After yet another early start, we headed to the small, but pretty town of Heidelberg situated on a flooded river (again!). The town is stunning with the river flowing through the valley and high mountains on either side. We had the afternoon to wander around the town, or visit the castle perched high above the town. The girls (Christine, Katarina, Brooke and I) headed straight for a little coffee shop and bakery that had the best range of cakes you’ve ever seen, and spent the time sitting there drinking coffee and eating cakes! We wandered around the little town and browsed through the tourist shops before hitting the supermarket for supplies and getting caught out with the gassy water trick. Squeezing the bottle to check the pressure for carbonation does not work that well – and Christine and I, like so many before us had finally got it wrong and each bought a litre of carbonated water instead of still water.
Back at out picturesque campsite on the river, we made a big batch of punch to share over our last Cam-cooked meal. There was a great feel tonight around the campsite, and it didn’t take long for the guitar to be brought out and a few of the talented people began the entertainment. Cam gave us his much loved rendition of the guacamole song and Kiwi Sam did us Aussies proud with a great version of Flame Trees.
The night also saw a few of us (myself included) get a chance to wash and dry clothes – thank god for that! The night was relatively quiet by Contiki standards but a great night just hanging out with each other as our trip was winding down.
The following morning I woke up in a relatively dry tent to see two of the biggest, brownest, most disgusting slugs I have ever seen in my life, on the inside of the annex bit of our tent making an extremely slug-fast beeline for my open bag of clothes!! Now, I’m not good with bugs of any description really, but these monster slugs did me in. I managed to get out of the tent and then stood there like a completely hopeless girl until my tent buddy and Chilean military member used her skills to flick them off. I loved Heidelberg, but never want to see those gigantic slugs again – eww!
We left Heidelberg and had one more stop in Germany before we left the country for the Netherlands. St Goar was another very pretty little town where we had a chance to check out some beer steins, cuckoo clocks and Birkenstocks. Including the largest hanging cuckoo clock in the main street!
After that, we headed through the Rhine Valley and said farewell to Germany, in anticipation of what was ahead of us in Amsterdam.
