Breakfast was not included in our rate, so we took an early
train back to Nuremburg so as to catch the Bierfest in the
moat, one of my favorite things to do. We'd forgotten that
it was a holiday, and the train was chockablock, but we got
there eventually, storing our bags in a locker in the train
station and moseying to the festival, which seemed smaller
than it had been when we've visited before. Maybe that was
because it was a weekday, holiday or not.

Much to our disappointment, the Sau im Weckla guy wasn't
there any more. lili made up a happy story about him sitting
retired in his chalet someplace and putting up his feet and
saying, ah, I don't have to work the Bierfest any more. It's
just as well, as dinner was to follow. Oh, lili got a
Thuringer Bratwurst, as she hadn't had much to eat - it was
enormous, and I got a taste. Good. Grillteufel - remember
the name for next time. Also remember that the Pyraser stand
has more kinds of beer (10 or so) than most of them, and it
is 50c cheaper a mug. As I like Pyraser products, and as the
smaller breweries seem these days to be enamored of the
fruity (but to me cloying in an almost Belgian style) wild
yeasts, I was perfectly happy with this situation, as the
Pyraser red beer is dear to my heart.

Back to the Meridien for drinks, where the bartenders
welcomed us back and asked about our previous day's
adventure, and we had the usual.

At cocktail hour our host f0zzyNUE joined us, soon followed
by a couple dozen of our nearest and dearest, upon which was
lots of talk about miles and points with friends new and old
(mostly the latter), and then it was off for a traditional
Franconian dinner at Barfuesser, a venue we have come to
know well. We ended up with two longish tables next to each
other; I arrogated the responsibility for ordering for our
table. one Krustenbraten, a couple of Haxen, a couple of
Schaufele, and a plate of sausages. All were good, and there
was plenty to eat but not an enormous overplus. I think we
saved a bit over getting a set meal scaled for 8 (we were
10, I think), so there was more dough for beer. Yeah!

lili and I said our mananas, as we had a long trek to the
Hilton. But we'd missed our bus! and the next one wasn't
due for quite a while, as this was a holiday, and it was
pretty late. So I said, we'll just take the S-Bahn, but the
monitor at the track said the train was 5 minutes late. And
then 10. And then 20. It was close to time for the bus to
go, so we slogged back there ... only to find that the bus
was broken down. So grumblingly back to the train tracks
for our now 40-minute past time chariot. I think that they
just took the delayed one out of service, and this was the
next one, more or less on time.

At Frankenstadion we dragged our luggage through a rock
festival (?!) and to the hotel, which received us with
open arms and free drinks.