No Escaping the Haufbruhaus

Finding the mediocre restaurant of my dreams caused me to forget all about the Haufbruhaus. Instead, I went back to my hostel after dinner, took a shower, and spent several hours reading. I expected this to be my night. However, good fortune struck me again (even less expected this time than the last). The hostel I was staying at housed about 10 people at a time. As it happened I began talking with two Canadian guys staying in my room. We got along well from the start, and the group very quickly acquired two rather attractive Austrian girls who were also staying there. One of the girls suggested we all go out to the Haufbruhaus that night. Isn’t it funny how things work out?

The Haufbruhaus is a huge place, likened to a dining hall in layout, but structurally it seemed like a much older and more significant building. There were stained glass windows, stylish pillars, and a beautifully painted ceiling. The atmosphere of the place, however, was that of a rowdy bar. The tables were covered in words, names, and shapes people had carved into it over the years. Covered.

I had fun with the contrast of looking down at the messy, disfigured table, then up at the elaborately painted ceiling, down the stylish pillars, and back to the tables.

It was a bit of an oddity as places go, but I enjoyed myself. Another liter of beer down the hatch. Take into account some reading-beer I’d had earlier, before I’d planned to go out again, and I had probably the most beer I’d ever consumed in an evening.

When we returned, two Russian girls had checked in, and between the 7 of us we ended up talking well into the night. The Russian girls, fortunately, were fluent in both Russian and English. The Austrian girls spoke German and English. As the Canadians both spoke French as their first language, I was fortunate to be both the only monolingual traveler there, and fluent in the only language all 7 of us could speak. Guess if I could only speak one, I got a good one.