Germany Trip 2002

We’re Off!

Prost!

Hello, I’m Scott Bieber.  Some members of the First State Brewers homebrewing club and I recently took a tour of Germany.  Below is a chronicle of our adventures.  I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it!  Prost!

The First State Brewer’s web site says we, “visit microbreweries, attend expos, lectures, and tastings”, and have “club organized pub crawls.”   It doesn’t say anything about touring the greatest brewing regions of the world!  We’ll have to change that now!

In the spring of 2001, Harald Ackermann, being from Germany, offered to arrange a trip to Germany for members of the First State Brewers home brewing club.  At the time, there was a lot of enthusiasm for such a trip, but deep down, I didn’t think it would ever happen.  Luckily, I was wrong!

Originally, my wife, Bonnie, was against the idea. She said we couldn’t afford it. After a while, though, she realized that it was a once in a lifetime event that I couldn’t pass up, so she let me go. I also let her get a new puppy, so I guess she felt she owed me one. She would have liked to come herself, but she didn’t want to send our three kids to her parents for the week and miss a week of school. Also, after 9/11, she didn’t want to get on a plane!

The reality set in when I actually ordered my tickets in July.  US Airways round trip tickets from Philadelphia to Frankfurt on 10/4/2002 and returning on 10/12/2002.  Jerry & Joyce Carney and Jeff Ramberg also got tickets on the same flight.  One week later, US Airways filed for bankruptcy!  Yikes!  Harald had gotten his tickets much earlier and was flying on Lufthansa.  Marty found a better deal with British Airlines, but would have a layover in London.  Harald was to fly over a couple days earlier and meet up with the rest of us in Germany.  That proved to be easier said than done!

As we closed in on a week before the trip, Marty informs us that he still didn’t have his passport.  They told him he would get it via FedEx the morning of our trip!  He actually got it the day before!  That was a big relief!

The arrangements were that Harald’s sister, Carmen, who lives in Frankfurt, would meet us all in the Frankfurt airport and take us to the train for a short ride to Marburg, Harald’s home town, where he would be waiting for us.  Harald gave her our flight numbers.  Since none of us knew what she looked like, I sent Harald a First State Brewers logo to send to Carmen in Germany.  The idea was that she could hold up the logo as we entered the airport, and none of us would miss it.

Friday, October 4^th, after leaving work a little early, my wife drove me to Jeff Ramberg’s house where the Carney’s would meet us to drive us to the airport. Shortly after arriving at Jeff’s, the Carney’s roll up with their big hulking van. Jeff and I throw our luggage into the back. I say goodbye to Bonnie and we’re off! We make it to the airport, take a wrong turn, drive on a giant loop and pass the terminals, then finally make it to the long term parking area. We park and take the bus to the airport. We check our luggage and get our boarding passes. So far, so good.

Then it’s time to go through security.  Fortunately, the US Airways rep who checked the Carney’s luggage advised them to use gate C to go through security, instead of gate A.  The line for gate A was out the door, however, there was no line at all at gate C!  Got through security, no problem.  Now, however, we had some time to kill.  It was about 5:30 and the flight was at 8:00, so we get some food and a beer of course!  Fortunately, we said goodbye to America in style.  We went to the Red Bell Brewery Pub and had a Victory Hop Devil IPA!  Yum!  That was the last time we would taste a rich, hoppy ale until we returned, though.

Joyce and Jerry Carney

We make it to our gate and wait some more. They announce boarding for first class passengers. A huge line forms. I guess there must be a lot of first class passengers. Strangely enough, there were no more calls for boarding. The large line gets smaller. We realized, we should get in that line, as well. Then we board the plane and find our seats. The Carneys are sitting together, naturally. However, Jeff and I have seats a few rows apart. Jeff sits next to a German guy who spoke good English. I however, sat next to a woman who hardly ever spoke at all, except to say, “I don’t speak English.” I figure she must be French, since she made no effort to communicate or even make eye contact. Oh no! I can’t find my bottle of ibuprofen! Yikes! Fortunately for me, I had a lot of good reading material.

I had the latest issue of All About Beer magazine and an article I printed off of the Internet.  About a week before the trip, while surfing the Internet, I came across another local home brewer’s account of his journey to Europe.  The article is called, “Bob and Zeke and Tony’s 1999 Beer Tour of Germany and Belgium” and was my inspiration for writing the article that you’re reading now.  I read Bob’s entire article and then printed it out so I could read it again.  It took me forever to print and I ended up with a stack of paper an inch high!  But, anyway, I brought it with me to read a second time on the plane.

Frankfurt!

We landed in Frankfurt. Taxied to the terminal for at least 15 minutes. Thought we’d never get there. Finally got to the terminal and met up with the Carneys. Got our luggage. Of course, since we were early in Philadelphia, our luggage came off last. Breezed through customs! Thank goodness! Now, would we find Harald’s sister? Yes! There she is holding up the First State Brewers logo, just as planned! How cool is that! Forgot to get a picture, though! Oh well! Anyway, Marty was already there with her. Also cool!

Scott, Jeff, Marty, Joyce & Jerry

Harald’s sister, Carmen, was there with her boyfriend, Michael.  They were very nice!  We went to a train that took us to the main airport terminal.  It reminded me of the airport in Orlando, Florida.  From there, we went down to the subway to take to the main Frankfurt train station (Hauptbahnhof).  First we had to negotiate the ticketing machine.  This one, however, decided to be difficult with the tourists.  It wouldn’t accept 5 Euro bills!  That’s all most of us had, of course.  So, Carmen had to bail us out with her change.  Even though the machines could be switched to English, they were still confusing.  Lucky for us, Carmen knew what she was doing and soon we all had our tickets for our trip all the way to Marburg.  This was too easy, so we thought!

Carmen and Michael

After a short subway ride, we got off at the Frankfurt train station. What a train station! It has a huge arched steel beam structure with glass on the top like a giant skylight. We quickly found the platform for our train north to Marburg, but once again, we were early. We had an hour to kill, so we followed Carmen to a café for lunch and our first beer in Germany! I had a Paulaner Oktoberfest. It was light and smooth. After a long day of traveling, it hit the spot.

Since we took so long to order (problems reading German menus), we looked at the clock and discovered we had 15 minutes to pay our bill and catch the train.  We frantically flagged the waiter and took care of the bill.  This was our first of many encounters paying for a meal, German style.  In America, we usually get a single check and the group figures what each person owes and piles the correct stack of money on the table and leaves.  Not the case, as we learned, in Germany.  The waiter comes around with a hand full of cash register receipts and goes from person to person collecting money.  This is a very slow process, but we eventually got used to it.

Now, however, we only had 5 minutes to gather our luggage and make it to the train.  I was sweating bullets, worried that we were going to miss the train.  The others in our group did not share my feeling of urgency, as they seemed to take forever getting out of the café!  But as luck would have it, we made it to the train on time and all was well, thus far.  As a parting gift, on our way to the train, Michael purchased some apfelwein (apple wine) and presented it to Joyce Carney as we boarded the train.  We said goodbye to Carmen and Michael and we were off.  See you next week, we told them, as we were going to meet them for dinner in Frankfurt on our last night in Germany.

Frankfurt train station (Hauptbahnhof)

So far, we were having a blast!  We searched the train for a place to sit, first the top deck and then the bottom.  The train was packed!  We managed to spread ourselves out over several rows of seats, as there were no empty rows able to seat all of us together.  No matter, we were on our way.  Then I raised the question, “Does anyone know when we get off?” No one had a map.  I asked the trainman if he spoke English.  He said “ja”, so I told him we needed to get off at Marburg.  He didn’t understand.  Luckily, a girl seated in front of us spoke up and pointed out the electronic sign at the end of each car which displays the next stop.  She was from the US, too, and was living in Germany, working as a babysitter.  She wasn’t familiar with this train route, however, so she couldn’t give us any warning when we needed to get off.

We decided to relax and enjoy the ride, however. Looking out the window, I noticed a large castle tower rising over a small hill off in a distance. I thought that was spectacular. We eventually realized that a castle sighting in Germany was like a bald eagle sighting in Alaska, they’re everywhere!

Then we approached Marburg, I thought. Is this it? Yes, no, maybe so? YES! We get off here! The train is slowly rolling into the Marburg station. Everyone grabbed their luggage and hauled them up a couple of steps to the vestibule area where we could get off. Every one was slow and I was at the back of this slow moving line! I finally made it to the vestibule. “Jerry, what are you doing? Open the door!” “I tried”, he said, “It’s not opening!” “It has to open, what’s the problem?” “It’s not opening!” Unlike commuter trains in the US where the doors open automatically, here you have to press a button at your stop for the doors to open. Jerry then led us through the next car to the next vestibule. Just as we got there, (you guessed it), the train began rolling out of the station! Shit! Oh well, we’ll just get off at the next station and take the next train back. The thought of Harald’s face as he watched our train roll out without us getting off was amusing. However, by this time, the beer I had in the café was starting to take nature’s course and I was anxious to take a much-needed pit stop!

As we waited by the next set of doors, we all bitched and moaned about our misfortune at the Marburg station.  I recalled seeing a sign on the frigging doors with some words and a circle with a line slanting through it.  I assume it said the doors were out of order.  The large man sitting near us, who was bald and had a spider tattoo on top, was not amused.  He must not have understood a word we were saying, as he never cracked a smile.  Since this train was an express, it took us a while for the train to come to its next stop.  At least it seemed like a while.  Finally, the train makes its next stop and we all pile off!

Marty looked at the train schedule that was posted on a sign on the platform.  The next train would come in 20 minutes.  Jerry and I decided to take a stroll and look for a WC (that’s German for bathroom).  We took the tunnel under the tracks and up to the station on the other side.  Everything was closed.  Not a WC anywhere when you need one!  So we went back and made our report to the others.  Marty spoke about walking across the tracks and going in the woods on the opposite bank.  He decided against that, however.  Finally, another train rolled up heading back in the other direction.

This one was a local train.  It made at least four stops before we made it back to Marburg.  There was a lady trainman on board opening the doors at each stop.  We were grateful for that, as these doors looked complicated and we were just a bunch of dumb Americans!

We all huddled in the vestibule waiting anxiously for the doors to be opened when we made it back to the Marburg station.  Like a herd of cattle, we stampeded out onto the platform at Marburg.  There was Harald waiting for us!

Marburg

Harald was at the station with several of his friends.  Upon our arrival, Harald informed the stationmaster that he found us.  Apparently, he had all of Germany looking for us, or something!  We made it down through the tunnel and up into the Marburg station.  I spied the WC (water closet; aka bathroom) and started making my way there.  Harald was busy ushering everyone out the door to the parking lot, so I made a point to inform him of my intentions.  “Wait, you need this”, he said as he flipped me a Euro coin.  “He will give you change”, he said.  Oh, I get it.  I need to pay the attendant 30¢.  No problem!

Great! With that business out of the way, I find everyone in the parking lot. “You go in this car”, Harald said, “your luggage is in the trunk.” OK. Marty and I climbed into a tiny car and waited further instructions. Harald’s friend, Ralf climbed into the driver’s seat and we were off. We didn’t know where we were going, but we were off. We drove through Marburg.  I recognized a hotel and a restaurant I found while surfing the Internet. We drove across town and then up a narrow driveway and stopped in front of an open garage. It had started raining, so we ducked into the garage for shelter. We figured we were waiting for the rest of the group to arrive. Ralf tried to talk to us, but his English was not so good. Unfortunately, neither Marty nor I could speak any German. Ralf was extremely nice, however, and motioned for us to follow him into his apartment, which was perched on the hill above us.

Ralf and Anne's Apartment

We followed him into the apartment where he lives with his girlfriend, Anne, we learned later.  There was a mass of vines covering the side of the apartment building and was a colorful red due to the autumn season.  Very nice!

Even nicer, was the beers that Ralf offered us when we got inside!  He brought out a couple handfuls of assorted beers from his private collection.  There were a few different Pilsners and wheat beers.  Some of the Pils included Licher Pils, Licher Export, Warsteiner Pils, Jever Pils, and Krombacher Pils.  They were not cold, but they tasted great!

Relaxing in Ralf and Anne's Apartment

By that time, it was about 3:00 in the afternoon, or 15:00 as they call it.  I figured I had been awake for about 27 hours at this point, since I was not able to sleep on the plane.  But, by now the adrenalin had kicked in and soon the alcohol would kick in!  Shortly thereafter, the rest of the gang arrived and we all started to crack open the beers!  Apparently, Ralf was well stocked with beer!  He also had a lot of snacks, too!  A great party had begun!  Thank you Ralf!

The others had made a detour to another host’s house to drop off luggage, I think.  I never did hear exactly what took them so long.  No matter, though.  We were all together and having fun.

It didn’t take long before Jeff was overcome by exhaustion and found a place to crash in the other room.

Jeff recovering from traveling

One of Harald’s friends that we were with was his old college professor whom they call Cäsar (pronounced Caesar in English).  He is a retired professor of German Literature.  The group of Harald’s friends we would be spending time with all met while attending classes with Cäsar.

The TV was switched to a soccer game, and the fun really began!  They watch their soccer like we watch our football!  The final score, Bayen Munich 4, VFL Bochum 1.  It reminded me about the Penn State and Philadelphia Eagles games I would be missing.  I guess I will have to forget about that until we get back.

I thought we were going to have an international incident when Marty attempted to pour a Hefeweizen into a Pilsner glass!  Ralf and Anne insisted he use a proper Hefeweizen glass, which is basically just a taller version of a Pilsner glass.  Marty didn’t want to create another dirty glass to wash and insisted he pour the beer into the glass he was already using.  After seeing how important it was to our hosts that he use a proper glass, Marty gave in and used the new glass instead.  Lesson learned!

Then a thought occurred to me.  I haven’t told my wife I made it safely, yet!  Fortunately, I spied Ralf’s computer in the corner of the room.  So I asked Ralf if I could use it to send her an e-mail.  No problem!  Well, nothing major.  There was this little thing with the German keyboard.  in order to fit some of the special German characters, some other keys were moved around!  Where’s the ‘Y’ key?  Oh, there it is down there.  OK, no problem.  Now what was Bonnie’s home e-mail address?  I forgot!  Maybe it’s this?  No, that didn’t work.  How about this?  Not that either.  Never try to operate a computer after several beers!  Anyway, I remembered her dad’s address, so I sent him one.  “Sid, made it to Germany.  Having a great time, By the way, what’s Bonnie’s e-mail address?  Fortunately, he was at his computer at the time and sent a reply right away!  Oh, so that’s her address.  I knew that!

Scott getting his email

Soon it was time to go to dinner.  We woke Jeff from his nap and headed out on foot into town.  There was a light mist in the air and the streets were a little damp.  We walked to the center square and looked around at the old half-timbered buildings which were lit up by street lamps.  It was very pretty.  The town was empty.  That was a surprise since it was a Saturday night and this is a college town.  I guess the weather kept people indoors.  We back tracked a bit and went in a Greek restaurant called Kreta.

Kreta (Greek restaurant in Marburg)

The food was very good, although my meal was very slow to arrive.  I think they forgot about me!  I ordered some kind of dish with mushrooms.  It was worth the wait.

There was also a good menu of beers, too.  Of course, we had to try them all!  We had Hannen Alt, Schöfferhofer Hefeweizen, Henninger Pils and a Krystallweizen.

Then it was time to pay the bill.  Once again, the waiter went through the routine of getting payment from each person individually.  When he came around to me and totaled up my bill, I checked my wallet.  Oh oh!  I’m a little short of Euros!  “Do you accept traveler’s cheques?”, I ask?  The look of panic on the waiter’s face told me the answer was “no”.  Jerry, alertly chimed in, “I can spot you some money, Scott.” Thank you, Jerry!

When I prepared for this trip, my wife suggested I get American Express Traveler’s Cheques.  So, I went to the AAA office and got some in Euros.  I also got what they call a “Tip Pack” which was 40 Euros.  Well, somehow most of the Euros from the tip pack got spent at the train station, I assume, and I didn’t think to try to get a traveler’s cheque exchanged at the airport.  Not to worry, Harald said, you can get one exchanged at a bank tomorrow.

After dinner, we walked back to Ralf and Anne’s place where we split with our various hosts for the night.  The Carney’s stayed with Ralf and Anne.  Marty went with Cäsar.  Harald went to his parent’s house.  Jeff and I (Scott) went with Manuela.  Actually, Harald, who was driving his sister’s car, drove us to Manuela’s house first.

Manuela showed Jeff and I to our room, which was her 13 year old son’s room.  After unloading our stuff and chatting for a while, we crashed.  It’s a darn good thing I brought earplugs, as Jeff snored like a chain saw!

I had a particularly strange dream that night.  I dreamt I had a headache and needed to take some ibuprofen!  (That’s not the type of thing I usually dream about!) However, in my dream I couldn’t find my bottle of ibuprofen either, so I looked for it.  As luck would have it, I spied the long lost bottle on a shelf in my medicine cabinet at home.  Just when I went to grab it, Manuela knocked on the bedroom door to wake Jeff and I up at 9:00 a.m., thus waking me from my dream!  I did have a headache, but after a quick search of my carry-on, I found the missing bottle!  Yes!  The day had started out good!

Tour of Marburg

Today is Sunday.  I wonder how Penn State did yesterday?  I don’t even remember who they were supposed to play.  (Penn State 34, Wisconsin 31)

We had coffee with Manuela and her son Philipp.  Jeff and I were wondering about Philipp, since we slept in his bedroom, but didn’t see him last night when we got in.  Philipp is very polite and speaks surprisingly good English.  We learn that he will be turning 13 in another week.

Philipp and Manuela

After coffee, Harald arrived to take us all to Cäsar’s house for brunch.  I got lost trying to pay attention to how we drove to Cäsar’s house.  I think his house is on the south end of town.  It became apparent, as we arrived at Cäsar’s house, that his hobby is gardening.  His house is surrounded by gardens.  More on that later.

We all gathered in Cäsar’s house.  Soon Cäsar’s wife filled the table with all kinds of food.  There were rolls, cheese, meats and different kinds of jellies.  She also served soft-boiled eggs and placed them on a special kind of egg holder.  I have never seen eggs served in this manner.  While the eggs sit in this holder, you peal the shell off the top and eat the egg out of the shell.  It’s probably a common thing, but I usually never eat soft-boiled eggs, so I wouldn’t know.  (Since writing this I’ve gotten a lot of comments that this is indeed common!)

There was also an interesting blackberry juice on the table, so I had to give it a try.  It was very tasty, as well.  I wish I could find some of that back home!

Breakfast at Cäsar's house

After eating, I snuck out the back door into Cäsar’s garden to have a look.  The back yard was very tiny, but filled with many wonderful plants.  In one end there was a small tool shed that was partially hidden by plants.

Cäsar's garden

Along the back of the yard was a bank lined with tiny gnome statues.  Bob had mentioned these in his article, so I was immediately drawn to them.  I’ll have to get some for my own garden at home!

Cäsar's garden gnomes

Before we left to take our tour of Marburg, Cäsar played a tourism video of Marburg.  The video was very interesting.  I was hoping to be able to find a copy to buy, but we never found to time to shop in Marburg.  Harald explained that the VHS videos in Germany are of a unique format that won’t play in the VCRs we have at home.  Harald said he was able to convert them, though.

Finally, we headed off to Marburg.  We parked in a lot along side of the Lahn river, next to Philipps University of Marburg.

Cäsar, Jeff & Marty at the Philipps University of Marburg

The others arrived with Harald and we began our climb up the hill and into the old-town section of Marburg.  The weather was perfect for a hike.  It was on the cool side, but that felt good as we hiked up hill.  Our first stop was in the old University church.  Then we hiked up a couple more blocks until we entered the town square.  There we saw the town hall building which has a clock with a rooster on the top that flaps it’s wings on the hour.

Marburg townhall

Chicken at the top of the Marburg townhall

Also, in the middle of the square is a fountain with a statue of a man on a horse slaying a dragon.

Dragon in Marburg town square

Marburg is a fascinating town lined with old half-timbered buildings.  There were many shops and restaurants in town.

Marburg

Unfortunately, it was Sunday and most of the stores were closed.  We continued through town continuing to climb up toward the castle that overlooks the town.

Marburg Castle

As we climbed ever higher, Cäsar made a point to stop to show us the ruins of an old Synagogue.  There was a glass structure that we looked down into to see what looked like an old basement.  There were some signs that told what we were looking at, but the were written in German, so I don’t know what they said.

We continued up a steep cobblestone lane that led to the castle.  When we reached the top, we stopped to take pictures at an area that had a great view of the entire valley.  We couldn’t help but notice a church that had a large steeple tower that was crooked at the top.  I believe it was the Lutheran parish church of St. Mary’s.  The story is, due to the lack of funds, the top part was constructed out of wood, not stone.  Over time, the sun and wind from the southwest caused the wood to shrink and thus lean to one side.

Church in Marburg

The tour of the castle was very interesting.  It’s official name is Landgrafenschloss and it’s now a cultural museum.  This was the site of the Marburger Religionsgespräch which was a religious discussion involving Martin Luther.  The Internet is full of info about that, so I won’t bore you with the details.

We wandered through the castle without any idea where we were going.  One section had suits of armor and swords on display.

Marburg Castle (Landgrafenschloss)

After the tour, we hiked back down the way we came in search of a bar to have our first beers of the day.  Harald led us into the Early Bistro-Cafe.  It was small, but was there was plenty of room for our group.

The Early Bistro-Cafe

Marburg Beer!

The Early Bistro-Cafe was an interesting place.  It was decorated with some cool looking science fiction paintings of some far off planet.  Not what you would expect to find in Germany, but we weren’t complaining.  The important thing was they had a good selection of beer!

I started off with a Denninghoff’s Premium.  Jerry, Harald, & Jeff had the Budweiser Budvar.  Marty had the Gutzweiler’s Alt.  Joyce had the Denninghoff’s Hefehell.  Later, Marty tried the Giessener Pilsner as well.  For a 2nd and 3rd round, we each tried one of the other beers.  I Think my favorite was the Budweiser Budvar.  It was typical of the other Pilsners we had in Germany, but slightly better.

Scott (me) having a Budweiser Budvar

A couple of Harald’s friends brought their baby son, Felix, with them.  Felix was having a great time.  He had a sippy cup with juice.  When his father would say “Prost”, he would raise his cup and tap it against his father’s beer mug.  They were teaching him young, indeed!

Prost!

Harald had reservations for dinner at 5:00 (17:00), but it was early, so we just hung out drinking beer.  Nobody was complaining!  When it was time to go, we paid our bill.  Jerry, some more money, please.  Thank you!  Then we slowly zig zagged through some more of the ‘old-town’ section.  The streets in this section are closed to vehicle traffic.  We could have easily spent an entire day exploring the shops in town.

Harald took us to a restaurant called Gaststätte Auflauf, which he said is the German word for casserole (Google translates auflauf as ‘accumulating’).

We each ordered our own style of casserole.  Once again, the food was excellent!  The place was decorated with enchanting puppets.  Jeff and Marty sat right in front of a wizard, thus creating another photo opp.

Jeff and Marty overlooked by a Wizard

The beer was also very interesting.  Some was good, some not so good.  I started off with an Augustiner Festbier.  It was light and smooth.  Very good!  Jerry, Marty and Harald each had the Marburger Schwartzbier.  Jeff had a Krug-Brau.  I had the Krug-Brau later and found it to be a dark, carmal, malty beer with no detectable hops.  Then Jeff got adventurous and tried a Radler.  That was mixture of Schwartzbier and lemonade.  I had a sip.  Gross!

After that Marty, Jerry/Joyce and Jeff had the Marburger Premium Pils.  Jerry also had the Marburger Krausen Pils.

Then Jerry got adventurous.  He tried the Berliner Weisse Röt.  That was a wheat beer with some red raspberry syrup mixed in.  He was quick to give that one to Joyce.  Since he had tried the röt (red), he had to try the grün (green).  This was the same beer with some kind of green syrup mixed in.

Jerry sipping grün (green) beer

Jerry choking on the grün beer!  LOL!

One of our favorites was the Marburger Weizenbier Dunkel.  Jerry, Marty and I each had one.  My notes have a star next to that one!

Then it was time to leave.  We paid the bill.  Jerry?  Thanks!  I should have known that since today was Sunday, there would be no banks open for me to cash a one of those damn traveler’s cheques!

Then we walked back to the cars and went back to our respective hosts.  Harald drove Jeff and me back to Manuela’s house.  She didn’t go with us today, but was waiting for us when we got to her apartment.

Manuela had a very nice surprise waiting for us when we got in, too.  On her kitchen table she had an assortment of beers and some bread!  That was so nice of her!  The beers included Krombacher, Warsteiner, and Köstrißer.  Jeff and I couldn’t resist.  We each had a beer and some bread as we chatted for a while.

Delicious snack

After having a snack, I used Manuela’s computer to access the Internet.  First I showed Manuela and Philipp some pictures from my personal web site, then I logged on to my e-mail.

There was a message from my wife, Bonnie, waiting for me.  In the message, she describes what the kids wanted to say to me.  My son complained that I didn’t write a long enough note the last time, my oldest daughter said she missed me and my youngest daughter said she pooped in the potty!

My wife gives me the play-by-play of the end of the Eagles game she was watching while writing the e-mail.

The Eagles are now losing 28 to 10 in the 4th with just over 3 minutes left. The game was close until about 7 minutes ago….the Jaguars scored twice in the last 5 minutes……ooops Philadelphia just scored again that makes it 28 to 17 after the extra point. Oh they went for two and didn’t get it….there’s a flag on the play against Jacksonville….I’ll wait to see what happens…Yeah…the Eagles scored two…now its 28 to 18. Ohhhh big run by the Eagles…they’re back in Jacksonville’s territory…oops they cut to commercial….OK they’re back…less than 2 minutes…oh great…Phil is out of time outs…long pass…nobody there…57 sec left…hail mary again…nobody home..Eagles first down inside the 10 but there’s only 15 seconds left and they’re down by 10. McNabb throws for the end zone…Jacksonville almost intercepts…they try again…Eagles score with 3 seconds left….extra point is good but it’s too little too late….if you had to miss a game at least you picked a good one to miss.

Oh well, can’t win them all.  Time to call it a night.

Buchenwald

The next day we woke relatively early and got ready for the day’s adventure.  Manuela served us a nice breakfast with an assortment of bread, meat and cheese.  It became apparent that this type of breakfast was traditional in Germany.

After breakfast, Harald arrived to drive us to Cäsar’s house.  There we met up with the rest of the gang.  Manuela and Philipp were joining us today, which was nice.  We then crammed into two cars.  Manuela, Philipp, Jeff and I rode with Harald.  While Jerry, Joyce and Marty rode with Cäsar.

Where were we going?  First to the Buchenwald concentration camp and then to the neighboring town of Weimar.  Buchenwald is not exactly the place one would expect to go while on a Beer tour, but Cäsar wanted us to see it.  That was fine with us, since we wanted to experience as much as we could on this trip.  So, autobahn we were bound!

We actually had to cut across the country side on smaller roads before we reached the autobahn.  The autobahn wasn’t anything great.  It kind of reminded me of the Pennsylvania Turnpike.  But the more powerful cars did drive fast.  Not us, however, since we were in tiny economy cars.

Trucks driving on the autobahn

Cäsar’s car up ahead.  Huge trucks to our right.

Along the way, we passed a cluster of large electric-generating windmills.  Also, it seemed like every high ridge had a castle perched on top.  The countryside was very scenic.  It would have been neat to get off the autobahn anywhere along the way to explore some of the towns we drove past.

Finally, we find ourselves driving straight toward a wide ridge with a large stone tower.  We see Cäsar up ahead slowing down and pointing at it.  We had the feeling that was where we were heading.  Sure enough, that tower turned out to be a Buchenwald memorial.

As we turned onto the road into Buchenwald, I got an eerie feeling in anticipation of what we were about to see.  The weather didn’t help, either.  It was cold and raining.  The museum was closed, so we walked down the path to the camp.  When we went around a corner, I recognized the long gatehouse from pictures.

Gatehouse at Buchenwald

On the right wing of the gate house was a long hallway with tiny cells on either side.  These cells were used for solitary confinement and were barely large enough for one person.

Buchenwald hallway

In the cells, there were plaques and pictures of some of the inmates who lived and died in these cells.

Buchenwald cell

Then we entered the camp.  It was mostly empty.  Most of the buildings were gone.  All that was left of the rows and rows of barracks were gravel filled outlines of the foundations.

Buchenwald grounds

Way off to the right, though, was a building with a smokestack in the middle.

Buchenwald Crematorium

I figured what that building was, but I asked anyway.  Crematorium.  I was afraid of that.  So, we slowly made our way over there.  There was a sign outside that requested silence while inside, as it was a place of mourning.  The building was not very big, so we were soon staring at the row of giant ovens.  The thought of how they were used was gruesome.

Buchenwald crematorium ovens

Then we went out the back and down some steps to the basement.  On one side there was a large chute opening to the outside above and along the wall was a row of hooks.  Also, on the other side was an old elevator.  It didn’t take much to figure out what they were all for.

We examined the rest of the camp and walked across to the other side where the was a reproduction of a barracks.  It was raining slightly and cold and we were not dressed for this type of weather.  We decided we saw all we needed to see and decided to go.

Weimar

We drove out of Buchenwald.  We wanted to stop on our way out to look up close at that Memorial Bell Tower we saw on our way there, but it was really raining hard, so we decided to skip it.  We drove out of the woods and down the hill to the town of Weimar.  Harald reminded us that this town is located in what used to be East Germany.  He said the economy here was still not at a par with the west.

We found a place to park and proceeded to walk toward the center of town with Cäsar leading the way.  We could tell that Cäsar had been here before, but we weren’t sure why.

OK, now it’s time to find a place I can unload these freakin traveler’s cheques!  Harald, what that place?  Do you think they could cash one for me?  I think so.  Let’s find out.  So, we went in.  Got that same look of panic on the face of the lady when Harald asked.  Turns out it was not a bank after all.  It was a post office.  That explains it.

Postbank

So we walk a little further down the block.  Harald, that has to be a bank, right?  Yes, that is definitely a bank.  So we go in.  Harald asks a young guy behind a desk.  No?  Oh, shit!  No problem, no problem!  Here’s an ATM machine!  I’ll just take out some cash from my checking account.  That was easy, I wish I was doing that all along!  I’ll just let bonnie know in my next e-mail.

With that emergency resolved, Cäsar led us to the Zum Goethebrunnen for lunch.

Weimar pub

This was a cozy little pub.  Songs by Neil Diamond and Roberta Flack were playing.  It was nice to sit and relax and to be out of the rain!  The menu consisted of traditional German food.  I order an assortment of sausages with sauerkraut and mashed potatoes.  I normally don’t eat sauerkraut, but I found it to be delicious!  Not as sour as the stuff we get back home.

There was a good menu of beers, too!  We had an assortment of Franken Bräu Hell, Franken Bräu Dunkel, Franken Bräu Pilsner and Radeberger Pilsner.  Joyce had a glass of red wine.  What was she thinking?

Cäsar

As some point, a trio of students came in and took a seat by the front window.  We didn’t take take much notice until they started singing!  There was a girl and 2 guys and they had an absolutely fantastic sound!  The girl’s voice was powerful and smooth, while the guys harmonized to try to balance her out.  Cäsar told us there was a famous music school here, so I guess they were practicing while having lunch.  Further research revealed there is indeed a music school here.  It is the Franz Liszt Academy of Music.  I didn’t recognize the first song they sang, but the second one was ‘Yesterday’ by the Beatles.  Paul McCartney would have been proud!

As we were leaving, I had the urge to snap a picture of the students, but I thought it would be rude.  Once outside, Cäsar pointed out a yellow building he called the Goethe House.

Goethe house

It was the home of a famous German poet, Johann von Goethe (1749-1832).  Now the house was a museum.  The museum was closed, so we followed Cäsar down some more streets to a park.  We walked down a narrow twisting stairway which tunneled under a rock to the bank of a small river.  There we crossed and walked across a field to the hill on the other side.  There we found a small house.  Cäsar explained that it was Goethe’s Garden house, where he spent the summer.

Goethe’s Garden house

There was a small fee to tour the house, so we did.  There was nothing spectacular about it, but apparently there was great historical significance.

After touring the garden house we strolled back through the rain into the town again.  Since it was starting to get late, we headed to the cars.  We started down one street but after Cäsar asked someone for directions, we headed back the other way.  We ended up back where we had lunch, so we knew how to go from there.

We then walked for a couple more blocks when I noticed our group looked a little small.  Where were Manuela, Philipp and Marty?  I yelled to Harald to stop.  Then I went back a few blocks and around the corner when I spotted the stragglers bringing up the rear.  It seems that Marty discovered a market selling bread at a price he couldn’t refuse!  I shutter to think what would have happened if we had lost them, but at least Marty was happy.

Then we came to a square which we had passed earlier on our way in to town.  There was a large statue of two men, arm in arm.  Cäsar told us it was a statue of Goethe and Schiller.

Statue of Goethe and Schiller

On the right is Friedrich Schiller (1759-1805), also a famous poet as well as Goethe’s friend.  We were really learning our German literature today!  I guess this is why Cäsar was such a popular professor.

We made it back to the cars and headed back to Marburg.  The trip back was an adventure in and of itself.  We were all travel weary and after making a wrong turn, stopped at a rest area to get our bearings.  The bathroom there included a unique ‘all-in-one’ type of sink.  It took Jeff and I a minute to realize what to do.  First, we put our hands inside a porcelain bowl which was recessed in the wall.  Then, an automatic sensor caused water to pour down over our hands.  Then liquid soap squirted down, followed by more water to rinse.  As a grand finale, hot air began to blow on our hands to dry them!  I’ll bet somewhere there is an inventor who is is very proud of him/her self!

As we headed back onto the autobahn in the right direction, Harald turned off his tape and put on the radio.  Up until now, we had to suffer through the playing of Harald’s only CD of his favorite group, BAP.  The music wasn’t bad, but after 3 or 4 times listening to it, we were ready for a change.

Harald flipped through the channels of different stations.  He stopped briefly at a station playing some dance music.  There was then a commotion in the back seat.  When I turned around, I saw young Philipp doing some motions with his hands along with the music.  Harald quickly changed the station.  “Harald, what’s the matter?  Turn it back!  Philipp likes it.” “Oh, I don’t like that kind of music”, he said.  I asked Philipp what it was but he didn’t know the name.  He just liked the dance moves that go with it.  As Harald would not change the station back, we though we had heard the last of that song.  Oddly, we were to hear it again a few days later in the most unlikely of places.

We continued on to Marburg.  Harald made a wrong turn and we lost Cäsar.  Harald wasn’t worried, though.  Once he discovered his mistake, he knew another route which we took to get back.  Once we were near Marburg, Harald stopped to get gas and called Cäsar on his cell phone.  He was relieved to find out they made it home OK.

When we got back to Manuela’s apartment, I again logged on to my e-mail and read a message from my wife.

Hi – Two bits of news….The lady I work with who will be arriving in Germany next week the same day you leave got a travel alert today because she is on a DuPont company itinerary. Apparently there have been terrorist threats against American interests in Germany specifically in Frankfurt. Just be careful. Also thought you’d like to know if you haven’t already that the Supreme Court has refused to hear the appeal for the NJ Senate race.

I was more interested in the NJ Senate race than the travel warning!  So I wrote back telling them what I was doing.  I also told Bonnie about the need to take money out of our checking account.

After logging off, Jeff and I had another beer left over from the night before.  We stayed up for a while talking with Manuela.  We read a headline in the local paper that talked about President Bush and the UN’s dealings with Iraq.  Manuela then quizzed us on US foreign policy.  This is a topic that we had hoped we wouldn’t talk about on the trip, but since Manuela was so sincere in her questions, we felt we had to answer the best we could.

Our conversation drifted from politics to social issued to religion.  Topics normally best to stay far away from!  But Manuela seemed quite interested and was amazed to learn that Jeff and I often don’t agree on issues, but enjoy debates in a fun and civil way.

The day was finally over.  Tomorrow we were to really get some culture.  Beer culture, that is!  We were scheduled to go on a trip to tour the Licher Brewery.

Licher Brewery Tour!

The next morning we hiked into town to meet the others at the St. Elisabeth Church in Marburg for a tour.  However, we got our times mixed up and got there too late for the tour.  Cäsar had already taken Harald, Marty, Joyce and Jerry through the church.  I did get some nice photos of the outside, though.

St. Elisabeth Church in Marburg

Before we left for the Licher brewery, we met up with a couple of Harald’s friends that were going with us on the tour.  Then, as usual, we piled into the tiny cars and headed south, past the town of Gießen or Giessen, to the town of Lich.

Licher brewery

We were about an hour early, so we had time to look around a bit.  Across the street from the brewery was a statue of a brewmaster carrying a large keg.

Beerman statue at Licher brewery

That was next to some train tracks.  Naturally, Marty was interested in that.  He got real excited when a light-rail train rolled past.  Across the tracks was a small snack bar.  Since it was close to noon, some of the crew indulged.

Finally, the tour began.  First we sat in a small theater and watched a short marketing presentation (in German).  Then our tour guide started us off.  Fortunately, the tour was in English.

Tour group at Licher brewery

The tour guide showed us the old copper kettles that, like many breweries, are no longer used.

Copper brew kettle at Licher brewery

Then he showed us the new stainless steel stuff.  Nothing unusual about that.  But when he said the wort in the brew kettle was brought to 90 degrees Celsius (not boiling), that’s what got the group’s attention.  What?  The wort doesn’t boil?  Technically, you can make beer without boiling, but we have never heard of such a thing.

For you non-brewers out there reading this, ‘wort’, which rhymes with ‘hurt’, is the term for un-fermented beer.  It is sweet and sugary.  The sugars from the malt have not been turned to alcohol, yet.  That is the job of yeast during the fermentation process.

We questioned our tour guide about this 90 degrees issue, but since he was just the tour guide and not the brewer, he could offer no further explanation.

Licher brewery tour

We looked out a window and we saw the lagering tanks towering along side the main building.  Then we walked down a flight of stairs where we could see the conical underbelly of the lagering tanks.  Jerry touched one of the tanks and said it was like touching his first breast!  He said that and he wasn’t even drinking, yet!

Jerry touching a fermentor

I went to snap a picture of a half and quarter keg sitting next to each other when Jerry stepped in my way.  Fortunately, the resulting picture proved to be interesting.

Two large containers of beer!

After the tour, we were escorted up an elevator up to the top floor to the brewery’s private bar where we were served several rounds of freshly brewed beer!

Bar in the shape of a brew kettle at the Licher brewery

We were also given a couple baskets of pretzels and Slim Jim type sausages.  Delicious!

A few snacks!

It was explained that horse drawn carriages are still used for local deliveries.  We were given the choice of taking a tour of the horse stables or drinking beer.  Guess which one we chose!

Table at Licher brewery

When it was time to go, we were taken to the gift shop where we had an opportunity to pick up some souvenirs.

Farewell Marburg!

We drove back to Marburg for what was to be our last evening there.  Harald drove Jeff and me back to Manuela’s apartment.  Are plans were to all meet again for dinner at 7:00 at a restaurant in town.  As we were driving into town, Jeff and I noticed the large stone watchtower high on the hill behind Manuela’s place.

Kaiser-Wilhelm Tower

So, when we arrived, I asked how difficult it would be to hike up there before dinner.  Manuela said it was not hard, as there was a hiking trail nearby that goes there.  She also offered to lead us there.  Sounds great, let’s go!  But first, Manuela had to put her apple strudel in the oven.  Apple strudel?  That sounds very good!  Fortunately, Philipp was home and would be able to watch the oven while it was baking.

So, Manuela lead us out the back door of her apartment and up the back street toward the hill.  The steep road soon ended at the base of the woods where a wide trail began.  This was apparently part of a park.  Well, the hike was taking longer than I expected and I was wondering out loud whether this was such a good idea or not.  I tried to keep the complaining to a to a minimum, but it was hard.  Finally, we reached the top and looked up at the base of the tower.

We could only walk up one level on the outside of the tower.  The door to go inside was locked.  We stood and watched the sun set over the next hill while we caught our breath.  On the opposite ridge was the castle we had been in a couple of days before.  The view was fantastic!  Too bad we didn’t have much time to enjoy it.  We had to start back down if we wanted to make it to dinner on time.

Kaiser-Wilhelm Tower

When we got back to Manuela’s place, the strudel was done.  Unfortunately, we didn’t have time to have any.  We had to meet the others at the Altes Brauhaus for dinner.  Philipp stayed behind as we started off on foot into town.

It had gotten very dark as Manuela led us down a shortcut though the university.  At one point, it was so dark I could barely see where we were going.  Manuela was surprised when I told her how unsafe it would be to walk in the dark streets of the towns back home.  I guess the crime rate is low in Marburg.

After about a 15 minute walk, we arrive at the restaurant.  It’s a classic, half-timber building.  It looks even better at night, as it is decorated in an array of lights.  We went in and joined the others who were already seated at a table.

Altes Brauhaus

The food was very good.  I got another meal with some terrific sauerkraut!  Sauerkraut has quickly become a favorite of mine.

Altes Brauhaus staff in traditional attire

After we finished eating dinner and before we left, Marty presented Cäsar with a gift.  It was a pair of books about Longwood Gardens.  Marty picked out the books as a gift before we left on the trip and before he knew who he would be staying with.  As it turned out, it couldn’t have been more perfect for Cäsar, given his love for gardening.  Cäsar was overcome with emotion as he examined his gifts.  It was a very touching moment.

As we left the restaurant, we gathered on the front steps for a group shot.

Altes Brauhaus group photo

Someone had the idea of going to one last place before we called it a night.  After some discussion, we followed Harald up a couple more blocks until we came to a small college bar called Quodlibet.

Quodlibet

Quodlibet was a crowded and smoky bar.  The atmosphere reminded me a little bit of the Deer Park Tavern in Newark.

Friends at Quodlibet pub

We found ourselves a section near the bar to invade.  It was a good spot because we were able to get quick service.

Quodlibet

We had several more beers there.  I hope somebody can remember what we had!

Ralf with Dagmar at Quodlibet pub

We stayed rather late.  None of us wanted the night to end because that meant saying goodbye!  In just a few short days we made great friends with some wonderful people in Marburg!  I know we will never forget them!  Alas it was late, so we said our goodbyes and headed home for the night.

Hello Cologne!

The next morning, we woke up early and packed up our things.  Manuela once again served us a nice breakfast.  Then we set off to the train station.

When we got there, we found Harald and the Carneys already inside.  Now all we needed was Marty and we’d be all set.  We knew the train would be running on time, but Marty and Cäsar weren’t.  Once again, I started to worry that we would miss the train!  Ok, here he comes.  No, Marty, no time to look at books!  We’ve got to go!

Harald started off down to the steps that lead to the platform.  I decided to stop worrying and just follow Harald.  If Marty misses the train, he will just have to make it on his own.

Ok, I can calm down now.  Marty finally followed us to the platform and we were there on time.  We had just enough time to say goodbye and snap a couple pictures.  Now it was my turn to get a little emotional.  It was so sad to leave.

Farewell to friends in Marburg

The train pulled up, we piled in, waved to Cäsar, Manuela and Philipp, then we were off.

Train to Cologne

The train was rather empty, so we had our pick of seats.  After about 20 minutes, we got off at Gießen to transfer to another train.  We had a about a half hour wait until our next train came.  We boarded that and were off.  Next stop, Cologne (or Köln). We didn’t go far when I spotted an old round house.  I wondered if we would see any steam engines.  Yes!  There was one sticking it’s nose out of it’s stall.

Roundhouse

Since I couldn’t sleep, I kept my eyes pealed to see what I could see out my window.  At one point, we were coming into a town and I got the feeling if I looked hard enough, I might see a brewery somewhere.  I mentioned that to Harald, too.  The next thing I new, I did see something that looked like a brewery.  Harald, what’s that?  Could it be?  Yes!  We saw a sign on the building and Harald confirmed it was a brewery.  Talk about strange!

Brewery seen from train

But even stranger things were to come!  I now kept an even closer eye on the towns as we passed for the hope to see even more breweries.  We were just pulling out of a station and still going fairly slow when I got a shock.  Right next to the tracks was a man standing there with his pants down to his ankles!  I told the others what I just saw.  Harald, in his laid back way said something to the affect of, “Well, you just never know what you’ll see.” I think Jerry asked if the guy was aroused.  No.  Now why would you want to know that?!  I didn’t get a chance to take a picture, but I guess that’s a good thing!

We had a good laugh about that little incident.  Then we started to slow down to stop at the next station.  Out the window I see a huge crowd of school kids waiting to board the train.  Oh no!  We had better all shift to occupy seats next to each other or else we’ll be up to our ears in kids!  As I anticipated, the kids boarded the train and were running around everywhere!  Kids will be kids everywhere, I guess.  It made me a little homesick for my own kids.  Fortunately, the kids got off at the next stop and we were able to spread out again.

The next thing I started to notice as I peered out the window, was all of the construction cranes I saw.  They were everywhere.  The construction crane must be the German national bird or something!  I started counting.  I think I was up to 10 by the time we rolled into Cologne.

The first thing I noticed about Cologne was the huge train bridge we used to cross the Rhine river.  Then we entered into the giant arched train station.  No time to look out the window anymore.  Time to get off the train before it started off again!

So we dash off the train and follow closely behind Harald.  Harald lead us through the station and out to the street.  That’s when we got our first glimpse of the Dom!  What a church!  It was huge!  Enormous!  Gigantic!  Colossal!  Did I miss anything?  Oh yes, gargantuan!  It was also very big.

The Cologne Dom

We’ll go in there later, Harald promised.  First we must find our hotel.  Harald looked around and looked at his map then finally figured out where we needed to go.  So we followed him down a couple of streets, past the Mac Donald’s.

Then we saw the strangest sign along the edge of the sidewalk.  There on the sign were two bare breasted women in front and to men in the back in a similar pose.  One women was pinching the nipple of the other women and the men were doing likewise.  Jerry said it must be an ad for the “Please Touch Museum“!  That comment had us all in stitches for a while!  I took a picture, but later deleted it from my camera.  Jeff took a picture with his 35mm camera.

We walked another block and we were at our hotel, the Hotel Madison.  We checked into our rooms.  No elevator, of course.  Had to lug all the suitcases up the stairs ourselves.  Then we met back in the lobby to venture off into town.

At some point, we were in the Cologne visitor’s center across from the Dom so I asked where an American Express office was.  As luck would have it, it was right up the block.  Finally, I was able to cash all of my freakin traveler’s cheques and have some spending money again!

Hello Kölsch!

Kölsch, in case you were wondering, is a style of beer brewed only in Cologne.  It’s a light golden colored ale that goes down real smooth.  It is lightly hopped (not a lot of bitterness) and has a delicate hint of malt flavor as well.  It’s not exactly my favorite style of beer, but it proved to be “the one beer to have when you’re having more than one!” And we had our share, believe me!

After checking into our hotel in Cologne, we ventured out for lunch and our night on the town to visit the many Cologne pubs.  Our first stop was the Brauerei Früh Am Dom.  The beer we had there was, what else, their Früh Kölsch.  This was supposed to be a brewpub, but I don’t recall seeing any brewing equipment.  We learned later that sometimes a pub called themselves a brauerei and had their own Kölsch, but really served a contract brew.  That was the case here.  This building used to house the Früh brewery, but now it is brewed elsewhere.

Früh brewery

We had a snack as well as several rounds of Kölsch.  The Kölsch was OK.  Nothing to write home about.  Being homebrewers, we are used to drinking many different styles of beer.  This beer was weak by comparison to some of our favorite styles.  However, it was easy to drink, and we weren’t complaining.

Another thing to note about drinking Kölsch in Cologne is the glasses.  They always server Kölsch in these narrow .2 liter glasses.  Compared to pilsner and weisbier glasses, these are tiny.  The only good thing is they keep them coming.  The server will come around periodically with a tray full of beers.  They have a special tray to carry these glasses.  The tray has a handle in the middle and round holes around it to fit the Kölsch glasses.  The server will swap your empty glasses with full ones from his tray.  This is done automatically without having to ask.  The server will then place a coaster in the center of the table and draw a mark for each beer he serves.  Then when you’re ready to pay your bill, the server counts the number of marks and charges you accordingly.  The only way to stop them from bringing more beer is either to keep a little bit of beer at the bottom of your glass or put your coaster on top of it.  But why would anyone want to do that?

Kölsch

The Früh was quite a big place.  I looked around on my visit to the WC.  There was an upstairs and a downstairs to the place, but since it was early in the day, those areas were closed off.  In the area we were in, we noticed a little booth inside of the room.  That apparently is used as an office where the beer is served and money is paid.  It must be a traditional way for keeping track of profits.

Früh brewery interior

We enjoyed our stay at the Früh and could easily have spent a lot of time there, but the night was young and we wanted to visit as many pubs as we could.

The Cologne Dom

As we left the Früh and followed Harald to our next stop, we passed by the Dom again.  I couldn’t resist another photo!

Next on our tour was the Brauhaus Sion.  The atmosphere was not of a traditional pub, but more of a restaurant.  Apparently, the Sion brewery was completely destroyed in the war and was not rebuild the same way.  But we weren’t there for the atmosphere, we were there for the beer!  The beer here, Sion Kölsch, was excellent.  It was a step above that of the Früh.  Once again, they no longer brew beer here, but that didn’t matter.

Brauhaus Sion

Brauhaus Sion

The Sion was very relaxing and helped us unwind from a long day.

Brauhaus Sion

This was once again one of those pubs that you could spend a lot of time in.  In fact, most of the pubs in Cologne were that way.  But we were on a mission, so off we went.

Next, Harald led us to a large open square that was littered with pubs.  We walked into the Gaffel-Haus, but it was crowded and Harald didn’t want to fight the crowd.  So we went back out and walked a couple doors down to the a pub called Papa Joe’s Biersalon.  They also served Gaffel Kölsch.

Talk about unique.  It was a whimsical, roaring-twenties style jazz bar.  Check out their web page for a better description.

Papa Joe's

There were these strange looking coin operated figures with jazz instruments that would play if you dropped a euro in the slot.

Papa Joe's

There were also these old style peep show machines that Joyce had fun with.  I think all the kölsch was starting to take it’s toll on Joyce!

Peepshow at Papa Joe's

The Gaffel Kölsch was good, but by now all kölsch started to taste the same.  It’s a good thing kölsch is light, because we were having our share today.  We were having a good time, but none of us ever got out of control.  (Not even me!)

Papa Joe’s was without a doubt a unique and interesting place.  However, we were still on a mission, so off we went.

More Kölsch!

By now it was dark.  I guess it was about 18:00 (6:00 p.m.).  Harald led us to yet another pub.  This time it was the Brauerei Pfaffen.

Brauerei Pfaffen

We shuffled in and found an empty pair of tables in the back next to where the beer was poured.  That was perfect!  The beer came from oak kegs which had a tap hammered directly into the side and was operated by gravity!  It was a very interesting operation to watch.

Pouring a draft of beer at Brauerei Pfaffen

The beer was kölsch, of course.  It was their own brand.  I don’t know where they brew it, but the kegs were stamped with their name on it.

When they poured a round of beers, they needed to let the tray rest a while in order for the head to settle.  Then when a keg would kick, one of the servers would carry a full one in and replace the empty one on the counter.  We knew how much one of these kegs must weigh, so we made a big deal out of seeing them carrying them in.  We also made them hold them a little longer while we got our cameras ready!  The guy in the picture gave us his e-mail address and I sent him the picture when we returned home.

Lifting a keg at Brauerei Pfaffen

The tables we were standing at were also unique.  The tables were tall and we weren’t sitting, since there were no stools.  The center of the table was a round hole where a bronze statue stuck his head through as it held up the table.

Sitting at a table in the Brauerei Pfaffen

Joyce comparing noses with a table ornament in the Brauerei Pfaffen

What in the world is Joyce doing?

Once again, we were faced with the chore of leaving a perfectly good bar in search of another!  Harald then led us to Peter’s Brauhaus.

Peter's Brauhaus

This pub was very crowded.  We worked our way through until we found an open area to stand which had a narrow counter down the middle of the floor which provided a place for us to rest our beer glasses.  We parked ourselves there and ordered some kölsch.  While waiting for our beer to arrive, Marty happened to look up to discover a circle of hops hanging from the light fixture.  To be sure they were real, Marty reached up and plucked a few cones off and gave them a sniff.  Yep, they’re hops alright!  They were extremely stale.  I wouldn’t want to brew with them, but they were hops.  A whole bunch of them, too.  That’s the first time I’ve seen that before.  I soon found out that it was a somewhat common practice, as I saw more hops in other bars while in Germany as well.

Marty picking hops at Peter's Brauhaus

Soon our beers arrived.  Peter’s Kölsch.  Tasted like any other kölsch at that point.  Then we began a conversation with a small group of ‘locals’ who where standing on the opposite side of the counter from us.  They were very friendly and talkative.  They spoke fairly good English.  I noticed that one of them looked like Lech Walesa, in my opinion.  We soon learned they were not local to Cologne.  I think they said they were from Bavaria.  We ask what their favorite kölsch was.  They didn’t have a favorite kölsch, they all agreed.  “It tastes like piss”, they said as they drank another round!  We didn’t agree, but we kept our opinions to ourselves.  They felt sorry for us to have come all this way only to drink piss!  Oh, well, what do they know.  One of them gave me his e-mail address, but I can’t read it.  Every attempt to send to my best guess of what he wrote, comes back as undeliverable.

Locals at Peter's Brauhaus

Harald grew a little tired of them, so we left.  Yes, we went to yet another bar!  Have you been counting?  That’s right, six.  This one would be our last…for the evening.

This next and last pub was Haus Zims.  They serve Gilden Kölsch.

Haus Zims

Well, it was bound to happen.  After consuming about a hundred beers, someone finally spilled one.  And judging by the look on my face, I’d say I was the guilty party!  About the only good thing about kölsch being served in these tiny .2 liter glasses is when you spill one, you don’t waste too much.

Beer spillage at Haus Zims

We ordered a much needed late night snack.  I had some kind of omelet.  It was good, I think.  While we waited for our food to come, I noticed a couple of Japanese guys at the table next to us.  They looked like they were enjoying their kölsch as well.  After spilling the beer at our table, I was too embarrassed to stick around, so I decided to join the Japanese guys.  They were very friendly. They also spoke relatively good English.  It’s funny how someone with poor English has excellent English when you are in a country that speaks a different language!

They were from Osaka and were in town on business.  They work for a company that makes circuit boards.  They also gave me their e-mail addresses and one of them, Takeshi, actually sent me a reply.  I think that is him on the left.

Friendly Japanese visitors

Handshake with Japanese visitor

We had a long conversation.  I explained the reason for our trip.  They told me I must come to Japan because they brew good beer there, too.  That sounds good to me!

We noticed we and the other guys were the only ones left in the place and the servers were busy cleaning up.  That was our hint that it was finally time to call it a night.  So we headed back, past the Dom which was wonderfully lit at night.

Got back to the hotel and crashed.  I was too tired to look for my ear plugs, so when Jeff started to snore, I found another effective technique to shut him up.  Since the twin beds in the room were spaced only 2 feet apart, I was able to reach my hand across to grab the end of his pillow and yank it partly out from under his head.  Jeff would wake up not knowing what happened, but at least he would stop snoring for a few minutes!  I had to repeat this a couple of times, but I finally fell asleep.

More Cologne!

Believe it or not, we woke up the next day and it was still morning!  In fact, Jeff and I actually made it downstairs in time to have a complimentary breakfast being served at the Hotel.  We got there just in time, as they cleared everything right after we got our meal from the buffet and sat down at a table.  Once again, more rolls and lunch meat.  Downed that with some coffee and we were ready for another day of adventure in Cologne!  The rest of the gang had already had breakfast and we made arrangements to meet them in front of the Dom at 9:30.

Today is Thursday.  Tomorrow afternoon we leave for Frankfurt and Saturday morning we fly home.  But don’t worry, we have plenty more adventures ahead!

We all met in front of the Dom as planned, then we walked around past the Dom toward the riverfront.  When we reached the river we made a left down a nice sidewalk toward some boats we saw docked along the river.  Our plan was to take a short boat ride on the Rhine.

As we walked under the railroad bridge, Harald was stopped by a man in a small shack.  He convinced Harald to buy tickets for the sightseeing boat that docks there.  It was for a one hour sightseeing cruise, just what we needed.  We had over a half hour to kill before the next departure, so we relaxed and looked around a bit.  Marty and I walked up the steps to the train bridge above us.  Marty snapped a few train photos, naturally.

Then our boat arrived and we all boarded.

Boat ride on the Rhine

There was a small cafe onboard so we all ordered some refreshments.  Marty must not have had enough last night, as he ordered a beer!  It was a Dom Kölsch.  We would be visiting the Dom Brewery Museum tomorrow, so Marty got a first taste of their beer.  It was too early for the rest of us to have any beer, so we ordered soda and coffee instead.

Beer during boat ride on the Rhine

Marty’s first beer of the day.  Dom Kölsch

Modern bridge crossing the Rhine

It was a fairly warm, sunny day.  The perfect weather for hiking around town.  We soon moved up on deck to take in the sights.

Boat ride on the Rhine

During the cruise, we passed the Chocolate Factory Museum, which was on a small island near the shore.  We decided to go there next, so after the boat ride, we hiked a short distance along the shore to the museum.

When we got there, we had to cross a short draw bridge to reach the island.  We paid our entrance fee and entered the museum.  The first exhibits, however, had us confused.  They were African culture exhibits.  What did they have to do with chocolate?  Oh, they were from Central America.  I get it now.

We passed them and found ourselves in a large glass room which was filled with all kinds of stainless-steel chocolate-making machinery.  It was a complete mini factory which processed the chocolate from the beans to the finished product right in front of us.  Marty, who is a gadget freak, was in heaven.  (You should see all the beer-making gadgets Marty has in his basement) At one end of the room was a chocolate fountain where a lady was dipping wafers and handing them out to the tourists. They were delicious!  I convinced Jerry to get back in line with me for seconds or thirds!  He didn’t want to, but I twisted his arm!

Chocolate Factory Museum

The rest of the museum was really boring.  We all split up and looked at things at our own pace.  After a while, I walked around by myself looking for the rest of the group.  I was beginning to worry, because I hadn’t seen anyone for a few laps around the museum.  Then I spotted the Carneys around the factory area again.

We had plans to take a Cologne bus tour later and it was getting late, so I left the museum and hit the gift shop.  There was a ton of different kinds of chocolate on sale.  I settled on a tin of assorted chocolates and a bag of small, milk chocolate samples.  The Carneys joined me in the gift shop, so I was with part of our group, at least.

After purchasing the chocolate, I waited outside for the rest of the group to trickle out.  Harald was there and expressed concerns that we needed to get moving if we were going to make the last sightseeing bus which leaves at 15:00 (3:00 p.m.).  However, we were missing Jeff and Marty.  We could not go back into the museum without purchasing another ticket, so we had to wait for them to come out.

It got so late, that we realized we would have to miss the bus and do something else, instead.  No problem.  Finally, I spotted Jeff heading toward the exit of the museum.  I yelled to him to go back and look for Marty.  He did and soon emerged with Marty.  Now, however, we had to wait even longer for them to stop in the gift shop.  Fortunately, it was a nice day, so we stood outside and took in the sights.  Apparently, Marty had to study every aspect of each machine until he understand how it worked.  Only then did he move on to the next machine in the process.  I’m very glad for Marty’s sake that we went there.  Although I was a little bored, the fact that Marty had fun made it worth the trip!

Waiting for Jeff and Marty

Once we were all together, we decided on plan B.  Lunch!  By now, we were starved, so Harald walked us back toward the Alter Markt (Old Market) section, where we had visited some pubs the night before.  We stopped at the Gaffel-Haus, which was too crowded the night before.  We decided to sit at tables outside in the court yard.  We had a light lunch and a couple rounds of Gaffel Kölsch before heading for a tour of the Dom.

A late lunch at the Gaffel-Haus in the Alter Markt

When we got to the Dom, Harald told us if we wanted to climb to the top of the Dom, we needed to go now because they close the tower at 17:00 (5:00 p.m.).  The Carney’s decided to pass on the experience, but the rest of us were up for the challenge.  It’s a good thing we didn’t overindulge at lunch, because there are 509 steps to the top!  That’s a height of 157 meters.

So around and around we climbed, up a narrow, spiral staircase.  Did I mention it was narrow?  Oh, yes.  And there were people going down while we were climbing up, too.  The steps were badly worn due to the thousands of people that have climbed them before us.  Every now and then we would pass a window where we could look out.  We got to an open doorway at one point, but the stairs kept going up, so I kept going up.  I later found out the door led to an area where you could see the giant bells.

Marty climbing stairs to the Dom bell tower

When I finally got to where I thought was the top, I entered a giant room with a set of steel steps in the middle leading ever higher.  I sat there a while and gasped for air.  Marty climbed on ahead, while I politely waited for the others.

When I finally had enough energy to climb the final flight of stairs, I looked out the first window and almost passed out!  It was a breathtaking view of the Rhine with the train bridge.  However, I was out of breath and vertigo was setting in.  I snapped a couple pictures, but felt as if I were going to drop the camera at any moment!

View of the train bridge crossing Rhine from the Dom tower

There was a nice view of the Rhine where we could also see the Alter Markt section where we just had lunch.  The buildings lining the Alter Markt were each a different color and all lined in a row with steep pointed roofs.

View of the Rhine and the Alter Markt in Cologne

Observation deck on the Dom tower

After a short while, an employee began telling everyone it was closing time in the tower and we had to go back down.  As you might imagine, it was a lot easier going down.  Also, we didn’t have the problem of squeezing by people who were on their way up.

When we got to the bottom, we all wandered around inside the Dom.  It was like the Louisana SuperDome with stained glass windows, it was so big!

Stained glass windows in the Dom

After wandering around inside the Dom for a while, once again, when it was time to leave, we had trouble finding everyone.  I think Marty was bringing up the rear again!  Bad, bad Marty!

We finally all met out in front of the Dom and headed back to the Hotel.  We took a short rest and then headed out again for dinner.

Schreckenskammer!

Time for dinner.  We met in the lobby of the hotel and followed Harald out into town.  We went about 2 blocks in the opposite direction of the Dom and we were there.  From the outside, it didn’t look like much.  A plain building with some street lamps on the side and a door on the corner.  Good, I thought, this can’t be a tourist trap like the others.

I was right!  It was a plain, blue-collar type of pub, but it was definitely not a dive.

Schreckenskammer

Once again, they served their own brand of beer, Schreckenskammer Kölsch.

Schreckenskammer Kölsch glasses

Schreckenskammer, as I learned later, translates into English as fright chamber.

We ordered a couple of rounds and ordered our dinner.  Then Harald, who was sitting against the wall where he could see the whole room, said, “Hey, look at that!” We all turned around as saw a large tube filled beer in the middle of a table on the other side of the room.  Furthermore, there was a tap at the bottom of the beer-filled tube.

Harald quickly flagged down our server.  “What’s that?”, he asked.  It was a five liter tower of beer.  How much?  The same as a .2 liter beer multiplied by 25.  “We need one!”, was our reply!

First the server brought out the large black plastic base.  Then a few minutes later, he brought out the tower!  There were some nods of recognition as eye contact was made with the folks at the other table across the room.  Pouring a beer was a little tricky, at first.  There was a slight mishandling of the tap, as Jerry sprayed beer in my direction.  But before long, we were all pouring beer like a pro!

The Tower of Power

At some point, I dubbed this mysterious device, the Tower of Power!  And thus a legend began!

The next thing you know, it kicked!  Gone!  Finished!  “May we have another one, please!” “Coming right up”, was our server’s reply.  Well, he spoke German, so I don’t really know what he said.  But the important thing was, he brought us another tower!

When the second tower arrived, there was a hush in the room, as the people realized they were in the presence of beer drinking greatness!  Well, we can dream, can’t we?  However, the group at the other table was still only half done their first tower.  They looked embarrassed as they realized they were being crushed!

The Tower of Power, Kölsch glasses and Kranz

Well, as you might expect, while were making quick work of the 2nd tower, we started getting silly.  The name Tower of Power somehow got changed to the Schreckenskammer Schlooper Schlonger!

Harald started to get camera happy.  He thought it would be funny to snap pictures of us when we didn’t expect it.  Of course, that leads to a lot of goofy looking pictures, since they were snapped while we were talking.

Stop with the pictures!

I tried to retaliate by taking candid shots of Harald.  However, I couldn’t, since my camera has the red-eye reduction feature that flashes a flicker first before taking the picture.  That flicker gave Harald the time to turn and stare at the camera each time.  Not a problem, though.  I thought of a way to take a silly picture of him.  A little changes in the settings and here you go!

Harald, what happened to your face?  You look so silly!

Harald wasn’t the only one to look silly that night, however.  Jerry was sitting there, minding his own business, when some foolish guy bumped the leg of the table and splashed beer down the front of his shirt.  Well, that is what he claims, anyway!

Jerry wearing beer

I must confess, I bumped the table.  It was such a shame the beer splashed on Jerry and not me!

Earlier in the evening, someone asked Harald what an equivalent German word for ‘flagged’ would be.  Flagged means the person has been drinking too much and will no longer be served beer.  “We don’t have that word”, Harald said.  That was intersting.  So after seeing Jerry with beer covering the front of his shirt, I decided to have a little fun.

On my way back from the WC, I stopped one of the servers (known in Cologne as Zappes) and asked him if he would play a little joke on a friend at my table.  I asked him if he would go to our table and tell Jerry he couldn’t have any more beer.  The server thought that was too funny and didn’t think he could do it.  However, he asked one of the other servers.  The other guy said he would do it.

So as he went to our table, I watched from a distance while he had a conversation with Jerry.  When Jerry protested, the server could not keep a straight face and busted out laughing.  It was a perfect gag.  I’m sure I’ll pay for that some day, but it was worth it!

Schreckenskammer Zappes

The guy on the left is the one who spoke to Jerry

We soon realized we were the only ones left in the bar.  The servers were very friendly and snapped some pictures for us.  We bought a few of their kölsch glasses to take home as a souvenir.  The glasses were gift wrapped with a coaster and a pamphlet explaining how the bar got it’s name.  Of course it is written in German, so I have no clue.  The same info is on their web page.

Late night at Schreckenskammer

It was time to go, but it wasn’t that late.  I convinced Jeff and Marty to go with me to another bar somewhere.  Originally, Harald had declined, but had a change of heart.  So we left.  The Carneys went back to the hotel and we followed Harald.  Harald led us around a block and then back past our hotel and around another corner.  He was looking for another brewery he had seen on a brewery list.  We went under a train overpass and up about a block where we saw a building with big glass windows in front.  It looked like it might be a brewery, but we didn’t see any recognizable equipment inside.  It was apparently the Gaffel Brewery, but we didn’t see any signs saying that was it.  Right next door to the brewery was a pub, so we decided to go in.

Eigel-Treff

The name of the pub was Eigel-Treff.  It was small, but looked nice.  We noticed something strange, however, when we walked in.  Everyone in the bar turned to see who we were as we came in.  So, we went in, found a spot at the bar and ordered some kölsch.

It wasn’t long before Harald said there was something not right about this bar.  All the women here are hookers!  This is a hooker bar!  I asked if we should leave, but by then Harald was starting to relax and enjoy his beer, so he didn’t want to leave.  At least that is what he said.  So the four of us carried on a conversation amongst ourselves and it was obvious we had come there by mistake.

It was interesting to observe the behavior.  Someone would enter, everyone turns to look, then when the new person was recognized as a regular, everyone went back to their own conversations.

We thought it was funny that the bartender didn’t know they were right next door to the Gaffel Brewery, even though that is the kölsch they served.  We asked her if that was the Gaffel Brewery next door and she had to ask one of the guys she knew in the bar.  It was apparent that kölsch wasn’t the primary thing they were serving in this bar.

Then I recognized a song on the jukebox.  It was the same song that Philipp was doing dance movements to in the car on our way back from Weimar!  What was it?  No problem, I’ll just look on the jukebox to see what is playing.  As I went over to the jukebox, one of the girls came over to help me find the song.  I thanked her and focused my interest on the music.  The song was Aserejé (The Ketchup Song) by Las Ketchup.  That’s a strange name for a song.  I asked Harald what the lyrics were about and he told us it was a silly children’s song about a tomato that was talking to some other vegetables.  He was pulling our leg.  The song was actually in Spanish, but it was a very catchy tune.  As it turned out, that song was number one on the charts all across Europe and South America.  I read many articles that proclaimed it would be the next Macarena.  We’ll see about that.

After having a couple of rounds, Harald decided it was time to go back.  Apparently, a girl sat down next to him and was trying to start a conversation with him.  That was not a problem, until she started to rub his leg.  That’s when he insisted we leave!

So out we went.  Then I realized I hadn’t taken a picture, so I went back inside.  Once again, everyone turned to see who I was.  When I went to take a picture, the bartender and several other people franticly insisted on no pictures!  I laughed and quickly went back out.  I did get a picture of the outside, though.

So we took the short walk down the block, under the train bridge and around the corner to our hotel to crash.

Brewery Museum Tour!

The next morning was interesting, to say the least.  We had our window open and there was some kind of noise outside that woke me up.  It was around 7:00, so it was an early start for us.  Jeff used the bathroom first while I started packing up my luggage.  We would be checking out of our hotel this morning.  The guy at the hotel desk said we would be able to leave our luggage with him in the lobby while we spent the day in Cologne today.  We were scheduled to take a train to Frankfurt later this afternoon.

Jeff finished up his initial trip to the bathroom so I took my turn.  When I went in, I noticed the toilet appeared to not have flushed properly, so I gave it another try.  Something was wrong!  The water wasn’t going down and I started hearing a gurgling noise somewhere.  Oh, no!  It was backing up into the bathtub!  Ahhhhhhhhh!  And I was planning to use that tub to take a shower, too!  Scratch that idea!  In case you’re reading this while eating, I’ll spare you the details of what came up into the bathtub, if you get my drift!

Since we were checking out this morning, I didn’t bother contacting the hotel staff.  I would tell them when we check out.  I decided to wash my hair in the sink.  I did a quick wash job, since I thought I heard noises coming from the sink drain, too!  Jeff was smart, he used the shower in the Carney’s room next door.

When I was ready to go, I lugged my suitcase down the steps and into the lobby.  I went to have breakfast and met up with Harald.  Harald said we had some time to wander around town on our own before we needed to go to the Dom Kölsch Brewery (formally Küppers Brewery) for a tour of their famous brewery museum of 19th century brewing equipment.

Jeff was still packing, so Marty and I decided to head out to do some shopping.  Today was Friday and I hadn’t done any shopping the entire trip.  I promised the kids I would bring home some presents and I was feeling a little stressed about the situation.

So we took a walk down Hohe street, which was a pedestrian mall with a lot of stores.  It was still a little early and most of the stores weren’t open, yet.  We walked down a few blocks to a large department store we were told about.

I went to the toy section of the store looking for a toy dragon for my son.  I looked all over, but I didn’t see anything I could get him.  Marty was browsing around waiting for me.  When I went back to where he was, I noticed he was staring with a child’s fascination at a giant display of an Erector set toy built in the shape of a tower with airplanes hanging from both ends.  I wanted to take a picture of him with that priceless look on his face, but I figured the store security people wouldn’t care for that.  There was another display of the same toy built in the shape of a large Ferris wheel.  Marty studied that as well.

We wandered around the store for a while.  I looked in the music section for the Ketchup Song, but didn’t have any luck.

It was getting close to the time we had to meet Harald in front of the Dom, so we left the store and headed back.  Just before we reached the Dom, I ducked into a gift shop and bought a small cuckoo clock for my wife.  Still didn’t have anything for the kids, though.  That was starting to bother me.  I just couldn’t go home empty handed!

We made it back to the Dom.  On our way past it, I almost walked across a sidewalk art painting of Goethe.

Street art of Goethe

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

We found Harald, but of course, we were short a few people.  Harald told us the Dom Brewery was farther away than he though and we had to take the subway.  While we were shopping, Harald took a ride there to see how far away it was.  He said it took a while and we had to catch the next train if we were going to be on time for our tour.  While we were waiting for Jeff and the Carneys to arrive, Harald told Marty and I to buy our train tickets.  There was a ticket machine at the bottom of the stairs at the entrance to the subway.  Harald needed to keep an eye out for the others, so he told us what we need to buy.  I tried to figure out how to use the machine, but I wasn’t at my best, so I had to go back up to ask Harald some questions.  Finally, I figured it out and bought my tickets.  When the others arrived, we helped them buy their tickets and made a dash for the train.

We all got on the subway train and headed toward the museum.  An interesting note about the subway was the fact that there was no turnstiles to go through to board the train.  Once on the train, we had to put our tickets into a box that stamped a time onto the ticket.  Harald explained the ticket needed to be stamped in order to ride train.  Nobody checked our tickets, but Harald said they do that sometimes.

We made it to the brewery on time.  Actually, we made it to the Dom Brauhaus, where the museum was.  The Dom Brewery was across the street.  We only had time for the museum tour, so unfortunately, we would not be touring the brewery itself.

The Dom Brewery

We were introduced to our tour guide and were led through the bar and into another room.  The tour was in English and the tour guide led us down an old iron spiral staircase.  When we got to the bottom, we were fascinated by all of the old brewing equipment.  The guide led us to the far end of the cellar and started the tour there.

The Dom Brauhaus

The first thing he showed us was a statue of King Gambrinus who was known as the King of Beer.

King Gambrinus was known as the King of Beer

Then he show us the equipment and explained the brewing process.  He showed us a brew kettle and explained the wort was heated to 90 degrees Celsius.  Oh no, they didn’t boil the wort, either!  Well, once again, we were hearing this from a tour guide, not a brewer, so we took it with a grain of salt.  However, it might be possible that due to the nature of this old equipment, it might not have been possible to heat the wort hot enough to reach a boil.  Who knows!

Old brew kettle in the Dom Museum in Cologne

The brewing equipment was all hooked up with old pipes, wires and rigging.  It looks like it was setup for actual brewing.  However, the guide explained how a previous owner of the brewer was a collector and scavenged old breweries to add to his collection.  The guide said it was alright to take pictures, so I photographed almost everything in the place.  I don’t think they would appreciate me posting everything on this page, so I’ll keep the pictures to a minimum here.

After we were finished touring the equipment in the basement, we went to another room upstairs that contained a ton of old advertising posters and buttons.  Some were painted on tin and some were on paper.  It was an amazing collection!  We were simply overwhelmed by it all.

Beer sign collection in the Dom Museum in Cologne

Included in the price of the tour was a couple rounds of kölsch and a snack in the adjoining pub.  It was early Friday afternoon and the pub was empty.  We enjoyed our brief stay, but soon headed off to catch the train back.

Lunch at the Dom Museum in Cologne

Typical German snack of bread, cheese and beer

A delicious snack!

When we made it back to the station at the Dom, we realized we had some time to kill before we needed to get out luggage and catch the train.  So, to kill some time, you guessed it, we went to another pub!  We stopped in the Alt Koln, which was located across the street from the Dom.  It was an incredibly decorated pub with two floors of dining.  There was a spiral staircase leading to the second level, which was open to see from the first level.

We only had time for a couple of rounds before we had to hurry on.  The beer they served was Gilden Kölsch.  I don’t remember if we had Gilden Kölsch before or not.  It was consistent with the taste of all the other kölsch we had in Cologne.

Alt Koln Brauhaus

Then it was back to the hotel to get our luggage, which we had left sitting in a corner of the lobby.

Hotel Madison in Cologne

We all pile out of our hotel with our luggage.  Wait, let’s get a picture!  Ok, great!  Let’s go!

Frankfurt!

Then we followed Harald to the train station with our luggage in tow.  While we were waiting for our train to arrive, the high-speed ICE train (InterCity Express) pulled up at our platform.  Now that was a cool looking train!  Too bad we weren’t taking it!  Harald tried to get tickets for it, but it was full.

ICE train (InterCity Express)

Then came our train.  It was not as sleek looking as the ICE, but it was nice inside.  We found our assigned seats, stowed our luggage overhead and fell back into our seats.  The long week was finally starting to take it’s toll on us.

Our train to Frankfurt

Our plans were to take the train to Frankfurt, check into a hotel and head out to meet Harald’s sister for dinner in town.

The train headed out toward Frankfurt.  My intention was to try to get some sleep, but that was not to be the case.  There was too much to see out the window.  The train ran along the bank of the Rhine river and there was a tremendous view.  First of all, every other ridge had a castle on it.  We were constantly passing all different kinds of boats heading up and down the river.  At one point, we were racing another train that was on the tracks on the other side of the river.

Then I started to notice a strange looking crop that was growing along the sides of the steep hills on either side of the river.  What could that be?  After thinking about it for a while, I concluded it was grape vines.  This must be wine country!  The thought made me very thirsty, indeed!

When we finally reached Frankfurt, our train stopped in a brand new train station, not the big old one we were in the week before.  This train station was at the airport.  It was a giant dome of glass.

We followed Harald to the street where we climbed into a couple of taxies that took us to our hotel.  Our hotel was the Airport Hotel Tanne in the town of Kelsterbach.  We checked in, lugged out suitcases up stairs (no elevators again!)

While Jeff and I were unpacking in our rooms, Jeff started to mess around with the radio.  It was a little bit after 18:00 Friday evening (12:00 EST), so I asked Jeff to see if he could tune in the Rush Limbaugh show.  “No way”, Jeff said, “they don’t listen to talk radio over here.” “Maybe not, but they do get Armed Forces Network“, I said.  So, Jeff played with the dial for a second, tuned the radio to 873 kHz, then wham, Rush was on the air!  As I said in an earlier chapter, Jeff and I enjoy discussing US politics, so it was a treat to be able to hear what Rush had to say today.  I’m a Rush fan.  (Please no e-mails if you’re not!) Jeff tends to disagree with Rush’s opinions, but likes to listen anyway.  When I told Jerry we listened to him he commented that Rush is polluting the airways over here, too!

In case you’re not familiar with Rush, he’s a conservative political commentator with a three-hour talk radio show in the US.  He is very popular, syndicated on nearly 600 radio stations, but is also very polarizing.  Many people love him and many hate him, depending on their ideology.  You can listen to his program live on the internet from his web site from noon to 3:00 p.m. EST.

At the top of the hour, however, the Dr. Laura show came on the air. They apparently only carry the first hour of Rush.  That’s when we turned it off.  Neither of us can stand Dr. Laura.  It was time to go to dinner anyway.

Then we all met back in the lobby to head out for dinner.  Harald had directions to the train station, so we followed him on a 12 block hike.  We got to the station, bought our tickets and proceeded to wait.  The train pulled up exactly on time and we were off.  Our destination was a brewpub in Niddapark called Wirtshaus Wäldches.  We had to transfer to another train line in Frankfurt to get there.  The train ride took about an hour, but it was interesting to look out the window when we were traveling above ground.

We were rather late, so Harald called his sister on his cell phone to tell her where we were.  When we finally got to the brewpub, it was very crowded.  Fortunately, Carmen and Mike had a table waiting for us.

Carmen and Mike

We had a long day and were very tired.  We were glad to finally get to sit down and relax.  I don’t know what Jerry ordered, but it came out in a big metal pan that looked like a dust pan.  I’m sure it was good, but it looked as if they just used the pan to sweep it up off of the floor!  The portion was huge and Jerry couldn’t finish it all.

Jerry's "shovel" dinner

Our picture taking attracted the attention of some people at a nearby table.  A girl there seemed to have the eyes for Jeff and started taking pictures of him.  I suggested Jeff take a picture back at her.  I’ll have to see if he has on that I can include here.

However, Jeff was either too shy to talk to her or was not interested.  Anyway, it was getting late and we had to catch a train back to the hotel.

Dinner at Wirtshaus Wäldches in Frankfurt

As far as beer is concerned, (this was a beer tour, after all), they had a brown ale and what they called their stone beer.  I think the stone beer was a lager.  Both were refreshing, but nothing to write home about.

The restaurant was decorated like an indoor beer garden.  There were trees all around and hops hanging from the ceiling.  On our way in, we passed a large copper brew kettle in the middle of the room.  I’m not sure if it was real or just for show, as I could see real brewing equipment through some windows near the door.

When we were finished with dinner, we walked back to the train station.  Mike drove his car there so they could say goodbye to us as we got on the train.  It was so nice for them to meet us there for dinner.  That was an excellent way for us to finish a wonderful trip!

The train ride back to the hotel seemed longer that the one going out.  The walk from the station the hotel seemed longer, too.  But, we made it back and had no trouble falling asleep.

Home At Last!

We woke the next morning and packed our bags.  Before we checked out, we had breakfast in the hotel lobby dining room.  When we finished, we brought our bags down from our room and checked out.  When Jeff and I paid for our room, the lady at the desk asked me if we wanted her to call a cab to pick us up.  She said Harald had ordered a cab, but we would need a second one.  She told me I could pay for the cab along with my hotel bill.  Ok, that sounds good.

When I got outside with my luggage, the first cab was already there.  Harald told me to put my luggage into the back.  So I did.  Then he told me we all had to squeeze into that cab.  Wait, I called a second cab!  “We don’t need one,” Harald said.  But I already paid for a second one and we couldn’t all fit into this tiny cab, anyway.

Apparently, Harald asked for a minivan, instead of a regular cab, thinking we would all be able to fit.  Well, there was enough room for all of our luggage, but there was only room for three passengers.  The minivans in Germany are so small they shouldn’t be called minivans!  Harald said they would meet us at the airport, so Joyce, Marty and Harald left in the first cab.

A few minutes later, the second cab showed up to take the rest of us.  On the way, I mentioned to Jerry that our luggage was not with us.  “No problem.  When we check our bags, if they ask me if my luggage has been with me the entire time since I packed it, I’ll say, ‘yes, it has’, Jerry said.  That sounded good to me.

So when we arrived, Joyce, Marty and Harald were standing at the curb with all of the luggage.  Great!  Now time to check our bags.  Marty went to the British Air check-in, while the rest of us went to US Airways.  Because Harald had frequent flyer miles, he went to the line to Business Class, so he could upgrade his ticket.  Jeff, the Carneys and I went to the economy class.  After checking our luggage, we all got back together, but where was Jeff?  We looked all around, but he was nowhere to be found.  He vanished in thin air!  Oh well, he’s a big boy and knows how to get on an airplane.  So, we proceeded to go through security to the terminal.

Once we went through security, I found a store and bought some last minute presents to give my kids.  Better late than never!  Of course, however, I had to pay a premium in the high-priced airport stores.

Then, in order to get to our gate, we had to go through another security check.  This time they had us take off our shoes and they scanned them separately.  Ok, I’m glad they have good security checks!

Then I met up with the Carneys and Harald, who were already there.  Then we finally saw Jeff coming through security.  Where was he all of this time?

Apparently, Jeff did not hear the conversation Jerry and I had in the cab on the way to the airport, because when they asked him if his luggage had been with him the entire time since he packed it, he gave the wrong answer!  Jeff said they took him aside and into a back room where they searched his entire bag!  Jeff said, “I’m a lawyer, I have to answer truthfully.” Since when do lawyers answer truthfully!  Oh well, if Jeff feels better letting people search through his dirty underwear, more power to him!

So anyway, this time, Jeff and I decided to get our seats reassigned so we could sit together on the flight back.  After standing in the wrong line once, we finally got that accomplished.  Great, now I won’t have to sit next to someone who won’t talk to me for eight hours!

US Air flight home

The flight back was a little more comfortable.  The service was a little bit better, too.  I think they served more food and drinks than was served on the flight out.

Before we landed, they passed out customs declaration cards.  The cards asked what we were bringing back into the country.  One of the items was food.  Jeff reminded me that we were bringing back chocolate that we bought at the museum in Cologne.  At first I said I wasn’t going to declare it.  But Jeff suggested it would be bad if they happened to search our bags and find it in there.  After Jeff’s episode in the Frankfurt airport, I got a little paranoid, so I decided to declare it.  But, then I was nervous about that, too.

The landing was smooth and when the time came, we went to get our luggage.  As always, it seemed to take forever for our luggage to show up.  I can’t understand why it takes so long.  But when it finally came, we headed to the customs counter where we had to turn in our cards.  I handed them the card and said I didn’t know whether the chocolate should be declared or not.  The guy said, “No problem.  People bring that home all the time.”  That was a relief.

The last thing to do was to find my wife.  Jeff was catching a ride home with us and the Carneys were going back in their van with Harald.  We walked through the doors to the lobby and there was my family all lined up with balloons and a big sign that read, “Welcome home Daddy and Mr. Jeff!” Now that was some greeting!

An After Thought!

Well, if you are still reading after all of those pages, then you must really like beer tours.  Or else, you have a lot of time on your hands!  You must have liked it or you would have stopped reading long ago.  Well, I’m glad you did, because it took a long time to write and publish on the web.  I had a great time, though, reliving the experience, as I had to put it down in words.  Having a digital camera on the trip with lots of memory made it easier, because, all I had to do was follow along with the pictures.  Before I left I bought a new 128 meg memory stick for my Sony camera and it held over 200 pictures.  I also had a 64 meg memory stick that held over 100 pictures.  In addition, I received pictures on a CD from Harald and Ralph, who also were using digital cameras.  If you ever go on a trip, make sure you have a digital camera with lots of memory!

In America, beer is very popular, but not in the same way as in Europe.  The beer drinking culture in America is centered around the bland American lager beers like Budweiser, Coors and Miller.  True, there are a lot of microbrewed beer and brewpubs in America, but that makes up such a small portion, it can’t be called part of the culture.

I got involved in homebrewing around 1990, before the microbrew fad hit the US.  Back then, if you wanted to go to a brewpub, you had to drive to Philadelphia or Baltimore.  Now, there are about 6 brewpubs in and around Delaware.

In Europe, it is a whole different thing.  Every region has a style of beer all to their own.  Although that is starting to change with the larger breweries buying up the smaller ones and mass marketing their beer, it is the case.

Back in the early 90′s, my wife and I went on a trip to London.  It was supposed to be a club trip then, too, but everyone else backed out.  My wife had lived in London for a semester of school a couple of years earlier, so she was anxious to go back.  Therefore, we decided to go by ourselves.  That was an amazing trip, too.  Cologne reminded me of London a little bit in the way there were multiple pubs on almost every corner.  We mixed tourist sight-seeing with pub crawling!

We swore we would make a return trip, but it has been nine years and we haven’t made any serious plans to do so.  That’s why when Harald presented this trip to Germany, I couldn’t turn it down!  Now I swear I will make a return trip to Germany.  I hope it doesn’t take me a decade to do it, though.

Joyce and I were talking about taking an introduction course in German, so we could speak it a little bit.  Without a personal interpreter like Harald was, it would have been a little difficult to get around.

Also, if I ever go on another trip to Europe, I will leave the traveler’s cheques at home!  ATMs are everywhere, now.  Traveler’s cheques were useful when we went to London, but there was an American Express office right around the corner from Victoria Station.  There’s no need to do that now, though.  You can access money right from your checking account and receive the local currency.  Exchange rates are also very good that way, too.  Just bring a small amount of the local currency with you on the trip, then take out what you need from the ATM machines.

A word about homebrewing!  What a fantastic hobby!  I call it an addictive hobby.  Not because of the affects of alcohol, but because the desire to brew keeps calling me!  Before I started brewing, I thought Heineken was a great imported beer.  True, it’s flavor is a tiny bit better than Budweiser, but not by much.  The idea of being able to make my own beer seemed incredible at the time.

When I made my first batch from a kit, I thought it was the best beer I ever tasted!  It was from a Munton & Fisson Premium Ale kit, which made an amber British style beer.  Since I only used the one kit and didn’t add any extra malt extract, it was probably very weak by today’s standards.  But, I was thrilled that I could actually make a beer that I liked!  My other homebrew friends liked it, too.  But my family and other friends didn’t care for it.  In the early ’90s, the microbrew fad was just beginning and most people had never tasted different styles of beer.  I used to take bottles with me everywhere I went while visiting.  People were polite, but I could tell they really didn’t like it.  I came to the conclusion that they just didn’t know what was good and I stopped trying to share so much.

Now things have changed.  When I tell people I brewed and IPA, sometimes they will ask if I used a lot of hops.  That’s a real switch.  Ten years ago, most people had never heard of an IPA.  That’s an India Pale Ale for those of you who still don’t know.  It is brewed with a lot of hops and has a strong bitter flavor.

Although I have been brewing over ten years, I still take the shortcut by brewing with malt extract.  A number of folks in the First State Brewers club, like Jerry and Marty, brew by using the all-grain method.  I have been very content using extract, because it trims the initial brewing time to two hours, instead of the six hours required for all-grain.  But some people want the brew the “real” way.  I can’t blame them.  I would like to do that myself, once I get my house better organized and have some more time.

Another thing I might also get involved in is making wine.  I know that might sound sacrilegious to some beer geeks, but I like wine, too.  I think by making it, I would also learn more about wine.  The brewing process is very similar to that of beer, except you don’t heat or boil it.  You just have to keep it in the fermentor a lot longer than beer.  If I make good, wine, I don’t think I would have any problem finding friends to share it with, though.  Everyone seems to like wine.

But beer is my first love.  You won’t catch me going on any wine tours any time soon.  If you are interested in learning to brew, join a homebrew club. If you live in or around Delaware, I could recommend the First State Brewers.  But where ever you live, I’m sure you can find a club.

Now go have a beer!  Prost!