Knights of the Island

Since Felix washed all his clothes in the storm in the night prior and we were all looking forward to night in a comfy bed, we checked into the Highland Hotel in Stratpeffer. And boy, was it an experience. It's a big beautiful house that welcomes you with chequered carpets, high ceilings and wooden decor. The Scottish charm is just pouring out of these old walls and so we grabbed our clothes boxes from the car and carried them through the big lobby. This led to some amusement of the receptionist, mostly because we were by far the youngest crowd to have checked into that place within the last 30 years. The rooms were absolutely fine, only the water pressure felt like someone's slowly drooling on you, probably set to comfort the seniority of the usual guests. Apart from that, all 👍
Then we set out to dinner, which we decided to grab at the hotels own restaurant and this is where it all went a bit downhill on this Friday the 13th. The youth hostel smell should have tipped us off to turn around, but we had read one good review about the kitchen, so we wanted to give it a chance. We each ordered two courses and a beer, which we surprisingly had to grab ourselves from the bar in the lobby past the reception. When we returned with the drinks, the first course was already served. Nils and I (Carsten) got the cauliflower cheddar soup, which was the obvious choice for the teeth- & tasteless customer. Luckily the bread came untoasted and in the same grey colour to complete the experience. Gregor and Felix had a little more luck with their pre-courses. Between courses we had some time to realize we were sitting in god's waiting room. The grey man next to us was just taking a nap after his dinner. I was quite relieved when he eventually showed some signs of life and got up. And then the main course. Three of us chose the pork loin with apple sauce and fries. What the fries were lacking in being cooked, the pork certainly got more than enough. The dry meat was already overcooked when they took it out of the freezer the day before. Gregor had the lamb shoulder which was the much safer choice for all the third teeth in the room. They even served it pre-chewed - very helpful. Not all of us were quite satisfied after that dinner experience, so we headed down to the local shop to grab some cup noodles and returned to our rooms to relax. Certainly a night we won't forget. Btw, we had just missed the performance of local legend Ronnie Ross, but we saw him in the dining hall charming his way into the weak hearts of the queen Elisabeth look-a-likes.Lue lisää