Tuesday 3rd November – Paulushofen, Germany

 We were heading north today on the very slow journey back to Calais and we wanted to investigate the area known as Franconian Switzerland. As luck would have it, our route would take us very close to Paulushofen and the Landgasthof Euringer restaurant where we stayed a couple of weeks ago, so we decided to spend another night there. Staying there for no charge meant that we would have to have a meal in the restaurant. Given the delicious food that we had last time, that would not be a hardship.
The journey was largely on main roads and motorways but it was trouble-free and the scenery was very pleasant. The autumn colours were getting stronger and brightened up the scenes.
When we arrived, I went to reception and asked to book a table for 19:00 but, as last time, they just said that we should turn up when we liked. The restaurant was very busy at 4 o’clock with a function room full of people, perhaps a hundred or more drinking and some dancing in the middle of the room.
We went into reception at 7 o’clock and were asked if we had booked, which we thought was a little odd but they found us a place on a large table with a sign over it ‘Stammtisch’, which translates as ‘Regulars’ table’. We felt honoured but then it was our second visit! We had another excellent meal and the buffet salad, included with all of the meals, was even better that last time: four different salamis and four cheeses in addition to the salads that included stuffed peppers, potato salad, Italian caprese, tomatoes, mixed leaves, cucumbers in a sauce, egg salad etc. etc. Neither of us could even contemplate a dessert although I am sure that they would have been very good.
When I paid the bill, I chatted to the waitress who spoke excellent English. We had seen a coach party staying at the hotel on our last visit and I guessed that the party in the function room were also a coach trip. I asked if they had coach parties every day and she said that they did most days – today that had five coach parties! Some stay for the night but others come for a meal, followed later by coffee and cake and they often have dancing too. Given that the average age of the people (mainly women) that we saw must have been eighty, all I can say is that they must have bigger appetites than us. They were obviously having a great time.
The restaurant is run by a large extended family and is obviously a very successful business. They also host business meetings and courses and both times we have seen groups of business people in the hotel.
Photos: Landgasthof Euringer with the butcher’s shop (Metzgerei) at the front; The staff of Landgasthof Euringer on the 100^th anniversary of the guesthouse in 2023.