Germany 5: The Gesundheitminister: the minister in charge of sneezing

At the Hofbrauhaus, where we ate supper despite the Lonely Planet's swift dismissal of, "apart from a few local yokels you'll be in the company of tourists. A live band is condemned to play Bavarian folk music most of the day," our waiter explained to us that the 19% charge on the bill was tax. "You know what is tax," he asked. Oh yes. We know what is tax.

We went to the Hofbrauhaus because it was the only place we could find at 9:30 p.m. that was still serving food. German food. The Italian restaurants were open. But we had gone to a little sausage restaurant near the Victuals place and had been told by the waitress that the kitchen was closed. We looked at the menu. It said the kitchen closed at 9:30.

It was 9:17.

So much for the Germans following orders.

The Hofbrauhaus was perfectly nice, even though there were (gasp) other tourists there. The food was good (we had weiswurst and spaetzle) and the atmosphere in the beer garden, under the big chesnut trees, was just fine. Sometimes the popular stuff is the good stuff.