How Did Medieval Princesses Get to Their Castles?!?

No, that's not a rhetorical or hypothetical question.

You see for the past few days Johnny and I have been crusing up the Rhine between Koblenz and Mainz. It's really, really beautiful. And just to make it more interesting we have been staying at the German hostels (Deutscher Jugenherberge - see Timo, I am putting the German you taught me to good use, many a time has Wo ist die jugenherberge? come in handy!) which are dramatically situated in hilltop fortresses and cliffs. The view is absolutely AMAZING and getting to explore old fortresses and ruined castles at sunset is an absolute treat. However getting up to them is an absolute b***** (especially when you have giant packs!), which really for me, begs the question of how the princesses of ye olde days got to these great hunks of rock on top of the cliffs! My theory is that they were carried up by the knights in shining armour but alas, Johnny refuses to be my knight in shining armour! {Insert angry and tired expression here}

(And if you're reading this Shao, Lil - I did not see any Rhine maidens, very sad)

Before Germany we also went through Belgium and Luxembourg.

Belgium should really be called Beerdom - they have the most incredible selection of beers I have EVER seen ... the menu at the youth hostel along was 26 beers long. Apparently there is a place in Brussels that has a beer menu 7000 beers strong, but I'm not sure if that's just a fanciful rumour. I even finished THREE entire beers in one night in Bruges (which is much nicer than Brussels in my not so humble opinion) but I figure that doesn't really disturb my girly drink inclinings as they were peach, raspberry and cherry flavoured respectively... mmm... uber sweet beer that doesn't taste like beer...

Oh yes and I did get chocolates in Belgium. The photo is from St Hubert's gallery in Brussels which has some of the most amazing chocolate displays I have ever seen. The chocolates were yum :p

As for Luxembourgh, I really thought Luxembourg would be cool, but it's not, really. They have some interesting casemates (fort tunnels in the hill) but otherwise it's sufficient just to wave at it as you go past on the train. (Just don't blink at the crucial moment because you might miss it!)

(Oh and Meike don't worry, Johnny and I have eaten enough currywurst for you, Timo and everyone else at Fudan put together, we're thoroughly addicted!

Oh and Shuggles, yes it's true, I ate 3 boxes of Cini Minis in 2 weeks in Berlin :p I have been craving it since Beijing so had to overeat my fill when I got to Germany! :p We shop at Aldi for everything except the Cini Minis :p

I'm really going to suffer when I go back to Australia... must have more German food!)

PS: I'm sorry I've been slack with my entries but it's hard to upload photos and write entries when you're on the road, especially when I have to spend so much time looking after and arguing with Johnny :p I promise I will have lots more photos uploaded sometime (probably when I get back to Berlin) It's probably a good thing, I think the reason you guys had so much trouble accessing my album is because you exceeded all the bandwidth!