The last visit to Ulm (again!)

So, one more visit to Ulm then, the first (and last?) one since that fateful visit that ended rather painfully on the 14^th of June, with some bad news announced by my employer... The reason for my visit was a course given by the Linux Foundation, and of course it was a good opportunity to say bye to all my great colleagues (best of all, there was an “Octoberfest style” party planned for Thursday).

Andi, an Italian chap who worked on the same project as me, was kind enough to put up myself and David. After picking up at the train station, and deposing our stuff at his flat, we headed down to Zum Shatten, a rather nice typical German eatery. We helped ourselves to the most massive Wiener Schnizels I've ever seen – that is no exaggeration. A good start to the trip, then ;)

The rest of the week was, apart from the training course, a kind of series of “deja vu” experiences, as we headed down to our favourite eating/drinking holes. Naturally, most importantly, a visit to Barfusser (or rather, two), was called for. I was rather shocked/flattered, when the waitress was shocked at me not ordering the Sweineshaxe! (I mean I'm not that much of regular!). Apart from that, we checked out the Drei Kannen, another nice little eatery where the food portions are, let's say, generous.

Thursday was the night – time for the big Ulm closure party. And quite a party it was. They'd put up a big tent, in proper Octoberfest fashion, with long tables and benches. After the boring speeches, we got down to business – food and beer. Great to catch up with all the old team mater, and Sami as well of course! It was all rather good fun – I even ended up dancing on a table at one point, believe it or not! And the highlight of the night – some pretty darn impressive fireworks (wonder how much that cost...). So, I think it's fair to say the Ulm site rampdown was done in style!

The next day at the training course was rather painful for most of the participants, I'll tell you that... We took it rather easy, since on Saturday, it was time to head to the REAL Octoberfest. A visit to Barfusser was called for, though (and this time I did have the Schweineshaxe!).