Goodbye to the Euro...

As our journey has started to wind down we realized we had to minimize our stay in smaller cities. We decieded to visit Heidelberg for one night as well as Frankfurt for one night. It was quite the adventure to say the least.

When the train pulled into Heidelberg BF you would of thought we were on the moon. For point of reference I thought Heidelberg was nestled in German Alps while Mal thought it would be splattered with castles as far as the eye could see. To say the least we were both wrong. We wondered the short 45 minute walk to 223 Hauptstrausse which we didnt realize was a beer-garten until we arrived. As we checked in from the beer tap we knew we were in for quite a journey. Soon we were ushered to our 8 person room and given the grand tour. The bathroom is the down the hall, the showeres are upstairs, and the beer is expensive thank you for your business was the speech. We wondered the street and paid far to much for beers but enjoyed the comfort of the one castle in our view while we drank away.

We returned to our hostel to have a first introduction with what might have been our stangest encounter of the trip. A 60 year old babbling german woman who could have easily, and was by us, confused for a traveling gypse. She smacked me on the head a few times trying to explain the story of the night before, Mal couldnt help but laugh aloud while I stook in awe. Later in the night we learned from her snooring that the slap on the forehead had been the person sleeping above her, now me, in the middle of the night.

The next day was spent exploring the castle, it lasted 23 minutes, and had a pleasent afternoon with rain. We enjoyed conversation with the roommates we hadnt met the night before and prepeared for our trip to our next stop. We hopped on the 3pm train back to Frankfurt.

As we entered our hostel room in Frankfurt we were greeted by an American laying in bed with his pants on the floor yelling 'it's not as it seems' I kindly responded with we've seen worse. We spent the next hour listening to his story of how his luggage had been lost and he spilt beer on his pants. We took advantage of the cheap laundry and the nicest showers of our trip. Mal showered in the boys shower while I guarded. we spent the evening wondering the red light district and enjoying Frankfurt's downtown with our new found American friend.

The morning came all to early as we had booked the cheapest flight of our life, o.00 euros. With taxes and checked luggage it came to 25 euros for a one way flight to london. Little did we know we were flying out of an airport known as Frankfurt Hahn and into London Stansted. Background knowledge would of let us known FH isn't even in Germany while Standsted is £20 and an hour fifteen minutes outside of London. Our lesson had been learned, but not before the flight for life.

Ryanair, check it out at Ryanair.com for non-believers, operates on the cheapest mentality possible. Fly the same airplane outof the smallest airports with the smallest crew possible while offering nothing for free. To say the least after we landed they played a cheers horn over the PA congratulating off on another safe landing.

We took to London as if it had been freshman year of college to beer.

Things we learned in Heidelberg/Frankfurt
1) There are no mountains
2) The nats are unbearable.
3) Frankfurt is the most westernized city in Europe.

things we loved
1) experienceing something we didnt expect
2) Frankfurt having the best hostel of the trip
3) the beds, the showers and the food.


much love,

m&m