der ketchup koenig: 04/09/16 day 7: Lindau, DE

Opted to skip breakfast for a couple extra minutes shut eye. Not sure it accomplished what I was hoping. I missed breakfast by a mile but the kind woman at reception hooked up some coffee. As we were loading out of the hotel Brent walked up and met us at the front door of the hotel and we all headed into town for Euphrat Döner; still one of the freshest, tastiest, well rounded Döner on the planet. It didn't disappoint. They make their flour tortillas fresh, there is a designated cat just doing this in the back, taking orders, working the meat slicer, greetings friends at the counter. Döner is only as good as its casing; either bread (fladenbrot/pita) or tortilla, and this stuff is fresh off the griddle. It's unreal.

We bid farewell to Brent by the Uni Bibliotek, walked back across town and grabbed the car in the parking garage and headed back into the Black Forest. Such a fun drive winding up through thick forest past ski hills and little valley villages. About an hour into the trip we hit the Bodensee (google it) and cruised along the picturesque coast with rolling vineyards, orchards and hops vines. We crossed into Bayern and over a small bridge to the island town of Lindau which as you can probably imagine is clean, quaint, and beautiful. We had about 45 minutes to chill before walking over to the venue; Spielbank Casino is a beautiful new building perched on the edge of the island. Upstairs you got your table games, downstairs the slot machines, and on the ground floor a small venue and restaurant. The stage is great; monitors sound crisp and clean, sound guy knows his business.

We dined in the restaurant at 6:45. Had some nice meals; I went with the grilled meat platter with fries and a salad. Tommy our agent rolled up around 7:30. We warmed up and hit the stage at 8 after Roland the entertainment director offered up some of his friends small batch single malt whiskey...

Great crowd. Reserved at first but heads started bopping, and there was even a lone dancer at the back of the room.

Germany, Switzerland, Austria all get a piece of the Bodensee.

Kind of a big deal...

Got called out for two encores. It's funny, sometimes the reserved crowds demand the most back. We obliged, willingly, and hammered Bid You and then Don't Look Close. CD sales were down (by percentage of attendance average) but still good and loads of good feedback. We are coming back to Lindau in November so people were stoked to tell us they will see us again. We hear the venue (zeughaus) is beautiful.

After the set we ventured upstairs and tried our hands at various games. I won't mention names or net numbers, but I didn't win. I did double down on an 11 but he had an ace showing. You always double down on 11, baby. I'm just saying, not in this particular case.... Sorry. Swingers reference. German casino, which I've never been into is very reserved compared to Vegas. It also requires jackets which they loan out for the night. Peter was the most pleased with his outfit.

There was also talk about a proper casino tour with the other 9 casinos in Bayern, which is either a brilliant idea or a terrible idea. Let's just say my luck was better in Vegas...