Getting There (Bad Bertrich)

CAUGHT Ryanair's 15.05 from Stansted to Frankfurt-Hahn airport, which is about 70 miles from the city of Frankfurt, and almost as far from the 'real' Frankfurt airport.

But that did not matter, for my purposes, as Frankfurt-Hahn is relatively near the chess venue of Bad Bertrich.

There is a direct bus between Frankfurt-Hahn and the spa town, and I hope to get it for my return journey to the airport, but timings did not work out today, so I booked a private transfer, arriving at my hotel shortly before 19:00 central European time.

However, that was too late for Bad Bertrich's only mini-supermarket, which opens in the mornings six days a week, and sometimes also for a short period in the afternoon, but not after 17:00.

Instead I ate in the Mamma Mia Italian restaurant, enjoying penne all arrabbiata, followed by a piece of  baklava with a scoop of vanilla ice-cream, and washed down by two bottles of alcohol-free hefeweizen.

This chess set is apparently left out in a public park overnight