Last night, Bill and I decided to eat dinner in town because he was super tired from his trip to Chad and we didn’t really have much in the apartment by the way of dinner fixings.  It appears that the two main restaurants, Hermes and Krone, were closed last night.  They probably went on vacation, as is very common for restaurant folks to do in Germany during August.  They just close up for two or three weeks and recharge.  Personally, I think that’s a great thing.  I’ve worked in restaurants and they can be pretty horrible if you want to have a life outside of work.  I think it’s very healthy that restaurant owners in Germany take a break.  Ultimately, it’s probably healthier for their patrons, too.

But given that we were in need of food last night, we had to find somewhere to dine.  We ended up at a little hole in the wall bar/bistro obviously owned by Greeks.  There were two rowdy tables of older folks there, holding court, drinking beer, and smoking.  And when we walked in, the proprietor very kindly greeted us as we chose a table toward the back (away from the smoke).

At first, it seemed a little awkward in there… almost like we were crashing a party.  But the regulars were actually very nice and eventually seemed kind of welcoming.  One said “Guten appetit!” on his way to the restroom.  And talk about cheap eats!  Everything on the menu was priced at 5.50.

No frills eats!

This is what we got when we ordered the gyros! 

 

I wasn’t able to eat all of this… and it was a little saltier than I like it.  On the other hand, for 5.50 euros, it was quite a bargain and it was pretty good considering how cheap it was!  We each enjoyed a couple of beers, which were also very reasonably priced.  I can see why the locals like this place so much.  I left there reeking of cigarette smoke, but I’d go back for the atmosphere.  There was a large TV on the wall behind us tuned to action movies with Greek subtitles.

On the way back, we stopped at Netto!, the local mini mart, to pick up some Viennetta.  I took a photo of the mural on the building opposite the store.

 

The mini mart was interesting.  They had a lot of beer, wine, frozen foods, and a small produce section.  One could also purchase hard liquor there.  And there was a lady ahead of us who was apparently determined to pay entirely in small change!

And this very pretty traditional building, that appears to be part of a church…

 

We came back to the apartment with our ice cream treat.  I always get a thrill in Germany when we find Viennetta.  It used to be available in the United States and was marketed by Breyer’s.  Now it’s marketed by Unilever.  One thing Europeans do right is ice cream.

Yum!

Bill is without a rental car right now, so I guess we’ll be holed up in the apartment again today.  Bummer.  But at least we now know where a good local dive is for super cheat eats!