We hit the road from the hostel in Brugge just after 9am - or so we thought - the bin men had other ideas! We were stuck behind them for 15-20 mins and then hit bad traffic due to an overturned lorry on the motorway. However, we soon got going and then the dreaded moment arrived - we each had to introduce ourselves on the bus microphone (age optional!) with a potted career/geographical history and the answers to the following: did we quit our jobs to come on Ozbus? what are our plans post-Sydney? what are we most looking forward to? and of course the questions we were all dying to have answered abut our fellow travellers: favourite ice cream flavour? favourite mythical creature? I discovered that the youngest Ozbusers are 18 and the oldest will be 70 while we are away. I am impressed! There's also a challenge for the first person who can name everyone on the bus. I very much doubt it will be me!
After the introductions were over, we crossed the border into Germany - hooray, my first new country of the trip! The terrain became almost instantly less flat - as if someone had flicked a switch, causing hills & mountains to pop up out of the earth! Arriving in Heidelberg late in the afternoon, we had a flying hour and a quarter to explore. While some walked up to the castle, high above the town, I and a few others decided to pursure the vital exploits of shopping, eating crepes and a bloody good cup of tea.
Once back on the road, with darkness falling around us, we were bound for Hermann The German's (I kid you not) in a town called St Goar. Impressions of Germany so far are of friendly people (the 3 or 4 I met were anyway!), incredibly clean streets and pretty houses with a few Schlosses and Kircher (castles and churches to you) lit up in between.
As we drove, I overheard someone talking about the near future when everyone has let their hair down and "the gloves come off" so to speak. I'm really looking forward to that too - just chilling out with some proper friends - maybe even friends for life?
Hermann's, open out of season just for our group of 42, was a small, quaint place with dorm rooms and some caravans. Our first night needing sleeping bags and I had a great sleep, surprised by the warmth from my tiny sleeping bag! Of course before that was dinner - Schnitzel, some traditional German fare, and on to the bar & some wine tasting. A fab chance to bond a bit more with everyone. The group is already gelling a lot more and a night out in Prague, which is fast approaching, will surely cement that?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment