.: 9th April 2003
Woke up to snow again.
The site being surrounded by huge alps was beautiful. It started off
with dandruff sized flakes but by the time the bus left they were big
fluffy ones. Everyone took the opportunity to take photos.
Now back to Germany!
We first went to the
University city of Heidelberg situated on the Rhine River. It was a cute
city. We didn’t stay long just went and had a look around. I bought a
shot glass holder with 6 souvenir shot glasses in it for €15.
I then went back to the
pickup point and went and sat down by the river to take in the scenery.
I saw a parking inspector nearby giving out tickets so I photographed
one to show the guys back at work. I couldn’t read what it said but I’m
sure it was a fine.
We got back on the bus
and went off to our next destination, St. Goar. Here we were taken to a
beer stein shop for a little tour. I got one huge one and two little
ones for my schnapps.
It was then time for
our wine tasting. We went into this place that was like a wine cellar,
which had the steepest and most narrow stairs ever. We all sat down at
these huge long wooden tables and some old whacky guy gave us a talk
about Rhine Riesling wine. I don’t like wine and only came to the
tasting because I heard you got to keep the glass, but this stuff was
actually ok. The first wine was a dry white Riesling which was ok. The
second a semi-sweet, third a sweet and fourth a really sweet Rhine
Riesling. I like the semi-sweet the best. Actually no, my favourite was
the Ice Wine we got to taste after. This wine is made from grapes that
are picked in the first few days of December when the frosts set it.
They are then harvested whilst still frozen and then processed. The end
result is a very sweet yet tasty desert wine. If I had room in my bag I
would have bought a bottle. But I was already carrying around a bottle
of Eau de Vie and Chocolate Liqueur. Thankfully I had loaded off the
Apple Sourz to Ben a few days before. That stuff was sickly, it didn’t
even have a list of ingredients.
There was a rush for
the toilets but Ben had decided to use the girls toilets and none of us
would go in after that.
We somehow stumbled up
those narrow stairs with our free wine glass which was really just a big
shot glass, but still, free!
Our final destination
was a quaint hotel just outside of Koblenz which we called the Hansel &
Gretel hotel. The place was so retro but cute. We got the best room. It
was a split room and my area had this huge photo wallpaper of a
rainforest on the wall and Holly and Claire had this awesome room
complete with balcony and great views.
That night we had
celery soup, fries, pork stuff and salad for dinner. Afterwards we heard
there was a party going on downstairs. I assumed at a bar. So I went
down and found Dan and Matt B playing the piano with Dan trying to teach
Matt some Beethoven. Didn’t quite work. They then attempted the guitar
while I played a few tunes on the piano. GT and Dave were in the TV
room, but where was the party?? Jaime then came in and told us that
there was another downstairs in the basement where a room party was
going on.
Went down there to find
some of the guys drinking away. I eventually came to the conclusion that
it was Tom, Matt L, Chris and Anthony’s room, but really I don’t think
anyone knew. They had a whole set up going. A fridge (the open window
behind heavy curtains), a downstairs TV (a wardrobe with nothing in it)
aaah imagination.
Stayed there for
awhile. Unfortunately I had left all my alc on the bus. But it was fun
just to watch the others get trashed. Oh bring on Holland…..