Day 11

28/08/2011 – Day 11

Munderkingen

We had asked for breakfast for 8am and as I sleep with the curtains open I was awake at 6. Lying there I tried to assess the damage from yesterday’s crash. My hip hurt like hell, my elbow was still sore where I had grazed it and my neck hurt. The neck must have been whiplash from when my shoulder hit the floor. Luckily I was wearing a helmet so my head and face did not make contact with the road.

Getting up and showering was not easy as I could not put much weight on my left leg. The major damage appeared to be the inside of the hip joint, anything bigger than a small step caused immense pain.

Breakfast was the typical German buffet style and we filled ourselves up. Being a weekend the hotel was quite full, mostly with cyclists. The bike shelter was full and there was an army of bikes parked outside the front door.

By 10am the beer fest was back in full swing so we went out for a second look. There was much more to see today and we wandered around for an hour or so looking at everything. There were even more bikes chained to any immovable object, they must have come from every neighbouring village to be here.

The band was back, well, actually a different band, but still a brass band. All the stalls were open and busy, specially the sweet stall, 100% sugar and chocolate. Popcorn, candyfloss, all the usual suspects but very few children, most of the customers were adults and appeared to be buying for themselves.

Getting hungry now we looked around for something to eat, seeing the almost mandatory Pizzeria we go in and sit down. When the waiter comes he explains that there is no food on the menu today just ice-creams and coffee, if we want to eat we have to go to one of the stalls in the street.

If you have ever been to a beer fest you know the type of food served in these stalls, something sausage in a bun, chips, waffles all that sort of good wholesome food, just what you need to go with far too much beer. Not being too well at the time was a good excuse to retire to the hotel early and not over indulge.

They finally packed up about 5pm; the music came to one big crescendo with the whole village singing along to their favourite tunes. I lay on my bed thinking, life moves on but nothing changes. This is the same beer fest I used to go to in 1980 when I was in Germany for the first time.

Later we went out to find something to eat. As we walked around the last signs of the party were being cleared up, stalls taken apart, rubbish loaded into the vehicles and groups of young people walking round with bin bags picking up the litter. Before the sun sets tonight there will be little evidence of the beer fest apart from the odd drunk rolling home.

Most of the restaurants appeared to be closed now and the few that were open were full of beer filled party people. Venturing down a side street we found yet another pizzeria but this one was not full. Sitting down we waited for service, and waited, and waited. She must be busy inside we thought. Eventually she came out with menus and we ordered pizza and wine. Things were picking up now, the wine appeared, then the pizza. OK, not impressed, small in size with a large dry border all round. Not one of the finest pizzas we have had so far but on a Sunday night you can’t be choosy. Once we finished we asked for desserts, ‘no dessert’ came the reply and she disappeared into the kitchen. So we waited, and waited, and waited, she never came back! No offer of more wine or coffee, nothing. Having sat there for 20 or so minutes we worked out how much we owed and left a 20 Euro note under one of the empty wine glasses and walked off. Rest assured we did not under pay her, the money we left covered the cost and even left her a small tip, which we should not have. I wonder if she even noticed we had gone.