Читать книгу Confession of a Toastmaster - Vladimir Shatakishvili - Страница 4

For a few months, I have a story lying on my table. It was specifically written for the volume II of «Companion at the Feast». This is the story of the most famous and popular writer of the Stavropol region Vasily Zvyagintsev: «Something about beer, or «liquid bread» in our lives». Actually, I am a «debtor» of Vasily Dmitrievich. In fact, he and the recently departed Alexander Mosintsev have given «start in life» for my first book «The Box of Colourful Contemporaries», having written the introduction and the afterword to it. After all, there must be the time when I make a good, deserved tribute to the «master», who has given me, the writer-beginner, whom I consider myself to this day, a helping hand. We met in 1975 when I was passing military service in the Stavropol Aviation School for pilots and navigators of anti-aircraft defence. Many years of communication have led me to the conclusion that it is one of the smartest people (if not most intelligent) that I met me in my life. Certainly, he had nothing to do with writing, although, he had been writing for almost twenty years «in the table»… But today his books are read by fans of science fiction, rightly putting it on one level with the most prominent authors of this genre in our country. The total circulation of books of our fellow countryman has already exceeded 5 million copies.

I still remember one episode from the seventies.

In 1961, V. Zvyagintsev got interested in the work of the famous Soviet writer Valentin Pikul when he had a chance to read the second novel of the writer «Bayazet». The first novel «Ocean Patrol» did not attract special attention. But the new one, about the Russian-Turkish war of 1877–1878, hooked him. Maybe, the personality of the main character, Lieutenant Karabanov, was like Pechorin and other similar characters, whom the seventeen-year-old young man diligently tried to emulate.

After «Bayazet», Zvyagintsev was actively reading everything that went out from the pen of the completely original for the Soviet times writer and historian.

In 1973, Valentin Savvich published another novel «Moonzund», dedicated to the naval component of the First World War in the Baltic theatre of military operations.

Something in the novel provoked a lot of disagreement of Zvyagintsev, who had been studying the naval history from a young age. And he dared, and sat down at the typewriter, and wrote to Vladimir Pikul eight pages, single-spaced, of his disagreement with the position of the writer and even the level of expertise of the author at the military-historical questions. As one year and a half as a cabin boy at the front was not enough.

He wrote, sent it, and calmed down, not expecting a response.

And suddenly, after only four months, he received a lengthy post from Riga, where the famous writer was living. It contained two volumes of «Word and Deed», which had just released. It should be noted for the present lovers of literature, in the years of «developed socialism», one could not buy a popular book on the «black market» even for the «ten values». To be clear – the «ten values» for the book of Pikul or «Modern English Detective» – a quarter or one-third of the monthly salary of a doctor or engineer.

And our friend got it from the author for nothing, and even with two cover sheets of his autograph. We cite it verbatim: «To Vasily Zvyagintsev from the author. I was touched by your knowledge, your tact, and your kindness to me. I never give books to readers because THOUSANDS of them ask me for this, but I will make an exception for You since You have not asked me for it. Sincerely, V. Pikul. 20.03.75, Riga. P. S. In the second volume, on page 640, there is a genealogical table. Please, confirm the receipt».

After that, there were several more letters. The last one came shortly before his death and was filled with deep sorrow and warning against the wiles of the «elders of Zion» that use all methods to struggle against the «Russian patriots». He was referring to the story of the banning of the publication in «Nash Sovremennik» of the second part of the novel «At the Last Line».

When intellectual TV programs began to emerge in our country and quickly became popular: «What? Where? When?», «Your Game», «Morning Star», and others, their participants became famous and recognizable among the population. The names of such smart, talented experts as Anatoly Wasserman, Alexander Druz, Maksim Potashov, Boris Burda, and young Ilya Novikov, Ravshan Askerov were on everyone's lips. We used to have respect for educated, decent, and popular people. I can say that Vasily Zvyagintsev must be among these names. Citing the example of six of the most talented men, I would feel free to put his name in the middle of the list, and if in good conscience, I would put it on top. In my imagination, I have often formed the «invincible», from my point of view, team of my friends from Stavropol: Vasily Zvyagintsev, Vladimir Redko, Lyudmila Redko, Vladimir Danchenko, Viktor Semenov, Igor Ogarkov, including Boris Rosenfeld, modestly referring to my involvement in the «star team», as I have been involved in sports statistics for many years and I know something about it. It is a pity that we failed to form this team in the real life…

However, in the spring of 2011, one member of our imaginary team – Vladimir Borisovich Redko, asked «experts» a very tricky and interesting question, which they could not answer. The price of the question was 60 thousand rubles. In addition, his question was recognized as the best in the game and the sponsor of the game «What? Where? When?» «Bank of Moscow» added another 90 thousand rubles. So, hold on, idols, our friend have sent three more questions to you, two of which you will be asked soon…

The friend of V. Zvyagintsev from his childhood, a literary man and film critic, Gennady Khazanov (though, another one – Nikolaevich, and not Viktorovich), told the following story a few years ago in the article devoted to the mentioned author.

«It was in the midst of the Gorbachev's era, in 1989 or in 1990. There was the lack of everything, including beer. If you found some in a very distant stall or shop, it was a great success. In the midst of the summer heat, Vastly and I suddenly got lucky. In a small grove, between cultural and educational school and bath, there was a beer stall. And it had beer of unknown class and of uncertain taste, but it was beer! The queue was not excessive in those days – ten men only, but all had cans or three-liter glass jars (plastic bottles were not used at that time).

In short, the beer was over literally before us! Our disappointment, of course, was the deepest, and the thirst became absolutely unbearable. And ahead of us, there stood a group of five young men, who looked like students in their twenties. There was no enough beer for us because of them.

It should be noted that while we whiled away the time by talking on various topics, these young men were listening attentively to us. Something, apparently, interested them.

And so, when we stepped aside in deep frustration and out of grief began to smoke (and the people at this time, hiding in the shade of the trees, were enjoying beer), one of the students approached us.

«Excuse me, – he said, addressing to my friend, – are you Zvyagintsev Vasily Dmitrievich?»

And I must say that a year ago, the first book of the young writer «Odysseus Leaves Ithaca» came out of print.

– Yes. So what? – Vasily answered.

– There was no enough for you, so you can take this, – and he handed a cylinder full of amber liquid.

Despite our feeble objections, the benefactor insisted, and even refused to take money for three liters of beer. And this was 1 ruble 32 kopecks, which was a considerable sum of money back then.

«Here it is, glory!» – we thought at the same time. My friend was astonished, except for he did not twirl his mustaches with a hussar gesture.

In the meantime, the friends of the young man were loudly expressing their dissatisfaction to the «humanist», who, for no reason, gave a jar of beer to strangers!

– Come on, guys, – he was fighting back. – He is the father of Stas Zvyagintsev. Didn't you know?

Vasily and I looked at each other and began to laugh together. Yes, the time of glory goes by quickly!

And Stas Zvyagintsev was the eldest son of my friend, then a sophomore of the History Department of the SSU, who, apparently, had a great authority among his groupmates».

I have come across the popularity of the writer Zvyagintsev several times in everyday life. So one day, during a meal with Boris Matveyevich Rosenfeld, I met a handsome man, Lieutenant General of the Ministry of Internal Affairs – a fan of our fellow countryman. I spilled the beans about my friendly relationship with Zvyagintsev, so the next day I had to drive to Stavropol for an autograph for the guest from the capital. Once I asked Vasya Derbenev, a specialist in desktop publishing from «MIL» publishing house, to send some of the material from the future the first volume of my book to email address of Zvyagintsev. When the guy learned that he would forward the information to Zvyagintsev, he could not believe that this was possible, naively thinking about some kind of «celestial», who was inaccessible to ordinary mortals. And one needs to remember that for many years Vasily has been in a happy marriage with his wife Svetlana, a winner of the television competition «Best Mother-in-Law of Russia of 2000».

In late 1999, «Komsomolskaya Pravda» announced a competition for the honorary title of «Best Mother-in-Law of Russia of 2000», to which the sons-in-law from all over Russia represented the candidates of their beloved mothers-in-law. The wife of V. Zvyagintsev, Svetlana, having won among many hundreds of worthy contenders, took the honorary title and prize. It should be noted that they lived together for 42 years in full harmony, had three children, two grandsons, and two granddaughters. And I think that the old saying «Marriages are made in heaven» is true because the story of their acquaintance is also worth of the literary incarnation. Both Vasily and Svetlana were studying in Stavropol at the same time but in different universities, and never met each other. Although, at that time, joint «evenings» in one or in another institution were in common practice and were attended by almost all male and female students, and even by cadets of two military schools. But our heroes did not meet each other there.

But in 1968, they were both sent to the Vladimir region, and upon arrival to the destination place (for him – the health department, for her – the sectoral department) they were asked to choose almost any of the handful of cities – Suzdal, Murom, Kovrov, etc. But both somehow indicated on the map the same town of Kolchugino, as they then both said, due to the maximum proximity and direct communication with Moscow. Well, after that, everything was predetermined – two «young professionals», and both from the same region, could not fail to meet in the town, where everybody knew everyone and everything. They met, looked at each other, and agreed to be together: – «We are together, back to back against the world» and promise each other to be together «till death do us part». They still keep their promises.

And I am going to oppose to such a clever and famous man in this story. However, I am lucky to be well informed of the subject matter (see the title), and while my senior colleague and his wife have spent just a couple of days in the world capital of beer, then Your humble servant can now safely lead tours around the glorious city of Munich due to my six trips there (only two or three lasted for a week, others lasted for two weeks). And I am going to argue only about the quality of the German beer. The rest of the story, written, incidentally, at my request, is great. What a graceful and masterful command of the language the author has. How easily and naturally the reader finds himself/herself on the streets and squares of the Caucasian Mineralnye Vody and Stavropol, beloved by their citizens. There are no enough words to tell that our big country experienced the same problems back then – the quality of beer, and its presence or absence in the sale.

I suggest going to Munich of the present day. And in order not to be like Krylov's Moska, «barking at the elephant», I will try to tell the reader about the German beer, its quality, centuries-old traditions, and hospitality.

The capital of Bavaria, Munich, is one of the most beautiful cities in Europe, situated on the South-East of Germany, very close to Austria, Italy and Switzerland. A city with a population of 1.6 million inhabitants is the third largest one in the country after Berlin and Hamburg. Gorgeous, rich, expensive, comfortable, open, and tolerant, great for vacation – all of these characteristics of the Bavarian capital really fit it. For many years, Munich has been the most economically developed and stable city of Germany, as well as one of the richest cities in Europe. Its luxury hotels, shopping malls, and elegant restaurants are worthy of the most discerning visitors. And immense cultural heritage can be fully appreciated only by connoisseurs. The city is great not only in size and global connections but also in its sights, coziness, and kindness. In the held of communication and advertising, Munich is considered to be, respectively, the second city in the world after New York. Truly fabulous surroundings really beautify the life in it. In the weekend, the countless number of tourists go to the south, to the wonderful lakes of the Alpine foothills, to the paradise for tourists and skiers. The city is famous for its stunning architecture, unique buildings and structures, famous museums, modern stadium and unique parks. Its monuments, fountains, squares and streets are so grandiose and significant that tourists and visitors are simply captured by this luxury and grandeur. If we speak the high-sounding language, the life in Munich is based on three pillars: cars, football, and beer. The prestigious brand BMW is known worldwide. Its headquarters and its museum are the most interesting and beautiful buildings of this modern and beautiful city. I have found something for connoisseurs since I have mentioned them in this story. It was in Munich where electricity was first used in the world: a landmark event occurred in 1882 due to an ordinary engineer Mizbah Oskar von Miller. A little later, on the eve of the coming XX century, the Bavarian capital became a place, where for the first time in the world, having passed examinations on driving the car, the motorist-amateur received the world's first driver's license in addition to the world's first identification number for the car. Lovers of technology can find out about this and many other things in the Museum of BMW, built in 1973.

For FIFA World Cup 2006 it was decided to build a modern stadium, equipped with the latest equipment. The people of the city even had to pass a resolution about the new construction, but now they are proud of the «Alliance-Arena», the place of home games of one of the most popular clubs in Europe: Bayern Munich and TSV Munich 1860. Architectural Studio Herzog & de Meuron created the world's largest (also for connoisseurs) membrane covering, comprised of 2760 diamond-shaped pillows. During the day it shines white, and at night it is highlighted in different colours. The most modern stadium of Europe accepts 69 thousand fans and is one of the most visited tourist sites of the city. According to the words of my son Aleksandr, the Spanish city of Valencia, where he had been studying for three years at the Tennis Academy of Pancho Alvarino, was going to build an ultramodern stadium that would exceed some indicators of the one in Munich… I had to call to Valencia, to the long-time residents there, our friends from Pyatigorsk – Ruben and Lyudmila Saribekyan. They confirmed that the stadium is being built. Moreover, it will be a real masterpiece, but due to the financial and economic crisis, its construction will end in 2013. It is called Nuevo Mestalla. Its architect is Javier Iribarren.

Having come to this place, I read again the work of Zvyagintsev, because my disagreements with him begin in the world's most famous beer hall Hofbräuhaus. My friends from Stavropol did not like beer and sausages. I am sure that this is some kind of accident, although, among my twenty visits to this historic place, there was one episode when I did not like beer too. This passage can be explained by the language barrier when the waiter of no titular nationality mixes varieties of a large assortment of beer and serves some beer with unusual supplement or lemonade.

In support of this version, I dare to agree on some kind of gamble: having decided to write a book about alcohol that would turn into two volumes, I would still face the description of my beer adventures in Munich, and I would have to stand up for the quality of the worldwide brand.

So, we had an idea to publish the menu of this place to the delight of the readers. Some of my friends have imperceptibly borrowed it and have given it to me as a reminder of the wonderful feasts and original manuals for the author, writing on these topics. I am sure that no writer, even a very talented one, does not have the information contained on multiple pages of this menu. As for the reader, he/she will be able to plunge into the oasis of gastronomic madness, at the same time, of purely informative purposes, will get acquainted with four centuries of history of the famous beer.

My first trip to Germany was in the summer of 2005. By that time, our old friends had been living in Munich for many years: Irina Sergeeva (we studied together in the Pyatigorsk Institute of Foreign Languages) with her family – her husband Murad Yagazarov, her mother Alyona Grigorievna, her daughter Mariana, and her son-in-law Ivan Milevsky. Three months before that first trip, I sat on the «Kremlin diet», published in Komsomolskaya Pravda. Due to Katya Malik, the journalist of this popular and beloved newspaper, I met some of her friends from Komsomolskaya Pravda, one of which was a methodist for the use of this diet. Some of their tips helped me and I lost 13 kilograms in less than three months. After the release of my first book «Box of Colourful Contemporaries» in 2004, Katya published a great article in Komsomolskaya Pravda (No. 48 of March 23, 2005), where three pages (1, 6, 7) were devoted to the interview with me and my, now late, friend Andrey Azatovich Gedikyants, under whose leadership, thanks to the help of Volodya Tyurin, the future oligarch Roman Abramovich began his career in big business. Katya died on January 13, 2006, in the hospital № 1 of the city of Pyatigorsk. She was young (29 years old), beautiful, and brave (constant trips to the war zone in Chechnya). She lacked only a few meters to walk to the doctor, and fell somewhere in the territory of our city hospital, not recovering. In memory of the fallen journalists, the concern «Sovershenno Sekretno» often holds the «roll call of remembrance», where, along with the names of the dead in recent years journalists: Artyom Borovik and his colleagues, there is the name of the modest young girl Katya Malik, who feared nothing and always spoke the truth, who gave life to the fight for justice… May the memory of her live forever.

So, I flew to Germany, being slender and emaciated, and during that week of the German «beautiful life» I gained 8 more kilograms. Well, how can one resist such temptations? Where can one find the strength not to try all the goodies offered in the above menu? All my visits to the «beer kingdom of Munich» began and ended in Hofbräuhaus…

It is recommended for adherents of various diets to avoid the Bavarian cuisine. Perhaps, there are not many delicacies in it, but those, who like to eat well, will not be disappointed. The portion sizes here are big. As for the dishes, then the Germans have borrowed a lot from the Italians. Bavaria is not far away from Italy.

Hungry guests in Munich will be offered deep-fried bacon chops, roast pork knuckle, and potato salad with «klopse» meatballs.

Certainly, there are sausages of many varieties, including grilled sausages in spicy curry sauce. Roast pork with the garnish of sauerkraut, sausages, and pretzels are rightly considered traditional food.

Fans of raw food will be able to appreciate «hakepeter», which is a raw minced meat with salt, pepper and spices, flavoured with egg.

The Bavarians do not forget about the vegetables that are usually boiled and consumed as a garnish. Here one can find different varieties of cabbage, green beans, carrots, and beets.

Sandwiches are also popular in Germany. And they contain not only butter, cheese, and sausage, but also a variety of products – special sandwich masses, fish, and other things.

As a snack people here choose the unchanged sausage, vegetable and meat salads, and fish. The ordinary fish snacks include sprats, sardines, herring in various sauces, and fish salads.

The first dishes include broths and soups. For example, a thick soup with boiled peas, a noodle soup, and broths with egg, rice or dumplings. Chicken or game is often the basis of the soup.

Talking about Germany, it is impossible not to mention the local beer, especially in Bavaria. The most popular are the bright varieties of this beverage such as Augustiner-Bräu, Löwenbräu, Paulaner and Spaten, Hacker-Pschorr and Hofbrau.

Well, the drinking of beer is rarely complete without rosy Nuremberg sausages and roast pork, served with potato dumplings.

Restaurants

To dine in the restaurant of Munich will be cheaper than in other German lands. And it would be strange if such food lovers, as the Bavarians, would not have their unique places, which were the objects of pride.

Aloia Dallmayr (Dienerstrasse 14)

The eponymous restaurant is located on the second floor of this world famous and extremely expensive shop of delicatessen. Visitors will be offered a lot of the most exotic dishes from different corners of the Earth. This restaurant, located in the heart of Munich, is famous for its seafood cuisine, particularly dishes from the caviar.

Andecher am Dom (Wienstrasse 7a)

This establishment, located in the old town, offers beautiful views of the cathedral.

During the contemplation of scenic views, one can enjoy a variety of meat dishes.

Frauenteestube (Dreimuhlenstrasse 1)

The tea house with this name is located in the southern district of Munich at the intersection with Isarstrasse. Men, who decide to drink some coffee here, will be somewhat puzzled at the entrance sign: «Women Only!». For the rest of mankind, the café is open five days a week, except Wednesday and Saturday.

Pubs

Those, who would like to drink beer in Munich, will have a wide choice of pubs. From small and cozy taverns – «kneipe», to entire complexes in the open air – beer gardens «biergarten».

Bavarian brewers often have their own brand places with an amazing variety of beers. The Germans themselves prefer not to stay in one place, and after a glass of beer they go to the another one.

Augustiner Bierhalle (Neuhauser Strasse 27)

Pub for those, who like to drink under the old German ambiance.

Mathaser Bierstasdt (Zweigstrasse 5)

The place is open by Lowenbrau brewery. It is the traditional gathering place of the governing office personnel.

Biergarten

Among the beer gardens of Munich, one should visit Chinesischer Turm, Hirschau and Biergarten, located on the territory of the English Garden. The garden itself is on the bank of lake Kleinhesseloher See.

In mid-November 2006, we went to Munich via Thessaloniki. I have already mentioned that Aleksandr Petrovich Sakhtaridi is directly related to the charter flight Mineralnye Vody – Thessaloniki – Mineralnye Vody. When we needed to visit the capital of Bavaria, we decided to fly via Greece, where we were joined by his nephew Manolis and another solid businessman, who did not know Russian, but spoke native Greek and English. I think that it is not necessary to describe my first impressions from visiting the ancient country – Greece. The reception was stunning. So, I will try to devote to this beautiful, wonderful corner of our planet a separate story, especially for I have never visited any other foreign city 8 times…

Munich greeted us with a beautiful autumn weather, It was Sunny and warm. In Thessaloniki, however, people were still swimming in the sea. At the airport, we were joined by Aleksandr Ivanovich Frizin, a former civil aviation pilot, who was now living in Germany. Thanks to his knowledge of German, we picked up a car with the navigator at the airport (rental service there is at the highest level), and our trip was quite comfortable. Aleksandr, though he had been living long enough in Germany, visited Munich for the first time, having arrived there by plane. In short, the entire burden of carrying out the cultural program and negotiations with bankers, scheduled for the next day, fell on me, because it was already my third visit to Munich. Having settled in a great Kempinski Hotel, we went to the famous beer hall Hofbräuhaus. It was a day when we could not find a spare seat, only with the help of the head waiter, after some time, we were seated in a room, unfamiliar to me yet. When a handsome young waiter began to take our order, he heard the Greek language, as Manolis and the businessman were speaking their native language. It turned out that the waiter was also of Greek origin and was living in Germany for a long time. «The language barrier» was overcome easily. We made all the orders in Greek, having studied the menu in Russian first. We were not thinking about money much as everyone wanted, besides great beer, to try various German goodies. We ordered three portions of every dish to allow everybody try something interesting. The Germans have very large portions. If each of you orders baked knuckle, then you will not be able to eat anything else. I have learned it well during the previous visits. The waiter tried very hard to please his countrymen, brought more and more new portions of previously unknown dishes. Next to our table, there were two Italians, who were also making big orders and even were nagging at something. The poor guy tried very hard to please everyone, because his income depended on his skills and abilities. Each of us, except the driver, drank two-liter mugs of HB Original. Lunch was a success, however, with a little bitterness. The thing was that the Italians, sitting at the next table, nagging and looking solid, left without paying 150 euros to our waiter. The guy almost cried, as they drove him all day with their nagging and then quietly disappeared. I was proud of my friend, who, leaving the cozy, comfortable in every sense, place, felt sorry for the frustrated waiter and asked to include the sum, stolen by unscrupulous visitors, to our bill. Bravo, Alexander Petrovich!!!

Then there were the tour around the city and even an unplanned meeting with the receiving party. By evening, we got hungry and, on the advice of some locals, went to the nearby restaurant called Augustiner-Keller. It is a large old building, with hunting trophies in the halls as exhibits and the national Bavarian orchestra. This time, we «wised up» and decided not to order three or five portions, as we wanted to try everything. We ordered one or two portions, but there were so many dishes… Beer in this restaurant was also excellent. We did not refuse from a suckling-pig, roasted to special Bavarian recipes in the oven, chickens, fried according to some rules, and several varieties of fish. Honestly, who could refuse from trying those dishes?

In early May of 2007, I was once again in Munich. The route was the same: Mineralnye Vody – Thessaloniki – Munich – Thessaloniki – Mineralnye Vody. The fact was that it was much easier to get a Schengen visa from the Greeks than from the picky Germans. This time, we were flying together. My traveling companion and old friend – Said Magomedovich Saidov – a respected in Dagestan person, the Minister of Transport of the Republic. He also had a business project to attract foreign investments into the economy of the region. My friend really wanted to see Thessaloniki, so we spent five days in Munich and left two days for Greece. We spent time perfectly: excursions, negotiations with potential investors, visiting expensive stores and restaurants. We even managed to stay in two hotels. We stayed the first three days in a usual, but very cozy Alpha (near the venue of the negotiations), and when we were walking and visiting brand stores on the Maximilianstrasse, one of the most expensive and famous streets, we came across the five-star Vier Jahreszeiten Kempinski and moved there for the rest two days, despite the exorbitant prices. By tradition, we began our tour around the pubs of Munich with Hofbräuhaus, where beer and everything else, served to it, were of the highest quality. During those days, spent in the capital of Bavaria, we were able to visit a lot of interesting restaurants, pubs and other bawdy places with different cuisines: Italian, Greek, Asian, Oriental, French. Unfortunately, I did not record the specific places of our adventures, although, I still remember some of them: restaurant «Zum Augustiner» at the Neuhauserstrasse, restaurant «Leopold», restaurant «Königshof», Italian restaurant «Aquarelle». Sadly, I do not remember the name of an excellent Spanish restaurant, but I remember «Bangkok House» with Thai cuisine. If we remember our forays into the best restaurants in Munich, it should be noted that the city has cuisines from all five continents. Iranian, Turkish, Japanese, Vietnamese, Chinese, Greek cafes and restaurants are everywhere. And yet, the great German beer remains the main in all of these places. For all my trips, for all my visits to different restaurants, I had never even thought to drink wine, vodka, brandy, whiskey, champagne… Beer, beer and only beer should be consumed when in Munich. There are closer cities and countries for other drinks…

I remembered another trip to the capital of Bavaria. It was only a month and a half later, at the end of June 2007, when I began to prepare for the trip. My friend Sergey with his business partners Valery and Igor were to fly to Munich from Barcelona, where they participated in some sort of congress. The flight from Barcelona was in the evening, so I asked my German friends and colleagues to meet the plane together. The thing was the following: a huge airport of Munich is difficult to explore after a few visits, especially with a complete lack of knowledge of the German language (I was constantly fighting with it at the Institute, as the second language, after English, was German. I even transferred to the extramural department at the fourth year, where it was enough to know one language). It was a whole city with separate buildings for departure and arrival of flights. Certainly, I did not visit all the airports in the world, but I was sure that the airport of Munich in its size was not inferior to the airports in Milan and Bangkok, where I happened to be and to be surprised at their size as well. We successfully met the guys and went by two cars to the hotel, where they had booked rooms, being in Moscow. Stingy and prudent Germans were surprised by the scale of the arrived guests: they stayed in one of the most prestigious and expensive (if not the most expensive) hotels of the city – Bayerischer Hof. Certainly, it was a five-star hotel. We had dinner at some Greek restaurant that was located on the second floor of a huge shopping mall, halfway between my modest Alpha and their hotel. The scope of the landed «Russian troops» struck the receiving party, the first round of negotiations was held during more than a hearty lunch. The table was just littered with all sorts of seafood. I had never seen such a number of sea creatures that had befallen us. I think that the «natives» also were not used to such frills. Their Russian-speaking representative only had time to make orders to the waiters, who were trying to please us in every way. When one of the arrived «Russian heroes» paid a substantial bill and left a tip, commensurate with a weekly salary, the waiters actually came out to see us off on the street. There, in the west, everybody were used to pay for themselves, but for us, this situation was alien. In our understanding, it was some sort of greediness.

Next day presaged a lot of interesting: negotiations with bankers, sightseeing around the city, shopping and visiting the most important pubs. The first misfire happened this morning during the visit to the business partners. These days, there was almost forty-degree heat. When we entered the building we preferred to take the elevator to the third floor. We squeezed in it somehow and pressed the button of the desired floor. The doors closed, and the elevator grunted somehow and got stuck. All efforts to start it were futile. The safety service of the elevators immediately got involved in the negotiations with us, but my attempts to explain something in English were ignored. No one knew their native German language. We felt «painful and funny», in a word – uncomfortable, hot, and after a few minutes of waiting and misunderstanding, even creepy. One of the Moscow heroes, who stood closest to the door, managed to break it, freeing us. What did we see, having escaped from the grip of the German elevator? The inscription in huge numbers – 360 kg (the limit and warning for «very bad ones»). We only had to do one simple arithmetic operation, calculating our total weight: 135+125+115+95 (my weight) = 470 kg. The German people were meticulous and punctual, and such an overload did not work for them. We simply behaved like fools. However, then we were laughing for a long time. According to general opinion, I had the creepiest facial expression, although, they also had a «pale appearance», because no one wanted to suffocate in a stuffy elevator. Negotiations somehow went wrong, our partners were very worried, either due to the damaged elevator, or, we would like to think, worrying about the guests subjected to the test. The solution was found quickly, as we had not yet managed to visit Hofräuhaus. Having taken a Russian-speaking «native» with us, we went to celebrate the «liberation from captivity». In the famous pub, we had a real «nosh-up». We drank an incredible amount of the most famous beer. We ordered so many dishes that one could easily feed another ten people. It was not according to the scenario, but according to the accident that our «translator» was not as strong as the Russian heroes. He was «loaded» and «loaded», specifically setting the conversation in the direction of the future financial mazes. The poor fellow promised so much that the half of it would be enough for us… In the end, being «completely smashed», he was evacuated home by the taxi. My guests from Moscow let themselves go. Now, I became the object of their practical jokes and banter, although, Sergey had introduced me as his former «General Director», which was not quite true. When they got convinced that it was impossible to make me drunk with beer, then they conceived another, tricky ways of jokes. To be honest, in the first days, both of them seemed to me to be some tramps, not corresponding to the status of Sergey, who had already reached the highest heights in business and political life of the North Caucasian region. But, as it turned out, I made a big mistake. Only later, I learned that the young (about forty years old), funny and cheerful new buddies were very serious and wealthy people. Sometimes, their names appeared in the famous lists of the world famous Forbes magazine. Therefore, before starting to write about the meetings that took place not only in Germany, I asked Sergey if it was possible to mention the names of the heroes of this story. My friend asked not to use real last names not only of the guests from Moscow, but his too. I know nothing about their present positions, only that they are already very high…

So, we continue the «gluttony» in the most famous pub in the world. When I cited statistics on live weight crammed into the elevator, on the previous pages, the first, most impressive numbers belong to my new friends. I repeatedly wrote about the method of determining the amount of alcohol drunk by the person: any kind of alcoholic beverages by simple mathematical operations is equal to 96° alcohol and is divided by the weight of the human body. So go now and compete with them for they already have a head start of at least 30 %. I was once again asked to tell about the beer putsch of 1923 (8–9 November). Although, 16 people were killed, the authorities graciously treated Hitler and his supporters. They imprisoned them for only nine months, but were able to do away with fascism. He could rot in prison as a dangerous political criminal, he could be expelled from Germany as an undesirable alien, with no permission to return. The history of German Nazism would have been over at that point, as the government could have easily suppressed it…

I told them about another famous visitor of Hofbräuhaus, living for months in the rooms of this building, and also a big fan of local beer. His name was no less famous – Karl Marx – the founder of Marxism. His friend and collaborator Friedrich Engels, as a more rich and wealthy man, was tolerant to the whims of his colleague. When visiting the Bavarian capital, he paid debts and prolonged the residence of his friend in the then existing rooms of the famous building.

Our prolonged lunch could gradually develop into a dinner, but no energy was left to sit at the table. We still planned to go shopping for the guests, leaving in two days, who wanted to buy gifts for the loved ones. If you walk across from the pub literally three hundred metres, you will reach the Maximilianstrasse, the most luxurious and expensive (according to prices in brand stores) street of the city. And my companions did not need another one.