Day 29: The Schloss
Today was a rest day, and we spent most of the day doing just that. Unfortunately, it's hard to sleep in because of the sun, but we got up around 8:30 and moseyed up to the main office to eat breakfast and charge our phones. All three of us had different chores to do in the morning, so we all went into town and agreed to meetup with Mike at the golden monkey (see pictures from yesterday) at 1pm. Nate went to go do some work for the company he's working for, Matt went to Mike's hostel to use a computer to pass his background check for his job, and Mark went shopping for a watch (turns out the one he brought isn't waterproof, oops) and white gas for the stove.
We all met at one at the Golden monkey, with most of our chores complete (Mark couldn't find white gas, but had at least found an address to go check) and walked up to the Schloss. (Schloss=castle). The castle in Heidelberg is fantastic and is actively being renovated. We bought tickets to go into the castle and spent a good hour or so walking around the castle, looking over the city, and mocking the peasants down below us as we stood aloof in the castle gardens.
After our short trip to fantasy land, we walked back down to the main city and began to walk over the the philosopher's gardens, an open area on top of the ridge across the valley from Heidelberg. Unfortunately, Mark and Matt hadn't eat lunch yet and we're getting hungry and crabby, so they stopped at a local bakery to get sandwiches and cookies/treats. After that, the momentum (what little there was) was totally killed for walking up to the philosophers gardens, and we just sat in a park in the city for awhile and chatted. After all, it was an off day, we couldn't work to hard we have a long few days ahead of us.
It was decided that we'd head to the local grocery store, grab meat to grill and done breakfast, and head back to the campsite to cook. Mike came along with us and we all bought bus tickets (nobody wanted to walk anymore at this point) and headed back to the campsite. Here, Mark broke off from the group to go quest for gas for our stove (it turns out that in Germany, many people have a different attachment for the stove to the canister, we should have just brought an MSR fuel can and put gasoline in it, would of been cheaper and easier.) Mike, Nate, and Matt fired up the grill and had the meat going in no time, while Mark quickly mastered the public transit system in Heidelberg taking no less then 4 buses/street cars to get to where he wanted to go, and finally find some gas.
Dinner was delicious, and the beer was incredibly cheap. (52 cents per liter, it's a steal. We mine as well drink beer instead of water, that's the German way.) We hang around with Mike for awhile, and chatted around camp, and then sent Mike on his way around 9 so that we could get some shuteye. The next 5 days will be nonstop biking.
At 10 we're all in the tent listening to the rain gently splatter on fly. It's finally getting dark, so hopefully will all get some rest and then wake up tomorrow and begin our quest to Luxembourg. And, as Mike learned today, complain about it the entire way. However, tomorrow is still mostly down river, so it shouldn't be bad. And it's supposed to be good weather. T minus 16 days until we return to the U.S.!