And so the journey begins....

This morning headed to Munich with an Aussie girl that I met in Liechtenstein. That evening was just spent relaxing. The next day I planned on going down to Fussen to have a look at Lugwig's Castles and she was going to join me. The castles were terrific and well worth heading down there for. That evening we caught up to go to a beer hall, a few guys from my dorm were going, so we all headed off there. It ended up being a big night. The next morning we were all feeling a bit sorry for ourselves while we were doing a free city tour, this time this one was free. Munich is pretty cool and the beer is terrific! From there I headed to Regansburg, a little town I was meaning to visit while I was living in Bamberg for the month. I am glad I came here, the place has a great feel about it. One thing that you notice in Germany that everything is so clean!! There isn't any rubbish or anything like that one the streets. I had a lovely afternoon just walking about and then had dinner and a few drinks with an Aussie guy that was staying in my hostel. The next stop was Wurzburg, the weather is dead set against me, it poured down rain while I was out and about. This town is confusing, I got so lost, not the best time to get lost when the heavens have opened up, but you can only get so wet can't you. Anyway when I first arrived there there was a festival of sorts going on, the streets had food and drink stalls everywhere and people were carrying bunches of flowers. I guess all the festivities ended when the rain started. I was kind of glad only to spend a night here, the city is just to confusing to get around in, I would have preferred to stay in Regansburg for 2 nights. The next stop was back to my old stomping ground of Bamberg. I got there on the right weekend, they were having their major festival for the year that weekend. I caught up with a couple of friends that I went to school with there and with my host family. It was good to see them all again. On my last night there, the host family took me out to the festival, I had been there the night before and it was crazy. We had beers and listened to music. A great night. I don't need to got the Octoberfest, this was much better and the beer was still cheep! From Bamberg I headed to Berlin. Berlin is a great city, but it just didn't do much for me while I was there, there are some great sites and I went to the Pergamon Museum, and that was amazing. But I felt a little disappointed in Berlin, I guess I was expecting more. Where I was staying was in the trendy old east Berlin side. It was full of art galleries and musicians... very cool place to be. After a week there I left, minus my fleece jacket...managed to leave it in a pub somewhere..opps, I headed to Schwerin. When I first got here, I was thinking what the hell I am doing here, the place wasn't very appealling. Later that afternoon after finding some accommodation I headed out to have a look at the old square and what was around. It must be the time of year but there was another food festival with copious ammounts of beer and wine. I headed down to the castle. As I turned the corner, there it was, I just stopped dead in my tracks. It was a fantastic castle, built on an island and surrounded by a lake and park lands. I had gotten down there just in time for the setting sun to make the castle glow. I had a walk around the parks for a bit, I could hear a music concert going on some where, but couldn't find it and it was starting to get dark and I didn't have a map with me, so finding the place I was staying at was going to be difficult in the dark. The next day the weather was just beautiful! Blue skies at long last! I got to the train station to find it was packed! Which was strange as it was a Sunday and early in the morning. As I got closer and the noise more audible, it was soon revealed that it was football fans that had obviously been on a all night bender and were now on their way home. There were police everywhere and some with riot gear, there would have been easily a couple of thousand drunk football fans, and only a handful of police. I felt sorry for the people on the train to Hamburg, for this was the train that all these people poured onto and continued to dance, chant and drink. My train wasn't half as exciting as I made my way to Lubeck, my last destination for Germany. I arrived in Lubeck and the weather had beaten me there, it was over cast and looked like it was going to rain. I spent the afternoon looking around and the next morning as well, that was till it decided to pour down with rain. After two nights there I headed for Denmark, I was taking the train, I would be interested to see how it was going to cross the sea. I guess I will find out.

I headed back to Germany to see my cousins that live near Kehl. They were so happy to see me again. They took me up to a place called Baden Baden, it is a lovely place with heaps of shops and cafes, really pretty. They fed me so much food, they kept telling me I wouldn't know when I would eat next so I might as well eat now. And boy do they eat, in the two days there I ate enough to feed me for a week! It was only a short visit here as I had to keep moving on, no more staying in one place for a month or more My cousin drove me into Strasbourg train station. I went to buy my ticket, I asked for a ticket to Schaan Liechtenstein, and she said yes but what country?, to which I said Liechtenstein, and she replied, yes but WHAT country? my reply, Liechtenstein is a country, it is near Switzerland. She gave up and sent me to someone else. I eventually managed to get a ticket and now had about 5 minutes to find my platform before the train left, in the rush I forgot to validate my ticket, which is manditory in France. The conductor quizzed me and I got away with just a sorry and an apologetic face. I was on my way to little Liechtenstein.

Headed back to Germany, on the way met a guy from England that was also heading to Cologne. I got there and found my hostel it was miles away from the centre. I had arranged to catch up with this guy that afternoon to do a bit of site seeing together. On the way there I managed to find a phone charger for my phone!!! So happy about that! The prospect of having to buy a new phone was not one that I wanted to deal with. Met up with this guy and he had brought along an Aussie bloke he had met at the hostel, Mr "I have been everywhere". We had a look in the Dom, it is very impressive from the out side, the Aussie guy was bored and headed off to sleep. The Brit and I wandered around the rest of Cologne. There isn't that much to see. From there I headed to Koblenz. This is a pretty place it is right on where the Rhine and Moselle Rivers meet. The weather hasn't improved, the rain is still following me around. The place I visited was Cochem, now this place is too cute for words, it is on the Moselle river, there is a castle preached on top of the hill over looking the village. The next afternoon I was heading to Luxumbourg, in the morning I did a river cruise down to Beilstein, at 10am in the morning I was knocking back wine, nothing like a liquid breakfast to get your day on the way. With a few under the belt I climbed up to the hill to the ruins of a castle. Not a bad view from there. That afternoon I headed back to the Cochem to catch my train, only to find that the ticket office wasn't open, so I bought a ticket to the last German town on the route and hoped I could buy the rest of the ticket on board. It all worked out in the end and I was on my way to Luxumbourg.

From Strasbourg we headed into Germany, the little town of Kehl. From there we headed to Goldscheuer where we met Dad´s Aunty, my great aunty. She hadn´t seen Dad since he was a little boy, 2 or 3 years old. It was great meeting the relos from the other side of the family at long last. I was told that I had to learn to speak German. We had dinner with them and then headed to Offenburg, where Dad was born. The next day we headed down to Triberg to have a look at the Black Forest and the cuckoo clocks. Which Dad ended up getting one for his Birthday present. After chilling out there for a few hours we headed back to Offenberg, a last minute decission to jump off the train at a little place called Gengenbach was well worth it. It was a fantastic little town, with wood cladded building. Just brilliant!

That night we celebrated Dad´s 60th Birthday, his sister´s 59th Birthday and my 28th Birthday as they are all around the same time. The next day Dad´s sister headed off to go back to St Girons in France, and we spent the day having a look around Offenburg. This town has a lot to offer, more than first meets the eye. We were all glad that we spent the extra time there. The next day I parted ways with my folks, they were on there way to Paris and then eventually home to Oz and I am continuing on to Bamberg where I hope to do a language course.

Arrived in Bamberg, while on the train I found out that I would be able to do the course, so how I am here and the town is wicked! It was a Sunday afternoon and the town square was packed with people watching a Basketball game, Bamberg against Berlin.

Started the language school on the Monday. The people here are really cool. The first week was hectic, not because of school but for going out. I think pretty much every night I was out till 2 or 3 in the morning. Which didn´t leave a lot of time to get much needed zzz´s. The second week rocked around so quickly that I decided to stay another 2 weeks, so 4 weeks in total in Bamberg.

Some of the crew from the school

This little town is fantastic. I couldn´t have picked a more perfect place to have stayed and studied at.

A night at Stammtisch

Enjoying the Summer Sun

I ended up spending my Birthday here, and celebrated it here in traditional style of drinking beer! This place has too many beers to try in one month.

Time finally came for me to leave and now I am off to Italy again, catching up with friends there.

The sites of Bamberg