When finally up, hey what's an hour when the only thing planned is to partake in secret men's business down at the local establishment. Berndts parents / brother owns the only Beir House in town. Seems they also own most other bits in the village as well! Anyway it apparently is Bavarian tradition to partake in white sausages between 9 - 11.00 am especially on a Friday so who are we not to fit in with the locals, it is also all you can eat day as well. Only a short stroll to the Beir House and take a seat in a very decorative room filled with carved timber and lots of Bavarian "stuff", it is here that we are told that the record for numbers eaten in one session is 20 so we start with 2 each. They are a thick white sausage made from pigs mince and herbs, they are boiled in water and served in a large dish of their cooking juice. You also have large pretzels and a grain mustard that has been sweetened along with some grated horseradish. No cutlery is used so break the snags and bread and off one goes. Also, naturally Beir is required. We are reliably informed and now have this firmly stored in our memory bank - and this is important to understand, Beir is food and should be taken at any opportunity.

So there . Actually the pigs snout minced up is not as bad as you think, so good in fact we ask for seconds. The room was busy so must be the thing to do on a Friday morning. We had our photos taken whilst in the midst (sorry now find that I have no evidence as my camera should go the way of the pig and be minced).

We are then given a tour of the establishment and meet the patriarch, it is old and traditional Bavarian house with a large function room on the first floor and then home style rooms ( they have 9) on the next floor. Taken on brief tour of kitchen and then out the back when there is a butchery, our snags were walking just a few hours ago, Also every Friday a live cow is given the once over as well - missed that bit. Next to the Beir house under the same roof line is the butcher shop, Berndts father is a butcher by trade.

Back to home base for a bit of a catch up then off on our next family outing to the main regional centre called Rosenheim which is only 15 minutes away . The town of 80,000 people services all of the nearby villages. We wander the main cobblestone streets, they are similar to the Salzburg (from what I can recall from when last there) with the buildings very ornate. Apparently this area along with Salzburg was built on the wealth of salt mines. The ownersthe apper when erecting the buildings all hired Italian craftsmen to do the job, hence the similarities in structures.

We are then taken to a side alley to eat with the locals, only two tourists in the place. We have been introduced to the aperitif - spritzer aperol, in a large wine glass pour a half glass of Italian prosecco then top with a nip of aperol. Garnish with a few ice cubes and an orange wedge. Goes well with tapas of cured meats and cheeses of many descriptions. What wine area today, perhaps French or Spanish, maybe italian or should it be German?

Home to pack, gee 5 minutes to stuff the back pack and still too many items. Here is a tip, if you have more than 10 kilos including bag/pack then take items out, one should start with no more than 8 kilos.I currently am holding onto 10.6 kilos so things must go prior to strapping the pack on the back. John has 13.3 kilos, including a lonely planet guide book - needs to be placed back onto the Ark. Ensure our clocks are now right as we have planes, trains and buses to meet tomorrow.