I wish I had a bigger bladder!

DAY 9

After getting a pretty good night's sleep, I had breakfast, and then we were on the road to Munich, our first big city in Germany. On the ride there we were given the list of all the additional excursions for the rest of the trip. There were a number of different options, many of which I opted for and a few I didn't. Since I have never been to any of these countries/cities before, these additional excursions, although when added up are a hefty sum, will  probably enhance this experience even more and show me things I would otherwise not see or experience.  (But I did make sure that I would have enough solo time too.) Its a good thing I haven't spent that much money while here and that I have some spin teaching gigs lined up back when I get to NYC,  but once again, as Andi keeps reminding us "You don't go on holiday to save money or lose weight." Truth. (I am doing neither for the record. As to be expected.) The reason I did do a tour trip like this, hitting up so many locations, was to see as much as I can and then, hopefully in the future go back to my favorites to do and see more. Doing some of these additional experiences will help me  get more out of this trip. I just know After this I will want to hit up more new countries and cities. Spain. Greece.  Prague. Australia. Thailand. (Just for starters...) Any takers??? 

Anyway, once again on the way to Munich (which is part of Bavaria), we stopped at another Superloo. It was .70 euro to get through the turnstile to pee and we received a .50 euro coupon with this pee purchase. With my coupon, I purchased cola flavored Mentos. I do not think this flavor is available in the US, but they should be. They tasted exactly like Coke.  Since I haven't had pop in over eight years, this tasted incredible to me. As we headed to Munich we learned some history about the beer halls in Munich and the importance of beer in their culture. It's as important as food to them. They believe women should drink at least half a liter a day and men at least a liter. Geez. 

Schmuck!!

DAY 8

I began this morning with breakfast al fresco along the Rhine river. I love eating outside, it just makes any meal so much more enjoyable. Especially along a body of water. Made my bacon taste that much better, if that's even possible!

Our first stop on our second day in Germany was Heidelberg. I participated in an additional excursion of a castle tour with the rest of the group. There we were met with a tour guide to take us up to the castle. (But not before paying to pee again; .30 euro this time. (I need to start keeping tabs how much money my small bladder is costing me here although I feel I have done a good job on my own of finding free restrooms as well.)  The castle we visited was one of the largest castle ruins in Germany and was fascinating to see (although there was a lot of scaffolding for ongoing construction). Kind of annoying when trying to take good pictures but nothing we can do. The castle sits upon a mountain along the Necar river and the views from above were gorge. On this tour, I learned about how Victoria's Secret got its name too.  Apparently the Queen Victoria from Germany invented underwear because before then, no one ever worn any undergarments and she was sick of riding a horse without them, so she invented some. And that is how Victoria's Secret got its name. Mind blown right there. I never knew that!! (And conveniently enough, I had on a pair of Victoria's Secret undies at the time.) 

Beer and Brats...yum!

DAY 7

Guten Morgen! This morning we had to be on the bus by 8:15 to head on the road to Germany. I am a little nervous now trekking into countries where there isn't much English spoken. So far we have been lucky with London and Amsterdam where everyone speaks English. Andi taught us some German words and phrases on the bus this morning because she told us that trying a little to use the native language is appreciated by the Germans. 

For breakfast I had the mini Dutch pancakes again which were so yummy and a great way to start the day. Then it was on the bus and on our way. Even though I slept pretty well last night, I still managed to fall asleep a bit on the bus like twenty minutes into the ride and felt very refreshed after. 

No dutch oven In Holland! :(

DAY 6

This morning started with a solo breakfast and then I met up with the group. For breakfast I had quite a few mini dutch pancakes called pannenkoeken. They were d-freaking-licious. I could have eaten many more, but refrained. There's always tomorrow morning. ;)

Our first tour agenda item today was a bus tour of the city of Amsterdam. I received a ton of history about the city; almost all of it was stuff I most certainly don't have the patience to read in any travel book so I was grateful for the info. It also gave me also more of the idea of the way this city is shaped with all it's horseshoe shaped canals. Very cool. 

After that, we headed to the Dutch countryside, to the town (fishing village) of Volendam. On the way there we got some more Dutch history from our tour guide Andi, including that of the lakes and dikes of the area. Because I am an immature jackass, I consistently giggled to myself whenever Andi said dike. Especially when she started telling us the story of Peter, the little boy who stuck his finger in the dike. I mean, c'mon now. I held it together even when she said the dike was leaking. Oh boy.

And the tour has offish begun!!

DAY 5

Up and at 'em at 4:15 in the morning for the second time this week. Brutal, but oh-so- worth it. I got ready fairly quickly and headed down to breakfast. Two lovely Australian women I met yesterday (Sue and Jeanie) invited me to eat with them so I did. They were about my parents age and  had children my age (like almost everyone in my group).  We finally departed London and headed to Amsterdam. Its not a straight shot there so we drove to Dover first to catch a ferry across the English Channel to Calais, France. We then continued through France, through Belgium, and then Netherlands. Wahoo. (Each new country we reached my phone so nicely let me know with a free texts on the new country's rates. It was kind of neat to get that at each border.)  It was also super nice having only 20 people in our group; our bus was like half full, which was awesome. And our tour guide Andi, who is with us the whole trip, is so knowledgable. 

Most of today was set traveling which wasn't so awesome but you gotta get to where you're going somehow. It's gotta be done. On the positive side, you get to see all the different landscapes and scenery along the way. I enjoy that! (And it gives me time to begin writing this truly amazing blog you all love to read so much. Sure. Sure.)