7/17 Goulash: it tastes better than it sounds!

I woke up before my alarm. Mikayla had already left to shower and get ready in her boyfriend's room. I packed up my stuff, put my luggage outside for the porter, and went downstairs for breakfast.

It was a simple breakfast with bread, cereal, meats and cheeses, and juice. For whatever reason I felt very dehydrated and had 8 cups of juice (they were small cups! I swear!)

I got on the bus and we started to make our way to Germany. We traveled for a couple hours, made a rest stop, and then got to a town called Boppard. This is where we would pick up our Rhine cruise. We had about an hour before the cruise to grab lunch in town. I stopped by this cafe that had very reasonable prices in the town square. I ordered a goulash in red wine sauce with mashed potatoes and small coke. It was one of the best meals I had in Europe! And it was only 6 euros!

I then walked down to the pier and got on the boat with my tour group. I went on to the top of the boat with other members from my tour group. It was pretty cold but wasn't raining. Yet.

We got a free drink included on the cruise. I ordered a local Riesling, which tasted nothing like a Riesling but more like a Chardonnay. A couple minutes later it started to rain so I went downstairs to stay dry.

The cruise lasted about 2 hours. Along the way, we saw cute little towns, each one with a towering church steeple. We also saw tons of castles perched on top of the cliffs, some dating back to the 1500's. The tour was so relaxing that I even nodded off a couple of times.

At the end of the tour, our group met up with the remaining people who chose to not do the tour. They said they were bored wandering around the part of town they were taken to because everything was closed. I was then glad that I paid the 20 euros to do the tour.

We continued down toward the Wurzburg area where we would spend the night. I slept most of the time and took some pictures of the green fields and little farm houses. We didn't get to the hotel until about 7:15. After checking into my room and meeting my roommate for the night (Neha from Australia), we went down for dinner. I sat with Mikayla and her boyfriend and a couple from Texas. We were served a 3 course meal that consisted of potato soup, chicken with fries and veggies, and a berry custard.

After stuffing myself, I walked around town to see if any grocery stores were open. I wanted to find some drinks and snacks for the bus ride. But it was Sunday night and nothing was open but a tanning salon. Go figure.

I went upstairs and showered and got ready for bed. Neha was hanging out in her parent's room and was only going to sleep in our room.

She got in around 10. We chatted for about 20 mins. and turned out the lights. Our 5:45 wake up call was going to suckkkkkkkk the next morning.