Jun 08

Woke up at 7am & had out continental breakfast - though it wasn't great! Travelled 2.5hrs to our first service stop, had a snack and loo stop, then boarded again heading towards Munich via Dachau where we went to visit a concentration camp which is still quite intact. These camps were Adolf Hitler's idea to capture all the Jews, who became prisoners and many died thereafter. Many of the people we were with were deeply moved - however apart from some gruesome scenes in the movie, it didn't do much for either of us. This was supposed to be our lunch break too, however they didn't have any food! We got on the bus which took us 20 minutes up the road into Munich. We saw where Oktoberfest takes place, while heading to our hotel to check in. We received bags & got ready, boarding for town at 4:45pm finding out the reason why town appeared so quiet was that it was a public holiday - Christian religious holiday (noone could tell us more than that) so Tania took us into town, however the shops were closed, but restaurants & pubs, etc were open. We saw town hall & the clock in the main square, then Tania took us to Haufbrau Haus, which is one of the biggest beer halls - everyone went in being so hungry, but they had mostly pork on the menu - so Meredith just got plain roast pork which looked best - with had Suckling Pig. While everyone had a stein (1 litre of beer!) some had 2 - and stayed on, while us and some of the other females had coke. After we went for a walk to fill in time while the others partied on. We grabbed some dessert at an icecream stand up the road, then went up to the square into the pedestrian mall & walked quite some distance before we heard Pachelbel's Canon in D being played by a string quartet - the song Meredith walked down the aisle to! There were many string quartets along the way, but the song got our attention - along with the musicians. They were so energetic and entertaining, and had little expressions and movements making them sharp! They had a big crowd, and they also had CD's on sales of some of the classical pieces they perform ... so of course, we bought one.
Then we headed back to meet Tania by 8:45pm for the bus, though many didn't come, staying on at the beer hall. Once we got back we did some washing, and took advantage of the heated towel rack. Then to bed at 10:15pm

We woke up at 7am to our continental breakfast. Jumping on the bus at 8:30am we left Amsterdam, heading for our Rhine river cruise. We arrived at a little town called St Goar, where Will bought a giant pretzel & practised his German. On the cruise (about 1hr) we saw some pretty little townships, a few castles, and Lorelai, a statue of a mermaid that is said to protect the seagoers. Then off at a little town called Boppard. From there more driving till we hit Heidelberg - a quick walk around then up the 315 steps (they were numbered!) to Heidelbergschloss (castle). Dinner at a local tavern - Weiner Schnitzel with chips and a mushroom sauce - YUM! Then all back to the hotel for an early night (9:30pm!).

We woke up at 7am, having breakfast at 7:45 - we were quite impressed with the breakfast, although there was no toast!
We got on the bus at 8:30 and headed in to town. We saw the Gassan diamond factory where they showed us how diamonds are cut & shaped with their many facets, and were able to see people working on real diamonds (although there were only 3 - there must be others!). Then we were taken into a showroom where we were shown 4 different diamonds and the lady explained the quality, clarity & number of facets. Then the sales spiel started, with prices of diamond rings (one was €18,000) causing most of the guys to ensure their wallets stayed firmly in their pockets!
Afterwards we jumped on the bus with 8 others to go out of town to a local farm / produce shop & windmill. First the farm had cattle, sheep, swans, ducks and rabbits. They produced cheese and we were given a demo / explanation of the process. Then we went into the clog workshop & saw a guy making a clog by hand - was quite an interesting and very manual process! Then into the shop & tasted cheeses, bought some souvenirs, and took some photos. Then back on the bus travelling out to a working windmill where we were given an explanation of how the mills work and were originally made.
From the mill we went back in town and Tania took us for a quick walk to show us Febo (an odd burger shop 'vending machine style'), internet services, chips with mayo, then let us go.
We visited the bathrooms then headed to the internet place where Meredith rang her dad to say Happy Birthday, and then used the internet for an hour, as it was much cheaper than the hotel! Then we grabbed some chips with mayo & went for a walk through the pedestrian mall and took photos of the palace before buying lunch at a cafe. Afterward we took a stroll up to the flea markets to have a look around - some were genuine, while others were just private sellers who looked like they had brought the contents of the back of their garage and dumped it on a tarpaulin! We walked back to Dam Square slowly wandering towards Hotel Victoria to meet for the bus where we shared some drinks in the lounge with our fellow travellers - then catching the bus back to the hotel to freshen up.
We all headed back into town at 7:30pm with Tania for a quick tour of the red light district & dinner. A group of us (11) went for dinner at an Italian restaurant. On the way, some nutcase (maybe had a little too much of something Amsterdam is famous for??) stopped Will as he thought that he was making some sort of rude hand gesture towards him! Once we told him that we were just walking / talking he seemed to back off and walked away. After dinner we decided we had our fair share of Amsterdam, and headed to Centraal Station with John & Nicole to catch the train back to the airport, then the shuttle bus to the hotel - to bed at last.