Rhineland

German hostels, it turns out, are basically summer camps. The past two nights we’ve been surrounded by soccer teams and families on vacation, first in Mainz and then in Loreley. On the one hand, these places are basically hotels: clean linens, private bathrooms, furniture – reading lights on the beds, for gods’ sakes. On the other hand, they’re out in the middle of nowhere so that they can have sports fields, and there’s about zero chance of meeting fellow students/travelers/student-travelers. Now we’re on a train to Brussels, and I want to catch some sleep (it was, uncharacteristically, 45 minutes late), so just a brief update.

We camped in Strasbourg after missing the last train to Frankfurt, and it’s a an amazingly beautiful town. Then we spent two days on the slow boat down the Rhine, sipping wine and being mobbed by Japanese people with cameras, and had an enjoyable afternoon in Köln, trying every Kölsch we could find while ogling the inexplicably large number of stag- and hen-parties. Yuri just commented on how after two weeks in nigh-unaffordable Ireland and Switzerland, we’re now eating and drinking to excess, and it’s true, but I’ve already lost something like 2 kg, and it probably needed to happen. For now, though, it’s nap time.

Wine country

Above the Loreley

Cruising the Rhine

Party Time Köln