No matter where you are in the world plane trips are boring after the first few hours. armed with my blanket and trying to make the most out of sleeping in an upright position I settled in the the 12 hour flight from Singapore to Franfrurt. Apparently I must have managed some sleep because I slept through dinner. In the darkness I spied that my ever thoughtful wife had saved a bun and some water for me, I guess this is what prisoners felt like, strapped in, kept in the dark and given bread and water. Well I’m a little more fortunate, my sentence is only 12 hours but the smell of the guy farting in front on me could get me a longer sentence if I was to shove a pillow over him. Turning my attention toward the in-flight movie selection I tuned out my scenes and spent the next few hours breaking the boredom.

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Its funny but you can always tell when you are about to land, two things happen – everyone is wanting to use the toilet when the seat-belt sign is on, and everyone wants a window seat to admire the view. However I was really enjoying the view, looking out over Germany between the clouds I spied little villages connected by lanes running through fields of maze and forests. I couldn’t wait to get my feet on the ground.

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Frankfurt Airport is massive, and with an hour before our train to Heidelberg, we snapped a couple of pictures and headed off for something to eat and drink. Of all places we stumbled into a Starbucks. Do not ask for an iced coffee, its literally cold water, ice cubes and instant coffee and as bitter as a divorce.

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Our track for the train was just down the escalator, but you would think is was another world – the Antarctic springs to mind, it was cold and the wind whistled through whisked up by the trains coming and going. Soon it was our moment to discover the Euro Rail. It seems funny now, the train had I.C.E written on the side, which stands for Inter City Express.

I have to bust the myth that Germans are efficient and on time, OK well they are efficient, but as far as on time, no the train was late, which meant that the next train was going to Heidelberg is going to be missed.

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We were not worried as at this stage we didn’t know! Speeding along at 164kmh it seemed surreal that its wasn’t that long ago my grandparents would have been shot on sight here, the people of Germany are one of the best at striking up a friendship with. We are so glad to have made such wonderful friends, an now are a matter of days until we meet with them again.

Transferring off the train at Mannheim it was then we realized we had missed our connection, so with a little tension in the air and working out the German local train timetable we were soon on our way to Heidelberg again.

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Heidelberg was where we would be hosted for the night via our first Couch Surfing host Stefan and his wife Vic.
Arriving early morning we had the whole day to explore the city on foot, so after stowing our luggage into a storage facility at the station we set off toward the old part of the city. We had not planned to come to Heidelberg, but with our friends from Mainz arriving home after one years travelling around the world we thought it best to give them a night to get settled and reacquainted with their families.

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This decision proved to be a winner for all, the city of Heidelberg is a treasure just waiting to be explored. Full of colour, life and history we wandered into the streets and into the past of Germany. Every little lane proved to be a postcard moment and the smells of fresh cooked pretzel’s had us lined up with the locals.

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The main street of the old city buzzed with life as we made our way to the square and made camp for lunch.
gazing at the church that has stood since 1250AD and only imagining what the townsfolk would think of us now. Chatting with a couple from France and sharing the space on the steps under the fountain we made plans to scale the hill above and visit the Heidelberg Castle Ruins

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Seeing how steep the climb was we found a train that worked its way up the climb.

This is a view that cannot be missed, the ruins, view and history word simply cannot describe. You just have to come here to get the experience.

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Wandering the castle grounds Elena found time to take a well earned rest on the grass and dozed for 20 minutes before venturing into the cellars to view some of the largest wine barrels I have ever seen. Holding 220,000 Litres of wine would fill my swimming pool at home just over 3 times, now that’s a lot of wine!

 

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On the main street we discovered a boutique bottle store the produced its own Brandy, Ports, Liqueur schnapps and joy of joys — ABSINTHE!, its illegal in Australia and at 70 percent proof, its going to be some feat to drink before leaving Germany!

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As it was up to me to get the BBQ going I was rewarded with my very first German beer, trust me the first of many. Fanning the charcoal with a piece if cardboard I managed to get the fire hot enough to cook on. Vic had prepared the sausages, kebabs, and marinated the meat. Tonight we would eat like kings of the castle.

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Settling in for the night, Elena got the couch and I got the floor, trust me I got the better option in my opinion. Vic & Stephan bought out a Thai massage mattress and they are the most comfortable things to sleep on. Within moments aided with a huge days trekking over the city I was out cold.

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Rising with the sun, we sat for coffee and bread around the table exchanging addresses and contact details. Promises to keep in touch and visit each other in the future we felt we had made new connections and really loved the hospitality of people who only 48 hours ago were strangers, apart from a couple of paragraphs on an email.

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A brisk walk back to the train station 10 minutes away and reconnecting with our luggage we we on the train bound for Mainz to see friends we hosted in Australia on a few months ago.