Monday
August 9, 1982 – Heidelberg Day #2
Although I
turned Matt’s alarm off I forgot about mine, so promptly at 06.00 the little
octopus blew his trumpet and woke us all up. Matt shared our bed last night as
Rab thought he was having a nightmare in the early hours although he could not
remember anything when he woke up. We lay dozing and chatting and fighting for
about an hour and then had the usual German breakfast, which we enjoy very
much. There was some rye bread this morning and the coffee was better than the Munich hotel, but not as
good as the Swiss coffee, which was excellent.
So far the
best moment of the trip for Matt is the glockenspiel at Marienplatz, which has
overtaken his prior best moment – the fireworks in Zurich
and Rab’s is the wooden bridge in Lucerne.
Mine is Saturday in Munich
because my fellow travellers behaved so well that day! Joking aside it was a
most interesting day for me.
After
breakfast we set out for the paddle boats, having promised Matt a trip on the river.
It was too early when we got there, so we just strolled through the new town on
the other side of the river. Some lovely shops there, but very expensive. By
the time we had walked back to the river, the boat operator had awoken from his
slumber and we duly hired a three seater for DM8
for thirty minutes. With Rab in the back killing herself laughing, Matt
steering a rather erratic course and me providing most of the power we had a
thoroughly enjoyable time. The stream flows quite swiftly, so I made darn
certain that we went upstream first to avoid paddling against the current when
I was tired.
It was
overcast today although quite warm – about 20C at 09.00 which was just as well
as it was hot work in the boat. At least I got some exercise though. I have
been keeping up the 5BX but have not been able to run due to my damaged
Achilles tendon. This went about ten days before we left and although it is OK
to walk on it, I find it becomes very tender at times, especially if I have
done a deal of walking. I am losing fitness though and I dread to think what it
will be like to start going to the gym again.
After our
bootfahrt we set off for the serious side of the holiday – shopping. Matt and
Rab combed the toy and dress material
shops on both sides of the Hauptstatze,
combining only to rampage through the department stores, until hunger called a
halt. We had a darned good meal at a little stand-up eatery in the main street
– Wurst for me, Schinken for Rab: chips for three, two beers and a Coke – all
for DM14.50 – about what we paid for
drinks last evening. Matt held back his hunger for a McDonald’s burger which we
ate sitting on the steps of the fountain in the main square – Rab is slowly
learning to relax. She and I tried a Big M Special For Summer – a Maracuja
Double Thick. I don’t know what is in it but it tastes like a mixture of mango
and pawpaw and is delicious.
After
purchasing some padkos for tomorrow on the basis
that food on the boat is
likely to be very expensive, we made
our way back to the hotel via all the shops we had missed on the first sortie.
Matt at long last got around to spending a bit more of his money (he really is
quite careful) and bought a magnificent Siku truck with a bridge set. Matt and
I left Rab at the hotel writing
postcards and resting while we had another half hour on the paddle boats on the
river. I also got most of my stocknagels on my walking stick. (I got hooked on this. The idea was to get a
small shield or other decoration for a walking stick and attach them to the
walking stick – or stock. They were called nagels because they were usually
nailed on. I only stopped after my walking stick was full.) We nipped
out for a final stroll and a quick snack at the MacDonald’s up the road before
getting on with our packing. Matt found some Star Wars things and was thrilled.
No comments:
Post a Comment