Bier Gardens

The biggest bier glass I've ever seen...
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As we headed away from our Rhine River cruise most people fell asleep, but I took the time to keep up to date in my travel journal. We only had about three more hours at this point, which was nothing in comparison to some of our bus days... and even longer ones to come.

The only place we actually toured in or near Heidelberg was the abandoned Castle of the Palatine Elector where we had a bird's eye view of the Neckar River and the town below. It was neat because half the building was overgrown and other parts looked as if they were still inhabited. It easily could have been out of a movie, maybe The Secret Garden or something like that. After about 20 minutes it started raining so we were called back to the bus because the driver didn't want to maneuver the hill in downpour.

The City of the Student Prince

Letting loose after nonstop travel...
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We were relatively close to our hotel at this point. We were told as we traveled through Heidelberg that the United States had a very large military base here so a lot of the town's residents were actually American, but we never actually were given time to venture around the city. It did however leave a good amount of time for us all to bond at the hotel.

We got to the hotel where our rooms where subpar to say the nicest, but the hotel itself was fun. Our organized dinner was at the hotel restaurant were German biers were included... which seemed to start the rest of the night... The dinner itself consisted of huge brautworsts and some sort of cheese and potato concoction which was actually really good. On a full stomach we all ventured to the outdoor patio which was apparently a "bier garden" as the sign pointed out. We all hung out while more biers were brought to us, I only had 1, but it seemed as if everyone's glasses got bigger and bigger each round.

In the bier garden...
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The night ended with a lot of dancing and a mix between American classics and German techno. By this point the whole group had really come together and cliques had broken down for the most part. Each country seems to be more and more fun.