Day 54...shut up you baaaastards! - 19th August

Had a complete Young Ones moment this morning (fans will know, others will not. I believe I shall tap into Mum, Dad, Inny, Kristin, Emily). As we were staying in the town square, we woke up to our horror to all these bells going off! And the bells sounded just like in the Young Ones episode where Vivian is hanging out the window screaming "shut up you bastards! Stop those bloody bells ringing, its only 11 o'clock!!!" And then the ax murderer lady is in Ricks bed. Nate and I were fast asleep when they went off, and they were on for prolly only 5 minutes or so, but it felt like an hour! I heard myself moaning half asleep "shut up you baastards..."

Apart from that lovely start, we got up our usual time and had our inclusive breakfast. I tried to wreak some revenge from being reamed yesterday by trying to waste as much as I could haha. We then spent the first half of the day in Kassel. 'why?' I hear you ask. Well, we had some stuff to do and needed a town to do it in. We tried to find some fiction books in English, so we would stop squabbling over the one book that was left (a Grisham book I hocked from Munich B&B). But there were no books. We tried to find a cooler bag so we could have some drinks and snacks in the car. There was no cooler bag. So we spent some time on the internet - I got up to Ireland in my blog. So far behind! Then we walked up to the Brothers Grimm museum, which was why we were there in the first place. (The surrounding forest on the way to Kassel looked quite fairy-taley - but no accomodation). In the museum - the damn staircase to the museum was broken, so we couldn't go up there! Damn Kassel. Disappointed, we left. However on the way in, we spotted a cute cafe (the only one in Kassel) that as perched on a hill overlooking the surrounding countryside. So we went in there and sat in the sun on the balcony to regroup. It was a nice lunch, and the waiter was an absolute delight - the first really really friendly German we had met. The Germans are a friendly bunch, and hospitable - but area bit reserved and leave you to your own devices a bit. THe Irish and the Scots shit all over them for hospitality - or even driving! You pass an Irishman on the road (just generally driving by mind you) and he waves happily at you! You let a German cut in in front of you in traffic (a favour) and he doesn't give you any acknowledgement. Hmmm

Anyways we headed off straight to the Harz Mountains after lunch, and they ended up not being too far away. Whiel not spectacular like the ALps, they were heavily wooded pine forests and quite pretty. Very Brothers Grimmish in fact. We stopped early afternoon in about the middle of them, and picked a small town for its small towneyness. It was called St Andreasburg and would be a pretty good ski town in winter. We found a brochure at the TIC and picked a cute B*Bski house on the edge of town (of what little town there was). The lady didn't speak a lick of English but we managed to fenagle a room at a pricey 70 euro but it had breakfast and was really very nice. The room was lovely with tables and chairs and a chocolate on the pillow.. There was a nice little balcony with a view of pinetrees which would look fantastic when covered in snow. We've been trying to image all we've been seeing in Germany covered in snow. Some points you can, and other times its really difficult.

We popped on some sandshoes and went for a walk. Och, its so good to get some exercise. THe last time was in Scotland for Ben A'an. The first route we took was shorter than we realised, so we lapped around and did a longer route. It all felt like being in a German fairy tale. There were big looming pine trees, mossy hills, babbling brooks and big creamy mushrooms. There were big grey boulders under moss, and rotten tree stumps. (and of course some nasty plant which stuck both our knees). When we came out of the forest, we were on the side of a steep hill overlooking green farmland and the village. The village was small wooden houses and a proud little church with steeple. So cute! It looked like the german village countryside you'd stick on a placemat or something.

After that we did the best thing about booking this room - a pool! Oh yess......yesssss...a nice indoor swimming pool. It felt so good on our aching travelled bodies. We have been yearning for a good swim and immersing our bodies fully inwater. Ahh for so long! It felt so refreshing.

Feeling nice and cool we walked back into town and had a bite to eat on the outdoor patio of a local restaurant. There was some shindig going on in the street but it looked like a private club thing and didn't have any spark. We watched a retarted guy yelling and trying to bash up some guys car, and then a field absolutely FULL of sheep. We wandered back home, via a hilarious shortcut that involved a big dirty hill which took as long as the other walk itself, we made it back. We snuggled in bed and read books and relaxed, feeling good and snuggly.

Weird though, after a big walk and stuff, neither of us could get to sleep for ages.