We pushed on from Switzerland into Germany, it was another very early start to the day. Our first stop in Germany was to see the Rhine Falls. The waterfall was running very fast as the Rhine river was swollen with ice melt from the mountains. In summer the water rate is 750 cubic metres per second.
It was a very picturesque spot, with lots of fish (apparently called 'Chub' in English) swimming in a protected little pool off to the side of the falls. We laughed at seeing yet another tourist taking a selfie of their face instead of a picture of the beautiful scenery, this one outside the toilet block...what a photo!
We pushed on to the Black Forest where of course we had to see a cuckoo clock shop where Trafalgar had made sure there was a guy all too happy to give the big sales speech on all the outstanding features of cuckoo clocks. It was very interesting, but personally while I appreciate the craftsmanship and skill it takes to make these clocks, you will never see one gracing our wall.
Apparently the intricate decorations of these clocks are all made in individual pieces, traditionally carved over the long winter (this was pre-Xbox days) and then assembled at the end. Each kind of decoration and/or internal mechanism was the responsibility of one person. So one guy carved loads of rabbits, another guy carved loads of guns and yet another made the mechanism that goes "cuckoo", etc. If the cuckoo clock also contains music, the mechanism is ordered from Switzerland.
Interestingly, one wall of the shop was a giant cuckoo clock. So at 12pm Nicky and I stood in front of the big clock waiting for the clock to strike 12 and for all the action to begin. It finally happened, and it was a little anti-climatic....before it finished we were already queuing up for lunch.
Of course at lunch we shared the largest piece of Schwarzwaldekirschetorte (Black Forest cherry cake) that we had ever seen. The abundance of creme didn't sit well with Nicky's lactose intolerance despite having about 15 lacteez tablets prior. The cherries were soaked in kirsche liqueur which was a nice addition to the cake you might buy in Michels Pattisserie.
After the Black Forest we drove north to Heidelberg. This is a really quaint town which looks like a telly nice spot to spend the weekend. Germany is an incredibly beautiful country and we really enjoyed the drive through the countryside. The people were also very friendly and more than willing to help out a lost, dazed and/or confused tourist.
The next day we did a cruise up the Rhine river. Similarly to France, the countryside is littered with castles, particularly along the river so as to allow the landowner that you were passing (back in the day) to claim tax from you as you were passing his lands. So naturally we took plenty of photos that will have to be shared at a later date.
As a perfect case of familiarity breeding contempt, one of the guys from our tour looked at a castle as we were cruising passed on the river and proclaimed "meh, I've seen better". Given that he wasn't the humorous type, I'm sure he wasn't deliberately quoting Jim Carrey in Liar Liar. But it was a funny point either way, we had seen so many little castles on our trip that our standards had definitely risen. 6 weeks ago I would have been like "holy shit it's a freakin' castle!!!".
We also noticed that the wine along the Rhine river was all grown on very steep hillsides, so whatever variety they were growing (probably Reisling), the grapes obviously benefit from very little water as majority of the rain would run off. It's probably how they get the higher sugar concentration in the grapes. Anyway, enough about wine.
Once we had cruised the Rhine we had apparently filled our quota of Germany and pushed on to Amsterdam for our final night on the Trafalgar tour.
MJ then took us through a brief walk in the red light district, it was still broad daylight so it wasn't exactly bustling, however we were treated to one overweight woman in her underwear shaking her stuff in a window. Surprisingly, unlike Kings Cross, the red light district in Amsterdam doesn't look all that seedy in daylight. In fact it actually looked like a cool part of town to grab a coffee.
MJ made sure to take us to one location by way of explanation of how liberal the Dutch views were on sexuality to show us in one particular square, there was a brothel, a church and a children's daycare centre. Wow.
We then did another cruise, this time cruising around the canals of Amsterdam with our tour guide (who is of Dutch origin) providing insights along the way, including at one point telling us about where she worked in Hollands equivalent of Centrelink.
We cruised passed Anne Franks house, snapped photos and moved on. An interesting statistic, apparently one car a week on average ends up in a canal so ew here in Amsterdam. When you see how precarious the parking is along the canals with literally no barricading, you can see exactly how that happens.
To finish off the evening our cruise boat dropped us off a short walk from our restaurant for our final dinner. It was very traditional Dutch fair, the restaurant we ate at was originally established 500 years prior. Bloody hell!
We got back to the hotel and had a final drink at the bar, shaking hands, patting backs and giving hugs as we gleefully said goodbye to everyone looking forward to the remainder of our holiday, together alone.
The next stop was Bruges, Belgium.
Stay Tuned.
Brandon.
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