- Craig Hope spent an afternoon with the ‘Wine Princess’ ahead of the England match
- Craig goes to the Frankfurt Arena tonight to watch Denmark against England
- LISTEN to It All Begins! What Jude Bellingham needs to do to take his game to the next level
From the brutality of the Ruhr area’s gray and industrial architecture to the lakeside beauty of the Weimarer Land and a Michelin-starred chef serving us dinner within hours, all thanks to a canceled train!
When I left Essen and Gelsenkirchen on Monday morning, it was no surprise that the train south to my base in Erfurt had been removed from the schedule.
It meant I had to think, and I was soon running towards it, squeezing through the doors of an earlier alternative.
I traveled via Dusseldorf and Frankfurt, where delayed trains met and my connections became seamless, even if for the wrong reasons.
Craig Hope spent the afternoon with the ‘Wine Princess’ ahead of tonight’s England match
He left the brutality of the gray and industrial architecture of the Ruhr to enjoy the beauty of the lakeside Weimarer Land and a Michelin-starred chef
And this turned out to be a literal sliding door moment. Because if I hadn’t made that first train, I would have missed the ‘Food Masters’ event organized by the staff of Weimarer Land for the English press.
It still required a cart ride back through Erfurt, my wheeled suitcase rattling over the old cobblestones – and this on the one day the sun came up – but at home and not so dry, I made a Stars in Their Eyes transformation of a sloppy traveler to a sunset dinner.
We took the bus to beautiful Hans Am See overlooking the serene Hohenfelden Reservoir, where the region’s chief driver and ‘Wine Princess’ Emma were waiting to greet us.
The Michelin star chef who works in the kitchen of the England team hotel supervised the outdoor grills – don’t ask him for team news, he had to sign a non-disclosure agreement! – and we were treated to what tasted like the best food and wine in all of Germany.
It felt like a wedding, which was ironic because when I sent the photos to my wife as she was wrestling with our three young boys before bed, her response talked about divorce.
Anyway, yesterday it was towards Frankfurt for tonight’s match against Denmark and if I could reach out and touch the grove of dense forest we were passing through, I would – because our trains were all on time! Let’s hope it stays that way.
But without a canceled train I would not have experienced the culinary delights of the Weimarer Land. Swings and roundabouts, beef and wine.
Here’s to Wiedersehen, Craig.