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Way OT: Love of Europe & Life

Posted by Nick B. (formerly in Erlangen) on 2019-06-19 05:21:44

Yeah, conventional wisdom seems to be to get sick of the place after 3 days. If I've not said it before, there are startlingly beautiful parts of town (2 million inhabitants now?), if you like desert. I had never really been to the SW before I landed there; the closest I'd been had been a couple of wintertime trips to Reno with Mrs in like 1992, and then regular trips to the High Desert of Oregon when we lived there.

The drive to LA is good for one thing: the solar energy towers surrounded by mirrors. I remember seeing how that would be a thing in the future on TV back in the 80's (?), and then there they are. Why there's not more of them is beyond me. Seems like that would be a good use of federal land out there.

I was all excited to find Black Butte Porter on tap at the MGM Grand, and at a reasonable price. Then there's a stand right on the strip that has $4 pints of Hamm's, an old Minnesota treat. (I'm sure it's brewed elsewhere now.)

Barry or other Britons...check out the Hamm's sign on the wall in the Piccadilly Tap in Mncr sometime. My mate Jeffrey Bell, ex-London-barrister -cum- refurbisher-of-pubs (Holborn Whippet and another in London) and landlord of the traditional-yet-somewhat-foody Ypres Castle Inn in lovely (though posh) Rye oversaw its opening a few years ago. I helped him haul kegs (not barrels, sorry Barry) up and down steps once, which helped cure a hangover.

He has a thing for Lager, and had something Franconian on for a while at the Whippet, which seems gone now. Koestritzer ain't bad at all in a pinch though! He is a friend of the evil Stephan at Mahr's though, so be careful. And he seems comfortable with weird Yanks showing up with big swords:

Good kid, Jeffry. I left the sword with him there, where he says it's still hanging somewhere. Make me an offer on it -- I wanted to sell it for charity, but couldn't get any takers other than in the US, and that would've just covered shipping.