going from St Goar to the wrong side of the tracks

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St Goar and to Mainz then Frankfurt - 13 Oct
Set an alarm in St Goar for breakfast - cannot do cold meat and cheese for b'fast tho - I'd rather eat soused herrings (as in Finland) thanks rather than lunch at that hour. A brief walk along the few shops and dawdling seniors. Then onto the boat at 12.20 - smaller and more crowded than yesterday. As far as Rudesheim - and then had to wait almost an hour for train to Mainz-Castel. Waste of time as I found out - should have gone to Wiesbaden and then got train to Mainz-Hauptbahnof as -Castel is obviously on the wrong side of river from main part of town (I need a proper map!). Abandoned that idea and waited a further 40 mins for a train to Frankfurt-am-Main and chanced my arm not buying an extra ticket. Got a half way decent double room in F'furt proper for 50E - thank goodness the Book Show was last week! (they are booked up months in advance then).

Some average Italian (after Poccini) - minestrone - eggplant in minestrone?? not to mention carrots - spinach was OK. I know its a versatile concept but this was really vege soup. And saltimbocca alla Romana was OK - but could have skipped the salad I ordered - where's the oil as well as the vinegar lads?? - it was very sharp indeed.

Hotel is close to station and sex-shop bit sleazy area - and noisy in the street as well. Have booked myslef to Munich on a fast train tomorrow as only have 4 more nights here after this - last will be 17th in Vienna before leave at 7pm for London. So this is mostly some pics - no time for text.

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Photos

this is actually a small island
in the middle of the Rhein

Comments

[Huddo]

St Goar/Munich.
Hi Mike, Loved the cuckoo shop photo, and the Castle in the small island! Fast train to Munich, your days are going fast. Don is on the mend, may be "home" in a few days. Love Huddo.

[Barbara]

in Joburg
Hi - leave joburg for BKK tomorrow - was quite interesting but v expensive place w tax, VAT etc. They really gouge u on the exchange rate - I used my atm card to withdraw 500R as the rate was so bad at the booth plus they whip out commission etc. Visited a project in Hillbrow which was pretty interesting. Of course I wish I had more time here to travel and visit Capetown and my friends in Moz ...maybe next time. Ate far too much food and bought some wine at the supermarket - pinotage - which is going down well with my 20 R chicken wrap. Bought some Roobios tea plus some other essentials such as undies and vitamin tablets. See u next week in BKK

[mr mink]

gouging by Rands/any currency by Travelex
Travelex - who seem to have a monopoly of the world airport exchange ripoffs - are absolutely the worst. Trouble is your bank also charges you 3.5-4% on the overall amount on ATM use - prepaid debit cards in Euro or USD are the only way I will go now (which on ATM use still (for the moment) charge only a flat fee per tranz - the way ATM cards used to be!) - otherwise outright cash of course with attendant supposed security risks.