A couple of days in Ulm

After my “wild night in Bonson” it was time to head out to Ulm for a change. My flight was at about 7 in the morning, so I was a bit groggy in the plain, flying to Munich, from where I drove up to Ulm in my rental car (a Chevrolet Spark - not the kind of car Chevy has made their name producing – but good enough to make it from A to B I suppose).

After a day at the office, I met up with the usual crew from our UK office (we decided to unofficially call ourselves “Southwood’s finest” from now on – not sure whether that describes our achievements in the office or in the bierstube…); Sinhung, Cliff and Steve – this time reinforced by David. We made our way into Ulm town centre, and decided to show David (who hadn’t been to Ulm before) the sights before engaging in the obligatory beer drinking. So we showed him the old fisherman’s quarter (Fischerviertel) with its half-timber houses and canals as well as the imposing cathedral.

The obligatory “touristy stuff” out of the way, we made our way to Barfüßer (a nice little microbrewery that’s becoming a bit of a favorite haunt of ours). Matthias joined us as well for the feast – we all had the usual Swabian fare (which is basically pork and potato in various forms – it is indeed not very varied but hey, I like it!). All washed down with a couple of hefe weisses, and followed by an apfelstrudel for dessert, of course! We finished off with a couple of final drinks at the Piano bar in the Maritim hotel.

The next evening proceeded more or less the same way, other than the fact that we ended up in Drei Kannen this time, instead of Barfüßer. The concept is pretty similar, though, beer, pork and potatoes (so right down our alley then). This time the concept was all about sharing – the food was brought on a big platter (sharing food apparently usually means I end up with more than most others?) and the beer was served from big bottles. Naturally, we had a superb time, and definitely ate and drank more than was good for us. It’s a good thing we didn’t find the rock bar Sami took us to last time we were visiting, otherwise it would’ve been a hard day at the office…

The next day, ‘twas time to head back to France – driving back directly to Munich airport followed by a direct flight to Nice. Ulm had once more left a good impression on me – it’s a pretty little town, with very friendly people (not your American “how do you do sir” kind of friendliness, more a hearty straightforward attitude I like). The food, from what we’ve experienced so far, doesn’t seem terribly varied, but perhaps that is since we tend to go to “traditional Bavarian/Swabian” places. There are plenty of Italian restaurants to choose from, too, from what we’ve seen…