Tuesday, 13 January 2009: Hailtingen and Zwiefaltendorf

Yesterday: Ummendorf, Laupheim, and Biberach an der Riß

Today did not go as well as it could have. How not-well did it go, you ask? Between the time I left the hotel this morning and the time I returned to the hotel tonight, I had exactly three beers. And only one of those was at a brewery.

The weather was nice, and the trains and buses were all on-time, and I arrived at Adlerbrauerei Rupf at 11:30am.

Adlerbrauerei Rupf, Dürmentingen-Hailtingen

The brewery staff were walking into the Gaststätte for their lunch break just as I came in. I was introduced to the brewmaster, and he poured me a beer, and that was the last I saw of him or anybody else. It wasn't clear whether — or even if — they were open to the public today, and I had the place to myself.

Adlerbrauerei beer

The food smelled fantastic, but there was nobody around to get me some. I finished the beer, left 5€ on the table and left. At least that put me way ahead of schedule for once.

Hairy coo near the Hailtingen bus stop

I got back to Riedlingen at 1:00 hoping to catch an earlier bus to Zwiefaltendorf. No dice: the next scheduled bus was the one I was originally scheduled to take at 2:00. So much for being ahead of schedule.

One thing about these Real Small Towns is that there aren't any public restroom facilities. So I wandered around Riedlingen looking for a beer and a toilet. I found both at Gasthof zum Hirsch.

Gasthof zum Hirsch, Riedlingen

Then I still had 40 minutes or so to kill. On the way back to the bus stop, I found Pizza Kebap Treff, featuring Döner Kebap and Königsegger beer. I hadn't eaten yet, so I got a Döner sandwich with a bottle of Hefeweizen.

Königsegger Hefeweizen at Pizza Kebap Treff, Riedlingen

The 20-minute bus ride to Zwiefaltendorf was uneventful, except for the don't-fall-asleep part. Blank's Brauerei, Brennerei und Mosterei is almost right at the bus stop. And when I got there, I had a major you-dumb-shit moment. There was a sign on the door saying that they were on vacation until January 20. It was then that I remembered getting an email from a member of the Blank family, saying that they'd be on vacation until January 20. I even responded to her, saying that it was too bad that I would not be able to visit their brewery this time.

Blank's Brauerei, Riedlingen-Zwiefaltendorf

The bad news was that the bus I came on was obviously long gone. The good news was that there was another one coming in 20 minutes. The bad news was that I couldn't wait 20 minutes plus the 15-minute ride back to Riedlingen, if you know what I mean, and Blank's appeared to be the only Gasthaus in town. After much frantic wandering, I found a quiet spot to, well, you know.

Back in Riedlingen — where there's no bar in the train station — I found some new connections to get me back to Bad Waldsee. Since I was now two hours ahead of schedule, I thought I'd try to find an Ausschank for the local beer, Steinacher Hausbräu. Of course, without Internet access, I had no maps, and I missed a turn and ended up in Bad Waldsee's Altstadt. Which was not necessarily a bad thing, but I never did find Steinacher beer, and I gave up and walked back to the hotel, getting in around 5:15. So now I'm in the hotel bar, typing this up and drinking Meckatzer beers to make up for lost time.

Meckatzer Weizen

Tomorrow: Söflingen, Dellmensingen, and Ravensburg