Overlad 1972 - Day 7

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Day 7 - Saturday February 19th

Sylvia is heading home today and so we can travel together. It seems to be best to travel by train and so we get up early and walk to the train station which is very picturesque and decorated with paintings - very nice. Alas the first train is quite late in the day and so we decide to hitch. Now this decision is quickly shown to have a flaw as the roadside is full of other hitch-hiking students but we take our place in the queue. The first lift only gets us a short distance but then another stroke of good fortune as one of Sylvia's friend spots her and gives us a lift all the way to a pre-arranged meeting point for the final journey to Schonberg. Schonberg is a beautiful village just south of Stuttgart and clearly from the houses it is very prosperous.

Sylvia has two brothers Hans and Harold and they kindly take Michael and myself to the big football match - Stuttgart versus Borussia Munchen Gladbach. I hitched with Harold and I was impressed with his style - just stand at traffic lights and knock on the windows of waiting drivers and ask for a lift - it was amazing how many obliged ( I never found the nerve to try this tactic myself). The match was excellent in front of a noisy 30000 crowd. Netzer played for Borussia and gave a brilliant display of passing, running with the ball and generally dictating the match. Borussia won 1-0 and the entrance fee was DM2.50. Harold used the same hitching tactics on the way home choosing a Mercedes - well why not !

We had a very pleasant evening with Sylvia, her brothers and one of their girlfriends Ulla and played table ice hockey and listened to music. The house was beautiful with luxurious furnishings and loads of rooms. The food was superb and no doubt we ate quite a lot. It was also nice to have a bath in nice surroundings and have a chance to wash some clothes. An excellent nights sleep.

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