OzBus 14

After an 8am start, we head off from Bruge with sight of Germany ahead.  Next stop, Heidelberg.

As we depart, we managed to shuffle the seating order so that we all socialize more.  For me, most of the journey was spent socializing with the group, getting to know the people and playing card games.  There had been a few divides with the group already: the young girls, the men, the foreign group and the mature group.  For this trip, it was the young group.  The whole journey was littered with snow covered landscape and the occasional forest (and, oddly, a vine yard up the side of a mountain).  A few service stops in Germany and a long few drives away we roll into the German town of Heidelberg.  Famous (as described by our tour leader) for it’s gummy bear specialized shop.

A very beautiful and small town, with a main street running through the centre.  I break off with the men on the journey, heading for the main castle and other various sites.  After a long ( and steep) walk to the castle, we head down the main street in search of culture and a woolly hat!  After stumbling across the ladies of the trip, we head into a local pub and have a drink.  We realize that the prices were not traveler-friendly, we head back to the hostel to have some traditional German cuisine!

Beer and Schnitzel on the menu, we again happen to be located in the hostel we will spend the night.  Yet again we have an early start so the beers are kept to a minimum (optimistically).  So much for a non drinking holiday!  An amusing conversation in our dorm room and the realization that our walls are thin mean that we laugh to sleep.  We head to Prague in the morning and the prospect of our first lie in as there will be two days spent in Czech.

7am, 10 people on Embankment and thousands of miles ahead of us – OzBus 14 has set off!

Our first stop is Dover to catch a ferry.  We have to pick up another passanger at Dover before boarding the ferry.  Once we baord the ferry, we head to the lounge area to enjoy the view.  After a 90 mintues, long chat and a few Sudoku puzzles solved, we dock at Calais.  After getting on the bus, it’s another two hour journey till we get to our first hostel of many – located in Bruge.

Once getting to the hostel, we settle quickly into our dorms and drop our bags off before setting out on the town.  Lucky for us we have a local tour guide (Jos) who will take us to the sites of Bruge – via bike.  After riding around (in the snow) for a couple of hours, a visit to the oldest pub in Bruge and filled with plenty of Flemmish history, we head back and find our first restaurant of the trip.

On the menu – Flemmish stew!  Include a few beers and it’s a good meal for the night.  Then we go back to the hostel for a few more beers.  Not too many to drink as there is an early start in the morning, heading out to Germany!

This is the first step towards my departure of the trip ahead of me.  The countdown has already begun, yet the time doesn't seem to stretch as much as I need it to.  For those that are reading this, I ... [Continue reading this entry]