Cameron was away to work when I woke up late glad to not be in any rush, I just charged my electronic equipment up logged onto cammy`s WiFi and drank coffee while waiting for for him to come in from work, when he got in at three he made us lunch which was very pleasant, I had done my washing it was dry and I knew it would be best to get the bike all organised before we went out (time would be more limited the next day) sort out what to leave and what to take home as the bike was now stored in what Cameron called the dungeon on an old bed-sheet,
It wasn't too long until we were ready to go out then we stopped off at his local shop not a corner shop around a mini market size, I am a very curious shopper I am bad enough at home but love a good rake around different societies quirks of taste, this shop I loved lots of good wholesome tasty stuff lots of organic fresh fruit free from plastic wrappers packed in little open cardboard boxes instead, better variety of everything as far as I could see and all clean and well organised, I asked cammy if he shopped here a lot but he mostly goes to Aldi and thinks this place is a bit pricey he just wanted juice for the tram, I said that recently I liked to have an afternoon radler so I would have one of those instead of juice or water he said hey I will have a radler also, I was surprised by all the cigarettes and miniature bottles of spirits at the check out! in our nanny state that`s totally frowned upon its a much free`er Europe for sure, there was also cigarette machines everywhere on street corners and in pubs, some pubs also had phone charger machines
we got our tram tickets his town is one stop away from zone two which is a difference of a couple of euro! the ticket for your journey that you buy at the station from the platform machine, then once on the tram you have to stamp your ticket in another machine, but we could save a few euro if we buy a zone two ticket and wait one stop before stamping? drinking our shandy`s on the train with a un`stamped ticket! what would people think of these Scotsmen if they were to do such a thing!?
it was still early afternoon Cameron wanted us to get the train to Heidelberg further up the Necker river its a more scenic tourist place not too far away, Mannheim is where these two large rivers meet the Rhine and Necker, I never previously realized the significance of these huge river crossroads throughout this region of Europe, the rivers serve as big freight highways and where two big rivers meet cities grow,
I had seen lots of scenic towns on my journey north and wasn't sure I could be bothered with the train journey, I said we should have a beer then make a decision, I opted to see his town get a feel for where Cameron is likely to be out and about whilst living here
we left the Irish bar and got on a couple of scooters we were to end up having a bit of a Mannheim scooter pub crawl, but the first spot I wanted to see was the Rhine to sort of say goodbye to my H2O super highway that i had been following for what seemed like ages now, we went up and over a big bridge round the university and a shopping mall stopped for photos, then back the way we came and on to our second Irish bar of the day, but it wasn't open yet!we were hungry so we just had dinner at Murphy`s before collecting a couple of scooters, then over to another district of town to another Irish bar, it was early for this place it gets busy after ten Pm according to cammy, it had lots of darts boards we had a game of round the clock dad won of course! but I don`t mind saying we were not professionals and it was closer than i would have liked lol,
we didn't need scooters for the next place because it was easy walking distance to the next bar the city beach bar, what a cool place there was lots of beach chairs lined along the shore on the sand with tables and parasol's overlooking the Necker river we sat facing the water on deck chairs in the sun, we chatted about the birds! like a pair of twitcher`s we discussed the parrots cormorants geese and Heron, Among other birds we even wassaped our favorite enthusiasts back home Bob & Gary for their opinion on a birds behavior, as pleasant as it was it was quiet and we decided we would grab a couple of scooters and head back into town,
while on the scooter heading back to Murphy`s but on the other side of the road I spotted a shop selling Vegan ice cream! I wanted one being dairy free this year one thing I do miss is an ice cream on a hot day I really enjoy the vegan varieties but they are just not as readily available as I would like, the scooters were parked up out with the mobile phone click end ride ting email with your bill/statement saying what your card has been charged for that journey. which was 2euros 50cent , my scooter bill for the full day was 10.50 it was worth every cent,
after our ice creams we went back to Murphy`s where Cameron introduced me to some work colleagues and then we got the train out to Viernheim to catch up with his house mates in a bar there to end a very pleasant day
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| farewell Rhine for me ! |
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