“Travels to a Different Time” : 16August1974: Dusseldorf & Wuppertal, West Germany: Beer at the Englishman’s Pub in Germany? Running on Empty

A decent sleep but woke up feeling crappy. I packed up and split to the train station and took a train to Wuppertal which was a 30-minute trip. I tried to call Alex who I had met in Skopje and who had invited me to visit him in Wuppertal. No answer so I headed to Bernd’s house who was a friend of Alex I had met in Vienna along with his pals and had also invited me to stay with him. It was a trek to find his house and only his grandfather was home. It was a cute house with a garden and a patio. Adjacent to the house was the Englishman’s Pub. An Englishman had married a German girl after WW2 and opened up a pub in Germany. What a weird world! Grandpa said Bernd wasn’t at home and that I should return at 4. He did not seem keen with the idea I would be staying there and said return at 4. He struck me a man who thinks his house is a castle and does not want anyone disturbing his little kingdom. Feeling like crap I had 6 hours to kill which wasn’t that hard walking around Wuppertal. A very beautiful shopping district closed to traffic. Too bad that doesn’t exist in Montreal. I headed back to Grandpa at five. He likes smoking big fat cigarettes. We went to the Englishman’s Pub and had a beer. It is a very comfy pub. The Germans like a big head of foam on their beer which reduces the carbonation. Poor grandpa went for a piss and returned forgetting to zip up his fly! After a couple of beers Bernd arrived at 7 and we went to phone his friend Siegfried who I had met in Vienna. Everyone calls him Ziggy. I was to sleep in a small room in the attic which was fine with me. We had dinner and visited Ziggy’s house listened to some music and went to a couple of pubs which are small not like the big taverns we have in Montreal. Then to an amusement park for a beer where we met another of the gang from Vienna. We had a couple more beers at the Englishman’s Pub and played some pool before heading home. Feeling so very weary I retired hoping some good German beer would be a health tonic. I have been on the road for three months and it takes a physical and mental toll on you. I feel I am running on empty. Feeling like shit doesn’t help. Unfortunately I am not on the Adriatic in the healing sun and surf.