We hopped on the coach and I sat with Nicole and I had a good chance to get to know her, I wish I had taken the time to get to know her earlier on the tour, she's quite lovely! Nicole was planning on staying in the UK after our tour ended, I quite admired her for this - very gutsy! We were also told about one last optional inclusion on the tour that wasn't included in the brochure - a live sex show in Amsterdam. Apparently I was pretty much the only person who didn't know about this earlier. Sian said she would pass around the sign-up list around the bus twice as she knew that some people may be hesitant to sign up for it the first time. I had initially decided not to go, the first time I the list came around I passed it on to Jas and Sukhey. I then decided the hell with it and grabbed it back and signed up, when is the next time I'll be in Amsterdam? Might as well experience it for all it's worth.
The plan was to head to straight off the coach to our hotel in St. Goar. I was quite okay with this plan as I was dying for a shower and I really wanted to grab my luggage; we were only able to take are carry-on up to the lodge in the Swiss Alps, obviously all our luggage would be to heavy for the cable cars. Last minute Sian changed plans and instead we were doing a tour or a Beer Stein shop instead and then we were going to do a cruise down the Rhine. I really didn't love this idea and it put me in a bit of a bad mood. First thing I did when we got off the coach was suss out an ATM, I hadn't been able to take out cash since Corfu and I was getting low, for some reason my card wouldn't work in Venice. I wasn't the only one, Alex was also having problems with this as well. I was a bit late for the beer stein shop demonstration but I wasn't bothered, I wasn't really interested. The beer steins were impressive, very detailed but quite expensive - I think easily over 100 euros.
I was quite surprised by the weather in St. Goar - it was not only really hot, but quite humid. Reminded me of Ontario summer on a bad day. Not very nice. We had a few minutes before the cruise so Sukhey, Rochelle and I decided to get our daily gelato treat. This was the worst gelato we ever had, very disappointed! We went into a few shops, Jas showed me a pretty silver ring she had bought so I went and sussed out what they had and I found a simple silver band that I fell in love with so I purchased it. Next up was the cruise, Sandra dropped out of it as she was feeling quite horrible, I wish I had joined her. Matty Ray also opted not to get on the boat, good on him - I wish I had followed his lead. It was really quite hot out and and I was in no mood for a cruise down the Rhine. The scenery was nice but got old quite quickly. The most exciting part of the cruise was some Japanese tourists thinking Starr was a celebrity, they were all asking her for her autograph and posing for pictures. It was quite funny. Eventually I pulled out my cards and a few of us played a few rounds of crazy eights until we finally docked.
Out hotel didn't have any lifts so Sian suggested that we all just grab some clean stuff from our luggage and then use our carry-on luggage again. I really didn't feel like pulling apart my luggage in the car park so I decided to drag my luggage upstairs, this seemed to be the consensus among most people. While everything was being loaded off the coach I went to check on Sandra to see how she was feeling. I told her she needed to come down and grab her stuff from the coach. The poor girl really wasn't well so she grabbed her carry-on but I decided to help her out with her luggage. I ended up making 3 more trips up the stairs in the super hot weather, carrying Sandra's luggage, my luggage and finally my carry-on up the stairs. I've never been more sweaty in my entire life. I decided to skip dinner and grab the coldest shower I've ever taken.
After dinner we had a wine tasting organized. I was really looking forward to this given my previous summer working for a winery outlet. Germany grows mostly Riesling grapes and I was eager to see what they had to offer. I was surprised by how sweet the wine was and I really wasn't a big fan. We then got to taste some ice wine, which was really disappointing. This is the one wine product Ontario is quite good at making, we have the perfect climate for it. the German version was nasty, truely dissapointing. I tried to ask the winery owner about his product, the climate, etc., but he wasn't very engaging. He didn't seem very passionate about his product. Although I was disappointed in the product I still bought a bottle, as did a few others. It was only 8 Euros, I might as well. I would like to point out the actual wine cellar where we had our wine tasting was great, a musty old cellar with wine barrels. The place was used as a bunker during WWII, very cool.
It was still early when we left the wine tasting - still light out. Back at the hotel I ran into the Amigo's who had found a pretty great balcony that they were throwing wet paper towels at people in the street - boys will be boys. I decided it would be fun to join in, Sukhey and I were trying to distract fellow tour members so the boys could surprise them. After a few minutes a neighbour across the street called our hotel and complained that we were too loud and we were kicked off the balcony. Sukhey and I decided to grab the bottle of wine I had just purchased and we headed to the Rhine river. We had a great talk here, this turned into another great redeeming night after a quite poor day. Afterward we met up with Jas and Kairsten, and we decided to explore St. Goar. Jas bailed but Sukhey, Kairsten and I had a fun wandering around. Eventually we headed back to the hotel and Suk and Karisten headed to bed but I decided to see what was going on at the bar. I found out that the Amigo's shower almost crashed in from above while one of them were in it! I forget whom it was - Pete and I knocked on their door to get some details and Shane told me but I've since forgotten forgotten them.
I then headed back to the bar and hung out with the few remaining people who was there including Sian who again was quite pissed and quite funny. At midnight it became Jono's bday - so we decided to buy him shots but the bartender wouldn't sell us anymore because he was closing up. Matty Ray suggested that he distract the bartender while I stole a bottle of Jack, in the end the plan never worked but I did managed to get us shots for Jono, Matty and myself. After that it was time for bed - we were off to Amsterdam the next morning!
Pretty St. Goar
Wine Tasting
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