Would You Like Fries With That?

On my day trip out to Neuschwanstein Castle with Radar Tours (props to Dan, great guide) I joined a collection of travellers from Japan, Canada, Germany and Australia! After thoroughly confusing the attendant at the kiosk in Hohenschwangau by trying to order an oat milk cappuccino (we are 100% raw dogging the lactose over here) and receiving instead a cup of full cream froth that mayhap in a previously life had a correspondence relationship with a coffee bean the man behind me said, ‘Well, you’d have to be Australian!’

Why yessir, I am in fact from the land down under, purveyors of the finest espresso coffees in the world, how ya going? Well, he was from Perth and also lamenting the poor coffee situation abroad. Australians make the best coffee; I will die on this hill – fight me.

Craig was travelling with his sister, Lorraine and her husband Dave. They’d gone hiking in Switzerland. Or rather Craig and Lorraine had as day one Dave busted his knee and was heli-vac’d from the mountains on a winch as the bird couldn’t land in the forest. He’s remarkably chipper about missing the rest of the trip and optimistic he hasn’t broken or torn anything, but the poor bloke was getting around on crutches. The group had spent four weeks or so in remote villages in the Alps and had come to Germany for the sight-seeing part of their holiday before returning home.

As I sat with this group for a quick lunch Lorraine recounted how she’s been telling an American family about their trip and learnt in return that the Americans were seeing six European countries in two weeks as that was the extent of their annual leave. She’s told the somewhat dumbstruck Americans about rec leave, personal leave, and long service leave. She thought it best not to mention leave loading!

‘Well, I only got that working on shift at the airport.’ Craig says and my ears prick up. ‘At the airport, you say? Doing what?’ It turns out Craig had retired two years prior from the same department I currently work for. We probably annoyed the rest of the table with our – so you’d know this person then? conversations. We’ve never worked together but we had been in the same programs during COVID and under the same senior leadership teams.

We parted ways to reach the castle, them taking the bus and me opting for the horse-drawn carriage, meeting again at the entrance and taking our tour.

As we pulled up back in Munich Dan recommended two beer gardens and encouraged us to enjoy the Bavarian culture which is of course drinking in moderation. I found my fellow Aussies and suggested we follow sound advice and grab a beer. We ambled up to a bar and Craig shouted a round of lagers. Lorraine told me about her family, their passion for hiking and the community she was a part of. We compared the sections of the Bibbulmun Track we had both done, and how hiking in Australia hits different when you don’t pass through towns sometimes for weeks on end. Dave and I enthusiastically discussed motorsport and what a 24H race through Green Hell (Nürburgring) would be like. When I told him about the Porsche his eyes lit up. Craig and I talked shop, and the changes that had come through since he’d left.

We wandered from the bar to an Italian restaurant and continued to discuss our travel plans, the merits of retirement (many), their families and how Lorraine’s daughters were training to come on an overnighter with her when she got home.

When it was dark outside we figured we better leave, but it was lovely to have spent the evening and with so many shared interests (Lorraine declared I was practically family!) before we all hugged and went our separate ways.