In August, 2017, 28 IPA Members from Nuremberg, Germany visited Scotland for a whisky tour and to attend the Military Tattoo.
A few weeks later, to our surprise, an Invitation arrived asking us to attend their Branch 60th anniversary celebrations with proviso that David wore his IPA Tartan kilt during their event.
On Thursday, 12 October we flew to Nuremberg where Bernd was waiting with the IPA Welcome board. After a quick turnaround, we went with Bernd and his wife Lisa for a walk round the old city by night. It is a city in Franconia located on the Rivers Pegnitz and Main.
We dined at a local German pub where I had a traditional meal of Bratwurst Goulash and David had roast pork with potato dumplings, both were delicious.
On Friday we again walked around the City. The old part of the city is surrounded by a wall. We discovered a market, the majority being associated with fish. There was also fairground rides and other entertainment.
The celebrations were held at a restored 400 year old grain store. As instructed, David wore his IPA kilt and got a few strange looks as we made our way to the event. We met many IPA Members from the local Branch, neighbouring Branches and Austria.
During the evening there were presentations of 20 and 50 year certificates, but the highlight was when a founder member was presented with his 60 year certificate, a fantastic achievement.
I presented the Chairman, Thomas Schubert, with a Section UK Pennant and a personal gift of an IPA
engraved Quaich with a miniature of whisky. We had a very enjoyable evening and made many new friends.
On Saturday there was a wine tasting, starting at 2pm. We had envisaged small tasting glasses with a few dry biscuits, but how wrong could we have been as the wine was served in very large wine glasses and we enjoyed some excellent local food prepared and served by the wives of some members. The entertainment was traditional German music.
On Sunday we had a guided tour of the city by an IPA Member, Willie Dietz. In a very pleasant 22 degrees we had an amazing day, visiting Churches, Houses and the Castle which gives a panoramic view of the City. We saw the major restoration of buildings carried out following the devastation caused during World War II.
The 5 kilometre wall round the city is still intact, apart from about 1km, has many towers and each one is identified by a letter and as there are so many towers they use 4 different colours for the letters. It is a very unique identification system.
At 1pm we arrived at Black F tower, which is where the IPA Office is situated. It is a round tower in the wall. All the walls are displaying IPA memorabilia from all over the World.
En route to our hotel we visited the former Reichsparteitag (Nazi Rally Arena) which is shaped like a coliseum and could hold about 50,000 people. Being with locals allowed us an opportunity to drive round the enclosed perimeter of the building. We visited the Hitler Nuremberg Stadium and saw the podium where Hitler stood and addressed the Hitler Youth in 1937.
On Monday morning just before leaving Nuremberg we stopped at the building where the Nuremberg Trials were held between 1945 and 1946.
We then joined the autobahn, which was a first for David and I. There is no speed limit and before long we reached the beautiful quaint village of Prichsenstadt We then headed for Brunnau where we had arranged to meet Gustav Breuning, from IPA Schweinfurter, and his wife Renate for lunch.
After lunch we took a short drive to the main wine region of Bavaria, known as “The Island” due to the Main River taking a gigantic loop through the valley. We set off from Vogelsburg on a walk through the vineyards and after 6 kilometres arrived in Neuses am Berg. The plan was to visit some of the winery bars. Apparently the wine villages are busy on a Sunday but almost everything is closed on a Monday. However we did find a winery owner who was prepared to open his bar and we sampled some of his wine and a chocolate wine liqueur.
Final stop was in Zeilitzhein at their winery where they also produce whisky. It was late in the day and no tour was available so David will have to wait until his next visit to sample the whisky.
The final surprise of the day was an invitation for dinner at the home of Gustav and Renate where we enjoyed true friendship in keeping with the IPA motto.
Tuesday morning Bernd drove us to the airport where we said our fond farewells.
We had a fantastic long weekend and in true IPA fashion we did not only meet people, we met friends, some of whom will be visiting us in Scotland next year.
We are unable to find words suitable to express our heartfelt gratitude to IPA Nuremberg, particularly Bernd and Lisa, for everything they did for us.
Yvonne and David McGregor
