Thursday, 26th October.
Heidelberg

The toilets at the youth hostel stink to high heaven. I haven't smelt anything like it since San Juan de Ortega. In fact, this hostel didn't have a lot going for it. They don't accept Visa cards, there aren't lockers in the rooms, they don't lock the doors to the rooms, and the toilets smell like something has died in the pipes.

I went on a walking tour of Heidelberg today. The tour was conducted in english, which was nice, albeit by a lady with a rather limited range of adjectives. I shouldn't complain, given the state of my german. "Look at the church," she would instruct us, "isn't it beautiful?" Pretty soon I worked out that everything in Heidelberg was beautiful, in her book!

Heidelberg is a bit of a student town. Everywhere I looked there were German girls riding bicycles. Phwoar! Girls on bikes! Fit young German frauleins! Very different to Heidelberg in Melbourne, not a moccasin in sight!

When I returned to the hostel, my room was crawling with Canadians. (Conjures up a strange image, doesn't it? A whole bunch of Canadians on all fours crawling around a hostel room, up the walls, coming up through the plughole in the sink...) The Canadians were each equipped with the standard-issue Canadian backpack. (It's so easy to spot the Canadians in Europe!)