We weren’t lucky enough to have a sleep in on this crisp Friday Morning in Munich.
It was bags on the bus by 8am!
We did however have quite a yummy breakfast at the hostel. They had fresh bread in the forms of rolls and all these slices of ham and salami laid out with cheeses.
I may or may not have packed 2 rolls in some napkins to eat for my lunch…

We stopped off at a service station/burger king for lunch and had to buy our own food this time. I ended up getting chicken nuggets and fries from there. The nuggets tasted a bit weird which was disappointing.

They had free wi-fi however!
I have a UK SIM card which will work in most places around Europe but my data doesn’t work in Germany and the Netherlands!
It’s been really annoying because I like to write my blogs on the coach but sometimes I forget alot of info about places I’ve been and have to end up googling facts which is hard to do when you have no internet.
So no internet = very slow updates on the blog front.

We ended up arriving in Rhine valley around 3.30pm and going to a cuckoo clock shop. The lady spoke for 10 minutes about how they work and why some look a certain way. I actually ended up really wanting to buy one for my Mum! They had really cool Christmas stuff as well that I know my Mum would love but I just couldn’t bring it home. They wern’t small enough to fit in my bag. If I was at the end of my trip I’d defintaly have gotten something. In the end I just settled for a magnet.

After the cuckoo clock shop, we headed to another store so the guy there could talk about Beer Steins. They’re the traditional beer mugs made out of stoneware that you see in ‘older movies’ and I’m sure I’ve seen it on The Simpsons when they go to a haunted house or something haha.

In German, the word stein means stone and the beer mugs are made out of materials such as stoneware,pewter, porcelain, or even silver, wood or crystal glass.
They also have that metal top with the thumb lever which was apparently made during the age of the Black Plague to prevent diseased fleas from getting into the beer.
Nowadays, you leave the top open if you want a re-fill and also to keep pesky flies away in the Summer.

We had some free time afterwards before there was an optional river cruise through Rhine Valley.
As I’d already done a river cruise in Paris I decided to skip this one out. From what I heard it wasn’t terribly amazing so I didn’t miss out on too much.
Myself and the girls went and had a look around some shops and then sat down for some ice cream at one of the many gelato – type stores.
Well, I actually was the only one who got an ice cream coz I’m an ice – cream freak and I don’t regret it for a second. It was so good!!

Calories don’t count on holiday right?

When that baby was demolished, most of the group went on the river cruise whereas about 8 of us stayed on the coach and were driven to the end point of the river cruise.
We had over half an hour to spare so I popped my earphones in and walked down near the water.
It was the first time on my top deck European tour that I actually stopped to appreciate how nice Rhine valley was. I’m always surrounded by people or talking to someone or someone is talking to me that it was nice to just have a moment to sit and look at the big green hills and the castles everywhere.

I also have realised I’ve gained a touch of weight on this trip (and I’m not just saying that, my jeans are too tight for me now, Europe has killed my stomach with its goodness of breads and gelato) so I decided to do lunges and squats and crunches for the next 45 minutes. People walking past probably thought I was a weirdo but it defintaly did something because I could barely walk for the next 2 days!

When everyone was back together again, we boarded the coach and drove up to the castle where we were staying. (Which is pictured above)
Apart from having to lug all our suitcases down the cobblestone walkways for 5 minutes, it was such a beautiful location. The view was amazing and it was really peaceful up there.
But by saying that, that was the only good thing about the place.
It was cool that it was a castle & all but I’d rather have just visited and not stayed overnight.

First of all, I roomed with a group of 4 and it was the smallest room ever. We couldn’t all be in there at the same time because it was so frustrating being in each others face.
The sheets were shit, the pillowcase was way too big for the pillow.
There was 1 power point for us all to share.
With pretty much 80% of our tour being girls, there was 1 girls bathroom upstairs from our level with 2 toilets and ONE shower. And it wasn’t even a nice shower with somewhere to get changed or shower in private.
If anyone walked in to brush their teeth and looked around the corner they’d blatantly see you having a shower. I don’t really care about stuff like that coz i’m such a nudist but I can understand how uncomfortable people would be.
And the boys on our level had 2 showers! Unfair!
The wi-fi wasn’t free, think it was like €3
The buffet dinner was horrible. It was either fish fingers, some other fish thing or tofu.
Along with rice, under cooked potatoes and green beans with a cheese herb sauce thing.
I hate all seafood, so I just stuck with the veggies and rice.
It was food you’d feed your kids when you don’t know what else to make.
The dessert wasn’t that much better either. Just a ‘vanilla sauce’ aka, Runny custard, is what they call it and some berries.

Once dinner was finished, we all pushed our dinner tables together and played “never have I ever”
Which is a drinking game. Someone asks a question like “never have I ever had sex outside” and whoever has, has to drink.
It doesn’t always have to be sexual questions but it’s funny when it is. I’m still really sick at the moment so I stuck with water that night.
Kara had pretty much a whole bottle of wine to herself so we had a great bathroom chat (i blow dried my hair while she chatted in the shower) about funny things on the trip.
#memories haha!

Then it was off to my castle bunk bed for me!
Xx