Volklingen, Germany (17th August)

It has been a very special birthday and an interesting one also. Our hotel last night was very nice, until we got into the shower. The water was icy cold. Waking up we found the water was still very cold so it was a very quick shower. We enjoyed a breakfast at the hotel - cereal, boiled eggs, fresh rolls, cheeses, sliced meat, juice and tea. We then hit the road at 8am. Nelly had us arriving at Volklingen at 3:45pm so we were quite happy knowing we could spend more time with the Schmidt's. dad drove first the I had a turn. We enjoyed lunch overlooking Kassel, reminiscing about our first trip and getting lost there, spending half a day trying to get out.

Then it was Andrew's turn to drive. We didn't get very far. Andrew had only been driving for an hour and the traffic started backing up. Not understanding what was going on we looked at Nelly and found a symbol of a car accident. We counted 1 police car, 2 ambulances, 2 traffic management trucks and 10 tow trucks all race down the emergency lane. We sat for 1 1/2hrs and only moved just over 1km. We slowly watch our arrival time become later and later. We eventually arrived at 6pm.

It has been a very lovely time with the Schmidt's. They had a birthday BBQ and even a beautiful cake. We have just been pouring over the map deciding how to get from here to Lynne and Christopher's tomorrow.

But for now, 10:20pm, it is bedtime.