to Isartor and back. The Augustiner Tap where we have brought in Silvester (New Year) for the past two years was the aim. They were wedged. Still ticketed, we moseyed back down to Karlsplatz-Stachus and made the short walk to Zum Augustiner.
This was also wedged but Hector did his job and found us a table with a family on the verge of departing. Unfortunately, there were adajcent tables with Fitba’ Fans. For the best part of the next hour we listened to a handful of FC Bayern fans taunt the Hertha Berlin fans seated two metres apart. Noisy, disturbing, but never the threat of anything taking off.
There was no Oktoberfestbier left, we were told. Just as well. We settled for Edelstoff.
We left to find somewhere quieter, we had to. It was also Craig’s bedtime.
Downstairs in the Glöckl am Dom there were no seats. For the first time ever we sat upstairs. This is one of ?Stans! favourite outlets as they always have Augustiner Helles from Holzfass. This he prefers to the Edelstoff. Hector finds this Bier to be pleasant but not demanding. There was conversation for the first time in an hour as we could here ourselves think.
Having had a slow start to the day, Hector was now approaching the zone. Where next?
At Silvester Hector and Marg had spent the afternoon in a new or recently refurbished place towards Sendlinger Strasse. This turned out to be a Paulaner outlet, I remembered it as Hacker. And so we walked on to find the Altes Hackerhaus.
Outside were a group assembled on the pavement doing a night tour. They came in and headed towards the table which we had selected. Unperturbed, we relocated to the back area which was indoors but technically outdoors. It was covered and warm. The walls were adorned with old Bier signs. Was this simply a recreation of what had been? This was our first visit, a pleasant atmosphere for food, but the menu was not extensive and the prices were a bit steep. The Bier was Hacker-Pschorr Helles, again not too demanding.
?Stan! was fading, Howard could not go to bed without completing the daily ritual, so two of us headed back to Andechs am Dom. It was farewell to ?Stan! who was staying an extra day before his leisurely trip home via Koln and Brussel.
‘Do you have the Spezial Hell?’
We actually ordered the Weizen Hell straight away and then asked the question once settled. This is still the best Weissbier of the all.
Dear Reader, I had to look at this shirt all day long…
Time for bed, no Kebab.
The wonderful pubs visited today:
Kloster Andechs – Das Wirtshaus – Königstraße 55, 90402 Nürnberg,
Funkstadl – Arnulfstr 44, 80636, München
Zum Augustiner – Neuhauserstr. 27 – 80331 München
Nürnberger Bratwurst Glöckl am Dom – Frauenplatz 9, 80331, München
Altes Hackerhaus – Sendlinger Straße 14 8033,1 München
Andescher am Dom – Weinstraße 7, 80333, München
That’s a beautiful shirt!