Rockin' with Oma and the Blues Transfusion

After my night in Venlo, I arrived at the train station at Neustadt an der Aisch about 17 minutes late.  Still, I can't complain after being locked out of a train station for over three hours.  I was completely dead on my feet, but rallied when I saw my dear friends, Leonore and her son Robert.  They were able to whisk me away to my room at the Landgasthof Sternbräu where I managed to shower and fall into to bed for a two hour nap.

 I like this Gasthaus because it's clean, spare, close to where I need to be, and it has a hair dryer!

Following my much-needed rest (I hadn't really slept the night before, and slept poorly the night before that),  it was over to Reiner and Sylvia's for a birthday lunch for Leonore.  

Sylvia and Reiner have a centuries-old manor house where they have lived for a  long time.  They've raised cows, pigs, sheep and  now ducks, and they always plant a fantastic garden.  They are committed locovores, eating foods that are accessible here and in season.

Reiner and Sylvia have been friends with the Baeumlers for decades.  Sylvia is an excellent cook and planned an "echte bayerische" (real Bavarian) lunch for Leonore, whom she dearly loves.  Leonore's neighbors, Susan and Steve, are also here to celebrate Leonore's birthday, and Susan volunteered her services as cook's assistant.  Together, these two women made a feast of roast duck, stuffing, savoy cabbage, kartoffelkloesse Ipotato dumplings) and soße (gravy).  We also had a delicious green salad, and of course, beer.  We were stuffed, but happy.

Following lunch, I got to take another nap which was sooooo welcome.  Later that evening, we headed into Fürth to hear Reiner play bass with his band, "Blues Transfusion." Before we were invited in for a practice session, we waited in one of the "lounge" areas of the building where the band practices.  Here's a look at some of the wall-coverings where dear Leonore was sitting.

The word "incongruous" comes to mind.

We headed in to the small practice room where Reiner and his band mates were set up, and were blown away by how very, very good they are.

This is an inter-generational band ranging in age from 40-60.  Their sound was tight and balanced.  What a treat!

They played for us for about 20 minutes, and then we said goodbye and drove over to Landbierparadies.  Steve has a brewery cum restaurant in Superior, and a big part of his trip has been devoted to visiting breweries first in Belgium and now in Germany.

The beer we ordered came in a small keg which Steve had the honor of tapping.

Our server brought us steins and we were good to go until Reiner returned from his practice session with "the boys".

We actually managed to kill the keg before Reiner showed up to join us.  He managed to find one brew for the road, regardless.