Had a beer which was very cheap and then another and suddenly the barmaid came over with a schnapps “ for you “ it was from the boss who was sitting with three of his mates.So of course I said thanks and we exchanged the Bulgarian equivalent of dinner party small talk and I then confirmed it was indeed a Bulgarian bar…heavy on machismo as you can probably guess.But I wanted to go,but I also thought if I leave after accepting this free drink I’m going to look a prat and also I don’t know how certain cultures react in such circumstances…In Britain we’d probably tut and say “ bit rude” in Bulgaria do you get dragged round the back,put in a Winnie Mandela necklace and set alight?
So I did the decent thing and bought the table,myself & the barmaid a schnapps.I was batting for England and as six schnapps came in at €12 it was a cheap gesture but it went down well and I could leave with my head held high before the big bottles hit the table and I ended up in a Balkon v UK drinking competition…
Early in the day I went to Wiesbaden.Nice place only about 15 mins away on the train.As it was a Sunday and early it’s always hard to make out how a place is but it was clean with plenty of shops not boarded up,plenty of bars & cafes etc so I suppose it was doing ok…I’m always very impressed how in every German city except Berlin the cleaning crews do an early Sunday shift to clean up after the Saturday booze up…anyway it has the history,a big cathedral and bars so that’s all you need really…
Off to Cologne in a few hours.Only a two hour train journey.I have deliberately made these last few train trips shorter the closer I get to the end.I figured I’d be getting a bit sick of hanging around stations and then sitting on a train for five/six hours and that’s pretty much the case.Had most of the long hauls when I was still bouncing around like an excited puppy dog…I always seem to use Cologne as a starter or finishing point on any journey I make( either this one or when I have been round Germany) as it’s got direct links with Eurostar.I should give it a proper go sometime…This time I am staying right next to the magnificent Hohenzollern Brücke which is pretty cool…
Outside having a smoke yesterday morning chatting to a fella doing similar and it turned out there was a one day wine festival thing going on and he was one of the musicians.If I got it right it was some kind of rock/ ummpah hybrid…not really sure as I was zoning out a bit…
Thought I’d leave you with the image of a rock ummpah combo.. Ciao.
2 comments:
Mornin schnapps mon 😁
The last bit reminded me of my Germany leg part 3 way back when...was sat in a small square early morning outside the digs avin a tab, bloke opposite sidles up and admires my leather jacket (it was my pride n joy tbf) I tried my best to reciprocate with his Status Quo t-shirt..not easy due to my mindset in 1978 !! Pleasantries finished I returned to my room. That evening was designated as the village fete in the same square,yep,Status Quo mon was the drummer in the band...a rock fusion oompha band...absolutely hilarious. Their set finishes and he makes a bee line to me and proudly shows me his t-shirt, he'd used tippex to stencil 'I Hate' above the Quo logo, I was tempted to tell him about Johnny R's legendary I Hate inscription above his Pink Floyd t-shirt but thought it would be too confusing..another memory your blog has unearthed from my travel, I'd completely forgotten about that evening until just !!
Enjoy your last few days mate #fun as always...Nige
Hahaha.I feel like i’m your shrink helping you to unearth long lost memories!
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