Good Times and the Rhine

Well my first big night out in a foreign land went nicely.

After a few warm-ups at the apartment we headed out into the madness of Johannesfest at around 9pm.

There was plenty of music and dancing and sausages and everyone was having a great time. We met up with Hugh and Graziella and a few of their friends and got some drinks into us. I wasnt keen on wine for the evening, so I went to a "Cocktail Bar" (which was actually a filthy caravan full of hard liquor) and ordered the only drink on the list I recognised, the Long Island Iced Tea.

The only thing I knew about the Long Island Iced Tea is that Phil said they were a very bad idea. Unperturbed, I got a couple in me and waited to see what would happen, teaching Hugh the finer points of the Australian accent in the meantime (I used the example of my brother Jonathan answering the phone in his Dalby voice).



Here we all are. From the left its Graziella the Italian, together with Hugh the Canadian-American. The handsome guy in the middle is Thomas the Greek, who Michelle spent the evening drooling over into her wine. Finally on the right we have Daniel, who is a Swede but talks like a Russian guy bunging on a British accent.

Here are some general photos of the rowdyness: (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6)

The drinks hit me in a big way around Midnight, but fortunately the Cocktail Winnebago had closed by then. We stumbled to a nearby bar where, figuring the night couldnt be over with only 2 drinks, I ordered a vodka/coke.

At some point I tried to call Barnes. Then I tried to call Dave. Unfortunately instead of calling Dave, I called the guy who has a very similar phone number to Dave, but isnt Dave. This would have to be the 10th time I've called this guy, but the first time from a foreign land. He told me he was glad I was having a good time.



This is Felix, whom I met at the bar. Felix appeared, for all intents and purposes, to be German, but he was yelling something at me about being from South Australia. He then produced the bank note to prove it. He was a top bloke, and organised the bartender to move our drinks into plastic cups so we could leave with them (you pay a deposit for the glasses you use).

After polishing off possibly the strongest vodka/coke ever conceived by man, Michelle and I wandered home (as far as I know).

It was an excellent, if brief, night out.

I woke up this morning regretting every second of it. However, with the spirit of adventure burning bright within, I dragged myself out of bed to see what Europe had in store for me next (actually Michelle dragged me out of bed with the lure of toast).

Around 2 in the afternoon we got our act together and caught a train out to some town on the Rhine for a river cruise.


(it was windy)

After a brief exploration of the cute little town, our boat rocked up and we were off to see Castles.

Turns out all the towns along the river were celebrating the 60th anniversary of something-or-other, and all streets were closed to cars and opened up for bikes. So that was cool.


Here is Michelle demonstrating why she normally wears a hat

Anyway the Castles were suitably high and rocky and imposing. The last stop was St. Something and we grabbed some more delicious German food (apparently the chips are yellow because of the higher quality potatos in Europe, they tasted incredible).

After some shopping we decided to climb a great big hill and run around an old Castle.



Everything was steep and narrow. With a massive hangover and 15kg of water bottles on your back, each step could be your last. The image above does not do justice to what its like to climb those stairs. That scene in the Lord of the Rings where Legolas rides the shield down a flight of stairs shooting arrows at people is complete crap.

But the views were amazing, and it was a bit of a buzz to go running around a 1000 year old building, spraining your ankles on cobblestones that ancient Kings may have sprained their ankles on long ago. There were plently of opportunities for spelunking and taking dramatic photos as well.

Once the Castle closed up, we went back down to the villagers and grabbed a quick meal at a local café then caught the train home.

This has probably been the best day out of the trip so far, once again Michelle has outdone herself. I'm off on Busabout the day after tomorrow, so I'm not sure how thick or fast the updates will be coming to you then. I left my camera cable at home to save weight (good call Ben) so unless I pick up a fresh one at Conrad tomorrow, there will be little in the way of photos coming at you.

For now I'll leave you with another taste of German music.

From the Hip-Hop fraternity, we have Sido with Slechtes Vorbild, which believe it or not is extremely catchy.

And just for Alex, we have Nevada Tan - Vorbei, one of the hundreds of German nu-metal bands that all sound like Linkin Parks first 2 albums.