Europe Holiday 2015 - Day Eight

At 2 o'clock there was a thunderstorm. Planning to get up at six we were awake by 5:30. The missus had a dream about her parents which is usually a warning that something bad will happen. She said to be careful today.

Took our luggage to the nearest taxi stand and waited for five minutes before I went looking for another one. By the time I got back a taxi had just pulled in. He didn't accept Visa card but did take euros - I was practically all out of Czech koruny. I asked to go to the bus station, "Florenc?" he asked. Yeah. When we arrived he didn't have sufficient euros to give me change so gave me koruny and a little bit extra as he didn't have the right change. Turned out that it was the wrong place. We needed to go outside the main train station. The clerk in the bus station was very helpful and insisted that we take the metro even though it was only one stop as we were so short on time. Lucky that the change from the taxi driver was enough to buy two metro tickets for us and two for our luggage (?!). Only waited two minutes for the metro and it was not even three minutes away.

I asked for directions at the ticket office, good thing I'd been here the day before, and was told to go two levels up. Nothing but trains there until I had an "aha" moment and thought to go outside. Sure enough, that's where the bus stops were. While the missus went to the toilet two Korean girls asked me where their bus was. I could read enough of their ticket and had noticed a bus stating that it was going to Munich so was able to help them out. Why do I always get asked for directions when I'm on holidays?

Our bus arrived on time. The driver and conductor were not pleasant at the start of the journey until they were prepared to leave. No wifi on the bus as it wasn't working. Bit of a bummer. Lovely fields, very few cattle or sheep, and busy roads. Border police checked our passports.

On the bus to Nürnberg

Look at that solar array

Quite a bit of traffic on the approach to Nürnberg

 Near our destination, Nürnberg, there had been an accident so there was a great deal of traffic. We were two minutes late arriving at the station and so only had nine minutes to retrieve our luggage, find our platform and board the train. Did it with four minutes to spare.

Our ICE train

 Sat next to a lovely young man by the name of Manuel. His 18th birthday was on the day that Angela Merkel became chancellor. He's been to Australia, had studied in London and was an engineer who had graduated and was looking for a job for the last three months. On his way to an interview.

Our train was delayed by 35 minutes due to a tree on the line and Manuel insisted that we took a different train to the one on our ticket as we had missed our connection. This was despite the fact that our tickets clearly stated that they were for a particular train and no other. My friend in Heidelberg, Markus, was texting me and telling me to change trains also. The conductor on the next train accepted our explanation and we managed to grab some seats. Markus was waiting for us on the platform. As we haven't seen each other for 21 years he almost greeted someone else! Not that either of us has changed much. His wife was sick and so was unable to me us. We had about a 30 minutes dive from Mannheim to Heidelberg. Markus had prepared some sweets - cakes and patisseries. Then we walked through the town and along the Nacher River to Altstadt (Old Town). Castle ruins were impressive and there was a lovely square in the town. Perhaps the most surprising thing was to find a Korean shop.

Heidelberg tram

Beautiful houses along the Nacher River

Ruined castle along the Nacher River

Lovely little town square

Town square, castle ruins and Korean shop (on the right)

 Had dinner at the Hotel & Restauraton Goldener Falke - pork and spätzle for me. Fantastic meal for three with two drinks which came to 50 euros. The walk back through the town was on the longest pedestrian street in Germany. Shower, drinks and bed after midnight.

Golden Falcon Hotel and Restaurant