Jet Lag, Pork and Beer in Wurzberg

Today was a very, very long day that started pretty well, became very stressful, and ended much better. We got to the airport without incident. The business class lounge was nothing special: some ham and cheese slices, bread, muffins, and a good espresso machine, plus they would give you all the beer and mixed drinks you want, but since it was only 12:30 PM, I went easy. Business Class was comfortable, with lie-flat seats and decent food (and again, all the booze you could desire). I think I might have slept for an hour or so, but that was it. We left at 4PM New Hampshire time and arrived at 5AM Frankfurt time; we actually had to circle the airport a few times, because it doesn’t open for business until 5.

Kay and I left the plane and cleared customs without incident. We walked for a very long distance and sat down for coffee, waiting for the train to Würzburg. Then, to my horror, I realized my phone was not in my pocket. I tore apart my carry-ons, couldn’t find it, and assumed I had left it on the plane. I ran up and down the airport concourse looking for someone from Condor Air. When it became clear that wasn’t going to work, I went on Google and forced a factory reset. Then I discovered the phone in my sling bag, but it was too late: the phone was trashed. 

Kay and I got to Bamberg early and had hours to kill before we could check in, so we dropped our bags, strolled around the old town, had lunch, and then took a river cruise. I was half psychotic from jet lag, but the town is very picturesque.

For dinner, we went to a beer garden, the Braurei-Beergarten Alter Kranen. I fulfilled one of my goals and had Schweinshaxe mit kartoffelknodel. This is a gigantic pork hock slow roasted with dumplings, which are a lot like matzah balls, served with brown gravy and cabbage, and washed down with copious drafts of the excellent pilsner. It was astonishingly delicious.

I kept thinking about Tony Bourdain, who, when eating to such excess, would ask himself, “Can I live with the shame and self-loathing that eating this will cause? Yes…yes, I can.” Kay had something like macaroni and cheese, topped with crisp fried onions; it was a lot and appeared to double in size on her plate. We got back to the hotel around 8:30; by 9 I could actually feel myself losing consciousness and was then engulfed in the arms of Morpheus for about 9 hours. Stay tuned for more of the Bavarian adventures of Your Man in Deutschland, with his plucky spouse Kay. I feel another meditation on beer coming on.