Tag: Ibis

A Day of Deutsche Bahn…

Published on 30 October 2025

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If you want to read about this trip from start to finish, instead of in reverse order, click here!

Time to go home! Just two high-speed ICE trains, with an easy, 51 minute transfer in Frankfurt am Main. Well, that was the plan, but when travelling with Deutsche Bahn, things hardly ever go as planned…

Since it would be quite a challenge to pack my bag—with more beer, pálinka, clothes, and goodies than I originally left Brussels with—I had my breakfast in the hotel. I even got around to trying the waffle iron this time! Once everything was squeezed in my bag, I checked out for the last time in a while, and went across the street to the station.

In Wien Hbf my ICE to Frankfurt (Main) Hbf was already waiting for at the platform twenty minutes in advance. Well, at least half of it was, so people with seats in the missing carriages were slightly panicking… The other half was attached a bit later, and the then complete train left on time, and stayed on time until we arrived at the first station in Germany… There, due to some ‘technical issues’, we stayed at the station way langer than scheduled… For a while, it still seemed feasible to catch my connection, but the closer we got, the more unlikely it became. Luckily it wasn’t my first time travelling with DB, so I had made sure not to be dependent on catching the last train to Brussels in Frankfurt.

We arrived in Frankfurt am Main Hbf about ten minutes after my scheduled connection left. Fine, I already made a seat reservation on the next—and last—train to Brussels, about an hour and a half later. So I left the station to get something to eat and kill the time. My first choice was a trendy hamburger restaurant, but there was a queue outside, so I went to a fast-food place instead. As it turned out, that queue probably saved my return journey…

Back in Frankfurt am Main Hbf, I went to the platform where my train would leave from. Just after I got comfortable for the wait, I noticed something on the departure board: my train would skip Frankfurt am Main Hbf, and depart from Frankfurt am Main Flughafen Fernbf instead! So I jumped on the first train heading in that direction, which dropped me off at the regional train station at the other side of the airport, and made my way over a dozen escalators and through long corridors to the right platform, which I got to in time.

And just when you think it’s over: another train in front of us broke down, so our ICE had to make a detour. Eventually, at ten minutes after midnight, I alighted in Brussels Midi station… Next time I’ll just take the ÖBB NightJet again!

Wieder in Wien

Wieder in Wien

Published on 27 October 2025

To break up the return trip a bit—and because it’s a great city—I decided to have a two day stop in Vienna. I’ll revisit familiar places, visit some new ones, and of course enjoy the architecture, food, and beer!

Upon arrival of my sleeper train in Wien Hbf, I could already see my hotel from the platform. How’s that for nearby? When I presented myself at the reception desk of the ibis Wien Hauptbahnhof—fully expecting to just leave my bag there—I was informed my room was already available. Keep in mind, it was only 8:30 in the morning! Since I already had a shower—albeit cold—on the train, and I had tickets for something starting at 10:00, I just hung my MacLaren kilt to air out a bit, and headed out again.

Since breakfast isn’t provided on the Dacia Express, a quick stop at 15 Süße Minuten was in order, for a small breakfast of fresh rolls, butter, and chives. Deliciously simple, and simply delicious!

So the thing I had timed tickets for, was the morning exercise at the Spanische Hofreitschule. Let’s say it was not quite what I expected: it really was just little exercises of a couple of horses and their riders, two thirty minute sessions of that, and just a tiny bit of explanation just before and after each session. Not a rehearsal for the afternoon performance or anything like that. And no photos of the actual training allowed! I wasn’t surprised that halfway the second session, people already started walking out…

After lunch at Leberkas-Pepi, and a coffee at NÜD, it was time for the apparently very popular Haus der Musik. Is was more experience than museum, but it was a bit too busy for me to experience much…

After some shopping at the Original Salzburger Trachtenoutlet—you’ll have to wait until next year’s Oktoberfest to see what I bought—a coffee, at Koun Coffee this time.

I then finally went back to the hotel for a shower—hot this time—and a change, before heading out for my first beers. Unfortunately Hanf & Hopfen was closed this week, so instead I had yet another coffee a little down the street, at Coffee Junkie.

This means my first beers of the day were at Mel’s Craft Beers, where I spent quite a long and pleasant time.

Before imbibing more, with just a small breakfast and a rather small lunch in me, I had to really eat something a bit more substantial. The Waldviertler Knödelgröst´l at Waldviertlerhof was exactly what I needed!

A quick stop at Wombat’s bar—which in despite of serving some craft beer, very decidedly had a hostel vibe—and of course I finished the night at Ammutsøn, where I celebrated Zwanze Day in 2022.

Roman-ia!

Roman-ia!

Published on 22 October 2025

A new day, a new country! It’s absurd I hadn’t been to Romania yet, considering you can’t even spell the country’s name without “Roman”! Ready to discover which local dishes and beers Bucharest has to offer!

My Ister sleeper train wouldn’t even arrive until just before noon, so I had plenty of time to take in the views of the Carpathian Mountains and the Romanian countryside. Such a late arrival had the benefit I could check in straight away and have a shower at my ibis Styles Bucharest City Center. My room even has a balcony! Although judging by the presence of an ashtray there, it might have something to do with the prevalence of smoking in Romania…

Since I didn’t pack much of a breakfast for my train ride, I enjoyed The Pulled Pork Sandwich—and coffee of course—at Meron even more.

Time to delve into some Roman history at the Muzeul Național de Istorie a României. Here they have casts of all the reliefs of Trajan’s Column, and full-size replicas of the base and top of the column. With the Museo della Civiltà Romana now closed, this might very well be the only place where one can still see casts like this! There’s also a lot of gold in the museum, but I’m not much of a pirate…

The museum was smaller than I expected, so I already had some time to visit my first beer destination in Bucharest: the Ground Zero Beer Taproom.

Another coffee at Origo, and since I still had some time left before my dinner reservation, I already had a couple of beers at Ironic Taproom.

Then it was time to start ticking off dishes of my Romanian cuisine list! Although it’s quite touristy, even experienced travellers and locals recommend Caru’ cu bere as the place to go for local food and a unique experience. Three checks in one go for me: zacuscă, tochitură muntenească, and papanași. While the main dish alone would have been enough to fill me up, they seemed to have given me a double portion of the dessert. So while every course was as tasty as I could hope for, it left me feeling quite stuffed. Maybe I should have joined the dancers when they asked me!

Then it was Beer O’Clock! No seriously, that was the name of the bar! They only serve their beer in half litres though, which is not ideal for tasting… Next door at Tap Craft Beer everything was available in a much more reasonable 200ml size, so I had a couple of beers there.

The last stop for the night was the NoRoom Taproom—serving Maktoob and OneTwo beers—a place so small I first couldn’t find it, and literally no room to sit inside.

FIRST time in Budapest!

FIRST time in Budapest!

Published on 19 October 2025

Five years after I originally planned my trip, I was finally there: Budapest! Run with the local hashers, drink the local beers, enjoy the local delicacies: lots of fun ahead!

Everything had to wait a little bit, though, because my rather dusty sleeper train arrived over twenty minutes late. On top of that, due to my accommodation downgrade, I hadn’t had the opportunity to change into my running kilt, so I had to sort that out first. Once that was taken care of, and I left my bag at the hotel, it was time for coffee and breakfast at Dorado.

From there I headed to Nyugati railway station, since the hash run would actually start outside of Budapest, in Piliscsaba, a 38 minutes train ride away.

Over there, I joined the Budapest H3 for Trail 1853 – The Jenga Farewell Run! The Jenga part referred to a recently torn down wooden viewpoint tower, on top of a hill. To get there, the hare picked the steepest way up, so even though we were only two kilometres from the start at that point, the beer stop there was very welcome!

After the run I could finally check into my ibis Budapest City hotel for a much needed shower and a change.

As the restaurant I picked for dinner turned out to be closed, I had something to eat with my beers at FIRST Craft Beer. While tasty, it was not particularly Hungarian, something I’ll have to make up for tomorrow.

Then it was finally time for a visit to Mad Scientist’s Madhouse. Finally, because it was one of the first breweries on my to-visit-in-Budapest list, although this actually isn’t the same taproom they had back then.

Last call was at the Hops Beer Bar: small—just seven beers on tap—but cosy and definitely worth a visit.

Good beers, good food, good company, and good times: after a rocky start, a perfect end of my first day in Budapest!

Hamburg Ho!

Hamburg Ho!

Published on 24 July 2024

My first and only visit to Hamburg already dates back almost four years, and it was just four hours long… It was however enough for me to decide I had to come back for longer someday, and today is that day! It won’t be merely a city trip, however, since the last couple of days will be spent with runs and other hashing shenanigans.

Three trains it took to get to Hamburg from Brussels! For the train geeks: the first one was a ICE3 neo! In true Deutsche Bahn style, the second arrived 25 minutes late in Hannover, so I missed the booked ICE… In the end, I arrived in the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg well over an hour later than planned.

From the station I went straight to my ibis budget in the St Pauli quarter to quickly check in, and head off for my daily coffee. Train coffees don’t quite cut it for me, so I skipped those, but the hour delay meant Playground Coffee was already closed by the time I got there.

The terrace at the brewery ÜberQuell was still sunny, and the beers better than I expected! But with only breakfast and a Laugenstange in my stomach, I quickly felt the two beers, and knew it was time to move on…

Without any caffeine and some pastry, I didn’t really feel like going to one of the few museums still open I planned to visit—the U-Boot Museum—so I decided to get a head start on the evening programme instead.

Last time in Hamburg, the only taste of the local cuisine I had, was a Fischbrötchen. This time I therefore decided to try something more substantial: Labskaus, a dish with salted meat, potatoes, and onion, and beetroot, pickled gherkin, and herring on the side. The version served at Eier Carl had some good reviews, and it was conveniently close to the brewery I just was, so that’s where I went. The dish certainly reminded me of corned beef, but more liquid. While I was there, I had of course try the Eierlikör as well!

It had been quite a long day after a couple of very short nights, and I didn’t want to stray too far for tonight’s beers. So I stayed rather close to the hotel, and my next destination was just a short bus ride away: Malto!

From there another bus took me to Bar Oorlam, which kind of is the taproom of Buddelship Brauerei.

After that, it was time to finally catch up on some sleep…