Germany

Here's an interesting photo of a local pizza joint (according they have good pizza).

There were actually seven or eight of those delivery cars but I only managed to get one and a half cars in the photo. They're called Smart Cars and they're very energy efficient. There are a lot of small cars here. Gas is extremely expensive. Last time I looked gas was €1.63 a liter. That would be $2.56 per liter and there are 4.56 liters in a gallon! So technically gas is $11.63 per gallon.

So people do a lot of walking or cycling. Kaiserslautern has a great trail system that has about 800 kilometers worth of trails. The other day Kevin and I went for a good hike. We walked from Queidersbach to Linden and then from Linden to Hordbach. Somewhere in between Linden and Hordbach we stumbled upon this ancient graveyard, it was actually quite peaceful. We turned back at Hordbach because we worked up quite the appetite and surprisingly Lara is a good cook.

Today I was supposed to catch the train to Amsterdam, until we noticed that Lara had booked the train for the wrong day. So I leave for Amsterdam tomorrow instead. It was a simple mistake and I wasn't upset or anything. Besides it gave me a little more time to explore the countryside. We didn't find out until around 8:30p so as soon as I found out I loaded up my backpack and took off. It doesn't really get dark here until around 10:30 so if I left by 9:00 I could make some distance and then set up camp when it got later. I had Kevin take a picture of me before I left.

I hiked through Linden and over a mountain before it was too dark to see. I found this meadow and I thought it would be a good place to set up camp. I turned on my flash light and noticed I was surrounded by beady little eyes that shimmered with the light. This freaked me out and all I could think about was Hansel and Grettle. So I decided to keep going. I made it down into the valley and found a spot under some trees. I figured it was a decent place because I heard a river nearby and also some train tracks. So I made camp in the woods and read a little before dozing off.

Here's my camp, it's very minimal.

Of course I was very cold throughout the night and sometime early in the morning it began to rain. Luckily Kevin let me barrow one of his army toys. It was like a Gortex sleeve that you get inside of with your sleeping bag so it kept me dry. I woke up this morning and noticed I had made camp next to a creepy fog covered lake and also right next to this old building that looked like an abandoned insane asylum. Oh and I had slugs all over me when I woke up. There are slugs everywhere! It's hard not to step on them while walking.

I made it back to Lara's place at 8:00a So I'm guessing I left camp around 5:00. I was early, but still very scenic. I estimate that the whole trip was about 15 kilometers. It was fun but I could really use a shower. It also appears that I'll have to clean myself really good because I just found a tick on my arm... Oh well I guess it was worth it.

Until next time,
Patrick

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written by  pathaley on July 6, 2008 from Kaiserslautern, Germany
from the travel blog: Eurotrip
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