This morning after Frühstück we went s

Today Kerstin, Irina, Anderl, und ich spent the day in Landshut/Freising. That was so cool. On our way to the S-Bahn we battled a Schneesturm, which was quite an adventure. We were also meant to be with Chrissi, but we couldn't find her which was a bit of a debacle, it ruined all of the Germans' very carefeully planned plans.

First of all we went to Landshut, which is famous for the Landshuter Hochzeit (we learnt about it in Feurwerk!). We walked around the Alt Stadt, which is actually just one street, then we walked around the Neu Stadt, which is also actually just one street. Then we climbed about a trillion stairs 'till we got to the Burg. There we looked around the museum for a bit, which had all these really cool things, then we did a tour of the castle. It had its own Capella. How cool is that?


Then after lunch we got the train to Freising. We played ice soccer with a couple of the Freisingers, which was extremely amusing, and then we found the perfect place for a Schneeballschlact. It was a kind of terrace courtyard thing overlooking the town, we had the best view, and it was so much fun. Then we went and looked in dem Dom there, which is absolutely amazing. It's got all these really cool paintings on the ceilings and really beautiful statues everywhere.

Then Irina came back to our place and we ate some Schwarzwälderkirschtorte which Gerda made for my Abshied (tomorrow... ich kann es kaum glauben!). That was yummy. Then we all mucked around for a bit, we called Moritz in Berechtesgaden, which was really cool. He spoke English most of the time, and I spoke Deutsch. An interesting conversation. I'm going to miss Irina und Kerstin so much, but we have our St Petersburg plans, kein Problem.

"No flashlight please." "Ich hab' kein Blitz an."

HAPPY AUSTRALIA DAY!!!!!!!!!!!! Hope it was cool, sorry I wasn't home to celebrate!

Today I got the ICE to Stuttgart to visit Daniella (as in Frau Wolffe but she's not our teacher anymore). She only got back to Deutschland on Tuesday, so she was still a bit jetlagged and stuff. And she brought me news from Oz, which was nice. It was really cool 'cause I got to see her in her own territory, we kept bumping into people and chatting with them, we went and checked out where she studied, lots of random little things like that which was really cool. A person is different when they're home, I guess. We walked around Stuttgart and looked and tonnes of stuff, which was really fun, there was Schnee but it wasn't snowing. And we went to the Mercedes-Benz Museum, 'cause it was invented or founded or whatever in Stuttgart. The museum has just been done up and it's all modern and stuff, and although I can hardly claim to be a car enthusiast, I still thought it was really cool. Then after that we went back to her flat and cooked and hung out and talked. She showed me photos from Oz and played the piano for me. That was really cool. Her piano is SO giant, it takes up half her lounge room. And it's very shiny. After that I got the train home, got home pretty late and after making myself something to eat I went to bed 'cause tomorrow we have to get up early. It was so so so nice to see Daniella though, I had a really good day and I wish I could've stayed longer!

Today was my last day of school. It was so sad. Every period it was like "this is the last time I'm going to be in this class" and it was really sad! And everyone else in my class kept giving me hugs and saying how they didn't want me to leave. So unfair! I don't wanna!!!

In physics my Lehrer wrote a message for me on the back of some electric graph thing as a souvenir. That was really cool. And I brought anzacs to school which they absolutely LOVED. Girls who I've never seen eating before were coming back and taking them in handfulls. I'm NOT exaggerating.

And in my last period they gave me these two blown up class photos that have me in them too that we took. And they made a speech and everything and it was REALLY sad. I know I'll see some of them again and I'm definetely staying in email contact, but still! It's not the same. :(

This afternoon after school we went schlittenfahren. That was really cool. I was with Kerstin, Julia, und Agi, und it was SO MUCH FUN. We had a Schneeballschlacht and made snow angels and then went home and drank hot tea and ate cake. He he. So dick!!!

And do you know what I learnt today? The bikini was INVENTED in Frankreich in 1946. That's five years after the Computer was invented (in Deutschland), and eighteen years after the Elektrorasierer (in the USA). How do you invent a bikini? I mean, I always figured that some clothes maker somewhere ran out of material one day and that became the fashion. But to be an invention?

In Ulm, um Ulm und um Ulm herum.

Today the Schnee was at least three times as thick as yesterday. On our way to the busstop there were German Hausfraus outside sweeping it away for us. Isn't that sweet? I thought so. The schnee is really disturbing us here, apparently. About 150 planes in München have been delayed and trains can't travel anymore. I'm hoping this will change 'cause I'm meant to be visiting Daniella in Stuttgart am Freitag. Anyway, when we finally slipped our way to the busstop, our bus didn't stop for us. What was that? We were going to have to wait half an hour in the freezing cold snow for the next one, but the bus a bit after it which isn't allowed to stop normally took pity on us.

Then when we got to school our class had no teacher for the first period. So I got to hang out with them for a while. That was really nice 'cause tomorrow's my last day of school, which is sad. I'm going to miss them, they're all so nice.

In period four some random crazy German teacher walked into our classroom and kicked us out. Which was strange. But apparently our room had been changed for that period. We knew very well where we were meant to go, but we decided to go hang out in the common room instead. Then we saw our actual teacher go into the new classroom, so someone in our class had the idea to put a sign on the door saying that class 10a was in the common room. Hmmm. So we sat there and ate cake 'till he found us. As you do in Deutschland.

In Englisch today our teacher asked me for my opinion about something, and the Englisch Unterrichts are all auf Englisch hier. So I had to talk Englisch. While I've been here, I've had a few people talk Englisch to me and I've heard Englisch being spoken, and there's still a bit of Englisch in my head when I can't think of the German words, but that's it. My mouth hasn't actually formed Englisch words in a while. I literally couldn't speak it. I couldn't think of the words, I couldn't say them, I was practically stuttering. I don't know what's going to happen when I get back to Oz.

Today in last period I went to Musik with Kerstin. I promised her that I would, 'cause this whole time I've been going to Kunst instead. Anyway, Musik was really fun. The teacher is called Herr Kindermann, and he's this really fun crazy guy. We sang all these songs, like, actually recent songs, that was really cool. And I knew them! Yay!

This afternoon after school and lunch (potatoes with apples... isn't that a strange combination? Aber es schmeckt fantastisch) I went on a bike Abenteuer. It is ridiculously hilariously difficult to ride a bike in such thick Schnee. But it was also really fun. I was alone, so I was trying really hard to make sure that I wasn't acidentally on the Autobahn to Berlin or anything. 'Cause when Schnee liegt, you can't read the street signs or anything. On my way back I ran into Lucas, who lives really close to us, so that was nice.

Then tonight Julia und ich made more anzacs. I'm taking them to school tomorrow 'cause it's my last day. :(

ALLES GUTE ZUM GEBURTSTAG, KERSTIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh wow. This morning when I woke up I went bleary eyed into my bathroom, peering at myself in my mirror. But something was wrong. Something was different. What was it? Oh. My. God. I couldn't see out of the skylight window thing!!! Why? 'Cause it was covered in snow. I don't mean just a bit of snow, I mean totally real, echt snow. Thick, cold, and white. And crunchy. When I went downstairs to breakfast I just couldn't stop staring outside. I'd woken up in a world of white, it was unmöglich. Our walk to the busstop was interesting, to say the least.

This afternoon after school I told Kerstin "Ich gehe zur Post". But rather than doing that, I walked around the corner and met Irina, who had baked this amazing cake. We waited for the others and then went and knocked on our door. I'd arranged with Gerda that she would make Kerstin answer the door. When she did, we all screamed Birthday praises at her. It was really cool, she was actually surprised. Überraschungs Party! So anyway, we had that for a while, ate Irina's cake AND a Spiegeleierkuchen that Gerda had also gebackt. Then we went outside and had a Schneeballschlacht. That was fun, but the thing that they never put in the fun Christmas movies is how much they hurt. And omg how cold they make you. After that I went inside and had a looooooooooong hoooooooooooooot bath. I deserved it.

Well, I'm glad that I got to be here for Kerstin's Geburtstag. Today I said "Alles Gute zum Genurtstag" to her 16 times. Get it? 'Cause she's 16?

Today after school I went shopping in München. I still can't get over what it's like to do that. I was just walking along and I could see the turquoise spires of the Frauenkirche against the darker blue of the sky, and it's just like "oh my God! So beautiful!". And I really feel at home here. Walking along, listening to the Glockenspiel spieling, carrying my shopping bags, I really feel like a local. It's funny, the ONE day we were here in October with school, I really really liked it, and was annoyed at Ms Barda for not giving us more time here. So I was really lucky to be allowed to come back here and explore every little corner of it for myself. And it'll always be my home in Deutschland.

Tonight before I went to bed, I accidently told Kerstin to enjoy her last night as a fifty year-old. It does astound me how I've managed to survive here for two months without setting fire to more things.

"Hallo, hallo, ich bin dein Ohrwurm, dein Ohrwurm."

Today after lunch Kerstin, Karlheinz, und ich went mountain bike riding. We rode to Dachau, and rode past the Concentration Camp, which was really foreboding and feaky. And what makes it stranger is that it's just plonked there in the middle of a normal village with houses and school and people and paddocks.

Then we rode to Ampermoching, the river was really beautiful, and we also went to the Ruder Regatta Strecke, which was literally sparkling. But omg I was so tired and after that I was extremely grateful for the hot cup of tea and several hundred slices of Donauwelle. The counter clicky thing on Karlheinz's bike said that we'd ridden 22km, which I thought was pretty good.

Today after breakfast I went shopping in München. My main aim was to find a birthday present for Kerstin, it's her Geburtstag on Tuesday, but I was also shopping for myself as well. Plus omg I love München SO much. I feel really at home here. It's so cool just to be walking around shopping, and then look up and be like, "hey, there's that ancient Church", or walk into the Glockenspiel chiming (11-o-clock is the best... today I was there for it), or any of the other thousands of gorgeous buildings that are in München.

So that was a good morning, I bought Kerstin a present from Lush 'cause she took me in there once to smell it, and I also bought myself the book "Der Teufel trägt Prada". I also went to "Dallmayr", this really cool Bayerisch shop that's really famous. Like, people take photos of themselves buying stuff from there. And there's fountains and stuff inside, it's really cool. And then after that I got home in time for Mittagsessen, what a co-incidence (The Germans are always eating).

After lunch Kerstin und ich went on a bike ride to Schwarzhulzel, which was really cool. We rode over streams and had to leave our bikes to walk over these tiny log bridges, which was nice. And the view was amazing, so beautiful. We talked a lot, it was probably the first time we'd been alone together properly since I got back from Independent Travel, so that was good. And it was a really fun afternoon.

Tonight on TV there was this random show called "Wetten Das". It's crazy in typical German style, and Keith Urban was one of the celebrities on it. And he spoke in an Ozzie accent, which was really nice to hear! Being away from home makes you miss the dumbest things about your country, I reckon. And there was this kid who could read alphabet soup letters with his mouth, and a guy who held his breath underwater and did a rubix cube with one hand. Like I said, crazy Germans.

Buchstaben Suppe

Today I let myself sleep in. It was the first time I hadn't set my alarm clock in months. Even on the weekends I set it 'cause The Germans idea of a sleep in is eight-o-clock. But I decided I deserved to actually sleep, I still wasn't caught up from the two hours I got during Winter Camp und Independent Travel.

I eventually went downstairs at about 11, and it was cool 'cause all the breakfast things were waiting for me on the table still. Kerstin und Gerda weren't there, they'd gone einkaufen, but Julia was and she practically made me breakfast (I was still rather tired). Then we made more anzacs, yes, that's right, the double batch was schon weg.

Then Hannah called to say that her Doctor wouldn't let her travel 'cause she's really sick. Like, blood test required type of sick. Which isn't good normally but pretty scary when you're in a foreign country. Get well, Kiwi Gal!

And then something terrible happened. I started getting a migraine. I was so pissed off. Migraines were a big issue for me in the few months before I left Oz, but since I've been in Germany I've only had a few headaches. So the long and the short of it is that I went to bed. I slept 'till Mittagsessen, got up, ate that, then went back to bed. Then I woke up again and it was Abendessen. A day of sleeping and eating. Toll!

Today at school they had a maths test. I, of course, didn't bother doing it, though I probably should have 'cause it actually would have helped. Their maths is hard. But my calculator's kind of broken at the moment... Anyway, apparently the test was really hard, and they didn't have enough time, so it went all through the Pause. And omg afterwards: the reactions. Everyone was really pissed off/ upset usw... Bachi kicked a chair, I'm not kidding, Kerstin looked like she was about to cry, and another girl in our class went home sick. She actually went home. I can't believe that school is like that here. They're so desperate to succeed that they can't even see that it was just a test, and in the tenth class at that rate. I mean, we're not like that, are we? I know Fort St has it's nerds, but we don't get physically sick after we go badly in a test, do we?!?! I mean, do we?

And then during Deutsch there was an announcement over the loudspeaker to say that all afternoon Unterrichts were cancelled because of the impending hurricane. The principal said to go straight home and stay there. Well, all the juniors were happy about no afternoon classes (they were the ones who would've had to stay at school), but I was kind of freaked out 'cause tonight Hannah und ich were planning to travel to Trier, then have the weekend away, also going to Köln und Heidelberg. Kerstin said we may as well go anyway, and her Mum said the same thing when I got home. So that was all good, we weren't due to travel for a while anyway, it was a night train to Trier. Then gerda went outside to make the house and their Wohnwagen secure, and when she came back she told me maybe we should change our plans 'till tomorrow. I think the hurricane was a bigger deal than everyone had expected. So I called Hannah and we decided to do exactly what we'd been planning to do, but exactly a day later. ie. leave tomorrow night not tonight. Then we started getting all these reports about the hurricane. People were dying 'cause they were getting swept off bridges and out of windows, and cars and trucks were being flipped over on the roads. Right at the point where I was getting REALLY relieved that we'd decided not to travel, we found out that all transport was off. No buses, S-Bahn, U-Bahn, Deutsche Bahn, nothing. Taxi drivers made a lot of money tonight.

After dinner we heard on the radio that school was cancelled in all of Bayern for tomorrow. That was cool. So we had a long weekend ahead of us. Yay!

Viele Köche verderben den Brei.

*

Today after school Kerstin und Julia both had their oom-paa-pa music group, so I got the bus home with Lucas. We talked about tonnes of different stuff, until eventually we got onto the subject of money. Lucas was convinced that 1 Euro was 1.3 dollars, which got me really freaked out 'cause this whole time I thought 1 Euro was 69 cents. I was like, "omg, how much money have I spent?!?!" But I was sure I was right, we fought about it for ages, me giving examples of the money I'd changed over at the airport, Lucas telling me what he'd read in the paper that morning. Then right at the end Lucas said, "Warte mal, are Australian dollars different to American dollars?". Oh. My. God. I can't believe it took us so long to figure out we were talking about different currencies. So then we figured out how dumb we'd been, and all was better again. That was an interesting journey home.

This afternoon when Kerstin got home we made more anzacs, but this time we made double the recipe, at her request. So now I've taught her how to make "Australian plätzchen".

And tonight on TV I saw Germany's version of Australian Idol for the first time. Here it's called "Deutschland sucht den Superstar" and it is SO hilarious. Whoever works the camera has a lot of fun filming really random things, or zooming in on someone's hand or something while they're singing. It makes the show a hell of a lot more interesting, that's for sure.

Man soll das Eisen schmieden, solange es heiß ist.

*

Today after school I made anzac biscuits for my host family. I wasn't sure how appropriate that was, so I decided not to tell them about how they're linked to the war. But they had asked me to make something typically Australian, and anzac biscuits, pavlova, and lamingtons were the only things I could think of. Anyone else got suggestions? Anyway, the point is, they LOVED them. I'm utterly serious. The batch I made was gone before I could barely eat one myself. They totally devoured them. So I had to promise them that I would make more tomorrow, and this time Kerstin's going to help so she can learn how to do it.

Wir gehen mucksmäuschenstill für immer und ewig im Gänsemarsch in der Schublade herum.

*

Today it was back to school again, jiggedy jig. It was really nice to see everyone again though, and talk about holidays and whatnot. It's hard to believe I only have two weeks of school in Germany left. I'm really going to miss the people here.

In sport after jogging around for AGES to "I don't feel like dancing" (Bachi, where WERE you?!?!), we danced. That was really cool. It was to a Black Eyed Peas song, einfach so, and it was a strange cross between ballet, mambo, und jazz. Then we played handball. Not handball like tennis ball handball, but actual handball, the sport. I'd never played it before, though I'd watched a game in Berlin. And for some reason I was really good at it. I scored most of our team's goals. I got to be the foreign exchange student who is unexpectedly good at something.

And tonight I went to Turnen with Julia. Kerstin was... somewhere. Something to do with a flute? A cello? Some form of concert, anyway. Anyway, that was really fun, I got to hang out with the girls there, who are really friendly and nice, we have fun together, that's for sure.

Then tonight after dinner Julia put on Sister Act 2. I'd never seen in in English, but in German it was hilarious. Whoopi Goldberg's voice is SO COOL.

Es ist nicht alles Gold, was glänzt.

Today after breakfast we had a walking tour of München. We went to this new Shopping Centre that was designed by an eccentric architect and caused a lot of controversy in München, but I thought it was really cool. It had plants coming down from the ceiling and fairylights everywhere. And in the front was this giant metal ball thing that was only hanging on a couple of ropes. Apparently each rope was holding 4.2 tonnes, so we decided not to stand underneath it for too long. Then we walked down Maximillianstraße, a really posh shopping street. Then we went into the Frauenkirche, which was really cool 'cause they were in the middle of Mass so there was all this singing and it sounded really good. Then we went to the Platz around the corner from the Residenz and looked at the "most beautiful Church in München". It was built by the King and Queen because their prayers of having a son were finally answered, and they'd promised that they would build the most beautiful Church if they were. On the way to the Residenz we rubbed all the lion's noses for good luck, and then we went inside the Residenz. I hadn't been in there before and it was omg beautiful. I was so annoyed 'cause right at that moment I ran out of space on my camera. But it doesn't matter, it was still gorgeous.

After the Residenz we went to the Weisses Brauhaus for lunch, which is a typical beerhouse in München. Then we walked to Marienplatz and said goodbye to Frau S, then the three of us got the train to the Hbf. We went shopping for a bit, then I said goodbye to Kate und Jack who were waiting for a train to Freiberg, and went and picked up my bags to go home. I was sitting on the platform waiting for my train home, when I heard someone say my name. I turned and realised that Andreas was sitting next to me. He was on his way home from a camp in Landshut. That was cool `cause his station is a stop after mine so I got to talk to him about tonnes of stuff on the train. I'm so jealous that he gets to stay here 'till July. But we swapped a lot of stories and told each other what we've been doing, now I wanna go to Landshut!

Tonight I talked to my parents on the phone. It was probably my last chance to before I come home, or at least before I go to Berlin, because about an hour after we spoke they left to go to Brisbane. But it was really nice to speak to them, Gelly sounds like she's gotten about five years older in the two months I've been away. And apparently we have a new bathroom. Oh the things parents change when you go away.

Today Jack, Kate, und ich met in the hotel restaurant to have breakfast, then Frau Stempfle met us in the lobby. A limousine picked us up, which I thought was pretty cool, and we drove to Fussen. On the way we stopped off to look at the mountains, we were so lucky, we had the best weather and we could see everything. Then we went to look at the most famous Maypole in Germany, which was gianormous. We also stopped off at a "Miracle Church", which means it was built because of a miracle that happened. Apparently a statue began to cry there a few hundred years ago, so they built a Church in that place.

Then we got to Neuschwanstein. The limousine dropped us off and we went for a walk around the lake. Then we went and did a tour of Hohenschwangau, which is where König Ludwig II's parents lived. Then we walked up the mountain towards Neuschwanstein, but on the way stopped at a restaurant to have lunch. Then we had a tour of Neuschwanstein, and even though I'd been there before it didn't matter. I think I'd forgotten how beautiful it is. Neuschwanstein is known as the "fairy-tale castle", and it was also the castle used in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.

After that we took a drive to Oberammergau, and had a really cool view of the mountains. We went to the Passionspiel Haus and accidently stumbled into a private tour, but we told them we were Australian and they invited us along. The Passionspiel Haus was really cool, it's got room for thousands of people, and the stage is open to the sky and really old looking. It's made of stone. Then we left there and went and looked at the houses that are painted like fairy tales. The houses are actually Waisenhäuser, so it's sweet that they've been painted like that.

Then we drove back to the hotel and quickly got changed for the Opera. We went out to dinner in a restaurant near the Viktualienmarkt, and then went to the Staatstheater to see La Bohème. That was really cool. We had really good seats, and it was in German, but of course, since it was an Opera even the Germans couldn't understand it. But it was still really good.

"Das Brot der Kunstler"

Today Hannah und ich woke up in Mainz. We went to a Bäckerei for breakfast, and then went exploring. Mainz is a really beautiful town on the Rhein, and we were there in time to see the market being set up, which was really cool. The Dom in Mainz is also really beautiful, we went in and walked around it for a while.

After Mainz we caught the train to Wiesbaden, which is another town on the Rhein about ten minutes away. That was also really beautiful, it had a really nice Rathaus and a cool fountain as well.

Then we caught another train to Frankfurt, which is about half an hour away. We explored there for a bit and found some really cool buildings and a really beautiful park. But the thing that Frankfurt is known for (other than Frankfurters) is the fact that it's a highrise city. Which in Germany is unique but for us is relatively normal.

After that we got on our train to München. I was meeting my sponsor there in the afternoon, and Hannah was going to get another train home (Piding... bottom of Bavaria).

Jack, Kate, und ich were all sponsored by Siemens. They wanted to meet us and sp they invited us to München for the weekend. Once I got to the Hbf, I caught a taxi to the hotel, and met Kate und Jack, who'd been on independent travel together. From there we walked to Siemen's forum and met Frau Freidl, who'd organised the weekend for us. She showed us around the offices, and took us to a conference room, where they gave us drinks and books about Bavaria. Then another guy came in a gave us this powerpoint show about Siemens, which was actually interesting. Did you know that Americans spend 3.5 billion hours a year in a trffic jam? After that we just started talking to him and he started showing us all these photos of his holidays, cycling in the snow and stuff. Kinda random, but it was cool.

Then we had our own private tour of the Siemen's Museum, which was REALLY cool. The guide was really nice, and everyone was treating us like VIP's, which I guess we kinda were. And we saw this technology they've developed which means you can call your appliances. Like, you can be somewhere, and call your oven from your mobile to make sure it's turned off. And if it's not turned off, you dial a code and turn it off. How cool is that?

After that we went with Frau Freidl to a typical Bavarian restaurant, it was this really cool beerhouse. We had to walk down all these stairs like in a Church tower to get to the cellar, where there were these giant beer drums that had tables in them where you could actually eat.

Then we walked around the corner to Zirkus Crone, the same place I'd gone to with my host family on Silvester. But this time it was better, I think 'cause of the audience or something. Anyway, it was a lot of fun, and we had a really good night.

Today Emma, Hannah, und ich got up at 5:30 in the morning to catch a train to Hamburg. The others were coming a few hours later, but unlike us they were staying in Hamburg for a few days, whereas we only had the day there.

When we arrived there, we locked up our bags at the Hbf, then went shopping at Rossman. Which is this really cool shop in Germany.

Hamburg is Beatles' territory. They lived here for two years before they were famous, playing gigs until they eventually were all extradited back to England. One of them 'cause he was breaking the curfew by staying out to play the gigs (if you were under 18 you were meant to be at home by ten), two of them 'cause they set fire to a condom in front of the place they were living, and one of them 'cause of drugs. Paul lost his virginity in Hamburg. Just an interesting fact I happened to learn. (Katie is a MASSIVE Beatles fan).

Anyway, the weather wasn't very good but we wondered around for a bit anyway, taking random photos of stuff we found. The Hamburger Rathaus is really beautiful, and it has a cool statue out the front of it. We found a pub called "S.L.U.T" which Hannah absolutely HAD to take a photo of me standing under the sign. Then I found a Christmas tree on the side of the road and picked it up and carried it for a while. Then we decided to go back and meet the others at the Hbf. This was mostly because we wanted to say goodbye, they were staying that night in Hamburg, but Emma was leaving that afternoon to go to Heidelberg to visit a friend, and Hannah and I were planning on getting a night train to Mainz. So we took a group photo, for some reason in front of the toilets, and then we went our separate ways. We decided we were hungry, so we went into this little bäckerei to buy something to eat. It was one of those ones where there's tables that you can stand at but no chairs, and 'cause we were all really tired I asked the guy if we were allowed to sit down. He was like "auf dem boden?" and gave me a weird look, but then he led us out the back, cleared away some trays and let us sit there. He put the radio on for us and we spread out my jacket as our picnic blanket. When he saw that we were trying to take a photo of our "bäckerei adventure", he even took it for us. He was really nice, and it turns out he has family living in Sydney so we talked about that for a while. After about an hour and a half of wandering around, we went back to the Hbf with the intention of getting the train to the Harbour, seeing as how that's what Hamberg's famous for and 'cause the weather had cleared up a bit. Suddenly I heard someone cry out "Thoma!" which is really weird when you're in a foreign country and don't know anyone. But then we saw Cam und James running towards us. It turns out they had lost Brittany and had been looking for her the last hour or so. So we helped them with that, Brittany eventually called us to tell us where she was, so they went off to meet her and we all said goodbye again.

By that stage we didn't have time to go to the Harbour anymore before Emma's train to Heidelberg, so we decided to jump on a random train that was on the platform and see where it took us. It took us to a station called "Berliner Tor", which actually turned out to be a bit of a hole, but we explored there anyway and bought something from a bäckerei. Then we went back to the Hbf and put Emma on her train to Heidelberg, which was also sad 'cause now we won't see her 'till Berlin.

Then Hannah und ich went to meet her old German teacher, a German who lived in NZ for five years but is now back in Deutschland. Ms S was this incredibly nice, funny woman, she talked to us about everything and told us all these hilarious stories. We were speaking in English because she said she was desperate to hear a Kiwi accent again (Hannah), but an Ozzie accent was also accepted, luckily for me. She bought us dinner too, which was really nice. When she'd gone Hannah und ich still had a while to wait for our train to Mainz, and we bumped into this Ozzie family from Brisbane who were waiting for a train to Paris. Then we went shopping. I bought myself a Charlie Brown book 'cause it was in German, which I thought was pretty cool, and then we went to buy some postcards. There we bumped into the Ozzie family again. It's seriously something about travelling, you rotate towards your fellow country people. I swear it's true.

Then we took photos of ourselves eating hamburgers in Hamberg, just for the sake of it, and then we went to pick up our bags from the lockers 'cause Hannah needed something from them and we figured we might as well since there wasn't too long to go before our train. And it was amazingly lucky that we decided to do that, because first of all we got lost and couldn't find our way back to the right locker room (Hamberg has about five, and they're all in different places), and then for some reason the locker refused to open. We started getting a bit freaked out because the help desk had closed five minutes before, and then I found a sign saying that we were only supposed to leave our stuff there for SIX hours, not 72 like in the Hbf's. So we didn't really know how to get our stuff, and we really needed it 'cause our train was due soon. I think that was the most panicky I'd been on independent travel. Anyway, these two station guards walked by and told us that all we needed to do was out more money in. Which was a relief but I mean, how were WE supposed to know that?!?!? Argh. So then began my mad dash to nearby shops to get money changed over 'cause the lockersonly accepted certain coins. Eventually we got our bags and instead of having time like we thought we would, we went straight down to get our train. Which is where we almost did something very stupid. Luckily for us we saw the Ozzie family (again), who we knew were going to Paris. So that made us wonder if it was the right train. It turns out that it was one of those trains that breaks into two trains at about three in the morning while your asleep, and we'd very nearly gotten on the Paris part. Which, when thinking about it, wouldn't have been so bad :) Luckily for us, most Germans are nice people so they helped us get on the right carriage. For some reason it was a night train where they don't turn off the lights, so we had a rather interesting night of "sleep" on our way to Mainz.

"You're so laid back, you're almost horizontal."

Our night train got us into Dresden at about six in the morning. It was still dark and so after we locked up our bags at the Hbf, we started walking around. All of the bäckereis were starting to open, so we bought breakfast and took photos of all the beautiful buildings. Then Katie, Catherine, Hannah, und ich accidently stumbled into the Zwinger. It was empty 'cause it was so early in the morning, and it was absolutely GORGEOUS. By this time it was light and we just wondered around it in awe, climbing the towers and stairs, and it was just so cool. Then the rest of our group who'd gone around the outside first came in too, and then we decided to split up again and meet back at the lockers at four to check into the youth hostel.

Hannah and I went off and looked at the statue and opera house and everything (which is on the other side of the Zwinger), then we deicded to take a bus tour of Dresden. It was really cool, it took us to lots of things I hadn't seen even though I'd already been to Dresden, and also to these castles and stuff which are a little bit out of the main part of the city. Dresden has definetely got to be one of my favourite places in Germany. Everywhere you look you see another beautiful building or mosaic on a wall or SOMETHING. And nothing's the same, which means you can walk around looking at everything and not get bored.

Then Hannah and I went and had traditional Saxon soup in a restaurant, which was really, really yummy. The we walked around randomly for a bit and found a photo shop where we got our photos burnt onto C.D.'s. We had a really good talk to the woman who worked there, she was so nice. Then we wandered around for a bit, went into the Frauenkirche, walked across the Elbe, discovered this Art Library (all because of a small door), and climbed the statue in front of the opera. Eventually it was time to go meet the others, so we walked back to the Hbf. On the way we got interviewed by this guy, which was really funny, he was asking us the most random questions, and we were answering him in a strange mix of German and English.

Once we'd met up with the others and (finally) found our youth hostel, Hannah and I went back into the main part of Dresden to do a night bus tour. We got a little bit lost and ended up in this really cool part of Dresden that had these pubs. We even found an Australian restaurant, which was kinda cool. Before we did the night tour, we climbed the statue again, this time in the cover of darkness, and there we ate a tin of peaches that we'd bought at Aldi's, and we sprayed whipped cream onto them (also bought at Aldi's). That was our fun pre-dinner picnic adventure, the continuation of our goal to do random things on independent travel.

The night tour was really cool, everything was lit up and looked SO beautiful. After that we walked back to the youth hostel, buying dinner on the way, and met up with the other people there. We all went to hang out in James, Matt, und David's room, eating the chocolate that Emma und ich had bought in Salzberg. David attempted to teach Cam und Caryn how to play 500, which wasn't very successful seeing as how he wasn't very sure of how to play it himself. Hannah und ich left when a light fell onto David's bed. I mean a massive neon type light. And it was even freakier 'cause he was about to sit there. Hmmm.

So after I quickly got dressed, packed, and ate breakfast, Emma, Hannah, und ich went to the Hbf for our train to Nürnberg. James was staying in München for the day so he could visit his sponsor, and we organised to meet him at Nürnberg Hbf at midnight for our train to Dresden.

So the three of us managed to get on a different train to Nürnberg than we were meant to. I mean, it was still going to Nürnberg, only a hell of a lot slower. But that was ok 'cause there are plenty of fun things to do on a train. If you know where to find them. When we eventually got there, Nürnberg was SO beautiful. We wondered around for a bit, looking at all of the beautiful builidings, then went to Tourist Information 'cause my host mum had told me that we should go to the Lebkuchen factory there. You know? Like Nürnberger Lebkuchen? The famous gingerbread? Anyway, so I went to ask about that and the chick behind the desk thought I was crazy. But anyway we found out you can only do a tour of a factory when you're a big group, which we weren't, so we decided to give that a miss.

Instead we wondered around Nürnberg. We stumbled accidently into a market, found this really beautiful river, a castle on a mountain, and got our photo taken with the police. Something you have to do in Germany. But best of all was the Dom. It was AMAZING. We separated and walked around it alone, and it was just amazing. I know it's probably the corniest thing I've ever said in my entire life, but I really felt like I was about to cry.

The fountain in the Hauptmarkt was also really cool. By that time it was getting quite late, so we decided to go have an Aldi adventure. Which meant walking around Aldi picking up random cheap things and buying them. We bought a frozen cheescake which needed 3-4 hours to defrost, which we had 'cause we`d found out earlier that we weren`t allowed to take the midnight train to Dresden 'cause we hadn't booked it, and we weren't allowed to book it 'cause you have to do that a day in advance. Go figure. So the next available train left at 5:30 am. So we were planning on staying up 'till then. An adventure, some might say.

After our Aldi adventure we went to the Hbf and found the McDonald's which would be open 'till 3am, meaning then we'd only have a couple of hours to burn. We went to the upstairs part and made ourselves comfortable in the lounge area by taking off our shoes and starting to play cards. After a few hours I decided we should probably stand up, so we did some starjumps, then Emma und ich taught Hannah the nutbush, then we all did the macarena. By this time we'd attracted quite a crowd of people. This drunk woman started talking to me in German, we talked about what we were doing and where we came from and stuff, like I said, travelling is about meeting random people. Meanwhile, Hannah was talking to one of the guy's who worked at McDonald's, the people there were really nice and had been looking after us all night, so sweet. Then suddenly I saw Brittany coming up the stairs. Which was unexpected. I mean, we knew the rest of our group was in Nürnberg, they'd gone there from München that morning too, like us, only THEY probably took the right train. So we hadn't seen them that day. Anyway, she told us that the rest of the group was on the platform, they were planning on getting the midnight train anyway, which hadn't even occurred to us. So that meant a wild dash down to the lockers in the Hbf where we'd locked up our bags, then getting to the platform just in time to ask these random guys if they'd seen a group of Ozzies, then hopping on the carriage that they directed us too. We found James as well, which was lucky, then we settled back into a very uncomfortable sleep, to wake up the next morning in Dresden.

"I think I'll- ooh! The cheescake might be ready!"