Hitchhiked down the Bacharach the day after. Took us a while and had a long walk up to the castle hostel we were staying in with our giant bags on. The view at the top was amazing. WE could see for miles along the Rhine and the full moon illuminated the whole place. Harri had a good nights sleep above a elderly man with a machine helping him breathe that sounded a bit ghostly.

The next day was the start of the bad weather. Too tired to hitch further we decided to stay in Bacharach and camp by the side of the river. Made friends with a very old german woman who brought out deckchairs every time we approached the tent. For tea we tried to try out the local german bratwurst. But it melted into a mushy mess when we cooked it on the camping stove- still tasted good.

The next day we had been invited to see Seb and Ann in Saarbrucken. Seb and Harri met in Morocco volunteering together. The hitch from bacharach was easy to the next service station. But being to hasty we went further than we needed and found ourselves in quite a bad service station for the direction we were going. Four hours later Seb came to our rescue! And drove us back to his Girlfriends flat - some very interesting decor. We had a very nice chilled couple of days out, having a few drinks which is what we needed after the hectic first week of our trip. We had a really cool time with them. They drove us to Luxemburg and we made them some traditional fish and chips.

Back on the road we headed down to the black forest region to Frieburg. We decided to take some chill out time and stay here for 4 nights in a campsite in Kirchzarten. The weather hasnt been too great but we#re keeping warm and dry- no hypothermia yet :P Had a spontanteous night in Basel last night - switzerland. Done lots of walking on forest 'paths'. Well me following Harri to the peak dodging branches and toadstools - fun :)

Today not too much hard walking, went to see the highest waterfalls in Germany in Triberg. Had a nice picnic and wine at the top and the sun peaked through the clouds. Then had a lecture on cuckoo clocks from a salesman in the town.

Next stop Munich on Friday to see the crazy Oktoberfest and meet up with Antoinne :D

Lots of love Harri and Lauren xxxxxxxxx

written by  harripix on September 30, 2010 from Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany
from the travel blog: harripix's Travel Blog
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Hows it going everyone? We're in Berlin, and I've finally given into Lauren's continuous "write the blog" remarks.

The last week has been pretty nuts again, we left our lovely campground in the black forest last Friday after a 6.30am start, which made sure our hitch was fairly stress free to Munich. We arrived at about 5pm at Janet's (a friend of my mums) and were treated to an ace bed, warmth and the luxury of a washing machine. The next day we went into the city center and met Antoine, our ever faithful fenchman from uni, whod come on a 14 hour bus journey from Lyon to join us for the weekend. We only had one agenda for the day, Oktoberfest.

I dont think we really knew what to expect, but, quite simply it was nuts. We arrived about 1, and already there were loads of people lying around completely wasted on the floor. It was so busy, we couldnt get into any of the beer tents, but had some beers outside, where we made several new drunk friends, who could barely talk/stand/make sense in any way. It was pretty extreme, just like Fab n Fresh, but in the middle of the day, a lot bigger, no music, and lots of older people. We ended up buying loads of beers from a supermarket and just wandering about. We took a train back in the evening, and had a 20 minute bike ride to where we were staying, with 3 people and 2 bikes, and us plastered, we couldnt hold a straight line, and had to ride back through a dark forest road. It was pretty fun!

We tried to go to Neuchwanstein castle the next day, but naturally missed our trains due to the previous day, but went into the city and wandered around before 'slack lining' and lying in the sun in a park in the city. We returned to the Oktoberfest later, where it was less busy, and gt into some tents. They were full of people dressed in "traditional" outfits, with lots of beers, dancing on benches and tables. Antoine, on a couple of these strong 1L beers and no food, went mental, and on the way back puked loads on the train back. So I rode him home, and we even got a teling off from the cops.

We finally got to Neuchwanstein, which is what the Disney palace is based on, the next day. The day was amazing, so beautiful and autumny, and we walked around the hills nearby. The next day we got a lift from Janet out to a nearby petrol station, and hitched to Leipzig. Antoine started hitching from the same place as us, and managed to get to Lyon hitching, arriving at just 1am! Our day was pretty uneventful, except for a massive undercover drugs bust 5m away from one of our hitch spots. The guys had clearly been trying to sell something and looked well dodgy, and then all of a sudden there was a lot of shouting and people being led away.

We stayed in Leipzig with Anne, who had couchsurfed with Lauren back in June, and spent the evening in a really cool smoky bar and meeting her housemates. The next day we had a spotless tour of Leipzig from Anne, the first East German place we'd been (ex communist, and quite different to what wed seen before, and most importantly cheaper!), and then went off hitching in the afternoon. We had a bout an hour wait before an engine maintenence salesman drove us to the exact door we wanted in Berlin. We're staying here with Olaf, someone I lived with in Melbourne, and have had a couple of lazy days biking around the city with him seeing a few sights and museums. Its an incredible city, with so much going on, a bit like London but with a lot smaller prices and a lot more grit (we went to a really cool independent art collective building in an abandoned east german shopping mall). We're gonna try and find some live music later, and we're finally leaving Germany on monday, heading to Krakow.

If you read this far, sorry for the length. Next time will be in mini parts, promise!

Lots of marshmallowy love

L+H
xxxxxxxxx

written by  harripix on October 9, 2010 from Berlin, Germany
from the travel blog: harripix's Travel Blog
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