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Hi well I just spent 45 minutes writing a good entry for Germany and all is lost except for "We got 100g Milka bars here for 59 euro cents here, about 1 aussie dollar which was good."
So heres an overview. Arrived Hamburg 10pm, dark, big city. Next day saw the sights of the city, along the river is nice. Then caught an evening train to Cologne. Keep iin mind that its summer in Europe and the days are still quite long. It was getting dark roughly 9pm.
In Cologne we went to a chocolate museum ,which was good but not generous enogh with the samples. So afterwards we went to a supermarket. (Paste)We got 100g Milka bars here for 59 euro cents here, about 1 aussie dollar which was good. Next we went to House #4711, home of Eau de Cologne, where there is a fountain that BJ cautiously took the scented water from. She had a bad experience with a perfume soaked jumper as a kid. The most incredible thing in Cologne is the Cathedral which is so huge you have to cross the river to see it all at once.
Next stop was Heidelberg, where we visited the castle, the university jail, which was used to punish students as they were exempt from normal law punishment prior to 1914. Also hiked to the hill above town, where we saw an amphitheatre built by prisoners of the Nazis, and ruins of a cathedral.
From Heidelberg, we also day tripped to Neckarsteinach, which is a fishing village with 3 (3.5 if you want to count the first) mediaeval castles above the town, which is on the Neckar river. Of course we hiked to all of them, were able to go into 2 of them, and then more hiking to fit them all in one photo. We also went to Erbach, a smallish town with a castle, and the local brew is Erbacher, which is on signs outside every pub. For those who don't know, Erbacher is Daves mums maiden name. When we got back to Heidelberg, we had to run to collecty our bags from the hostel, and caught our first legitimate taxi since Peru. If we had have walked, we would have missed the cheap train, and had to pay for an expensive one to Freiburg.
In Freiburg, we arrived late, and wandered around following the wrong signs in the dark, until helped by a stranger. Next moning, we continued to follow the signs pointing to the HI hostel, but never found it, and concluded it doesn't exist. From here, we hiked in the Black Forest, which really does live up to its name in some places. On the Sunday, we probably walked 30km, and it is not exactly flat. One of the strangest things is walking alone in the forest for hours without any people or traffic noise, then coming out at the lookout thats packed with summer weekend tourists who arrived on the cable car.
We left Freiburg for Paris Monday morning, and after shopping around at the desk at the train station, and at the travel agent recommended by hostel guests, we found the cheapest way was to buy tickets off the machine to Strassburg, and then upon arrival at Strassburg, visit another machine to buy tickets to Paris. We saved abot 70 Aussie dollars this way. And we meet a few people who take the fast trains from point to point. This is too expensive for back packers and we only do it if theres no other option. Anyway, next stop, Paris.
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