Eurotrip Day 19: The best start ever to a New Year (for me, anyway)

I was quite surprised to find so many people down at breakfast when Nicole and I finally emerged from our room. We were running a bit late that morning since we both had a quick scrubbing down. Normally, I'd shower at night and leave the mornings free for Nicole. Boy did we need that shower! We woke up smelling even worse than we had when we'd gone to bed.

Amazingly, we all managed to get onto the bus on time and without anyone missing. Nicole was convinced that we'd have lost some people in Prague the night before, but it seems everyone got back to the hotel at some point and get packed and onto the bus in (mostly) one piece.

The bus ride was pretty noisy to start, as though people were still drunk (as one person pointed out), but it got quite pretty quickly when Jen put a movie one. As we watched 21 Jump Street, most of the bus slept. Some apparently threw up, but the front of the bus, where we were sitting, is very far away from the back, so I really don't know that for sure. At one point, though, Nicole commented that the bus was smelling a little pukey.

Throughout the day, stories, rumours, and photos of the previous night were circulating. There was a lot of denial and begging to keep photos off Facebook and comments that "what happens on tour stays on tour." So much for #NoRegrets! Well, except in my case. When I saw the photos of myself on Facebook, I replied, "wow, I look great! Can you put those on Facebook so I can get them?" I was in the minority, though, it seemed.

At about midday, we stopped at a German service station for lunch where we had a very yummy sandwich each. Everyone else opted for a hot meal to replace the breakfast they'd possibly lost on the bus earlier. The public bathrooms there were interesting. Jen described the Germans as being "complete germophobes," and in the bathrooms, you can see why. The toilet flushes itself (only when you're done, not lie the over-eager Italian toilets that flushed three times while I was still on it!) and it cleans itself as well!

On the final stretch of the bus trip, I tried really hard to get some blogging done, but I was so exhausted from our New Year's Eve pub crawl that I mostly spent the remainder of the bus ride napping. It's hard to nap for long, though, since it's enormously uncomfortable and you end up with dead limbs and pins and needles.

When I was awake, I spent time lazily taking in the scenery that was accumulating more and more vineyards as we got closer to the Rhine Valley. There were picturesque castles along the Rhine River, too, reminiscent of the old feudal system in the area. We passed the rock where the fabled Loreley used to lure ancient sailors to a watery grave, eventually arriving in St. Goar, home to both the world's largest free-hanging cuckoo clock and world's largest beer stein.

At the beer stein shop, we were briefly introduced to the history of steins and their production. Very, very briefly. All we were told was that steins could either be intricate and hand-painted or they could be baked with a salt coating for durability so that they wouldn't chip when clinked together. When the lid is closed, it can keep the beer fresh and cold for hours (if it lasts that long), and when it is open, the waiter knows you need a refill.

Up until 40 years ago, big beer halls would use the salted steins for their patrons but stopped because glass steins are cheaper and don't keep the beer fresh so customers would need to drink faster or order fresh beer more frequently. Nowadays, frequent patrons have personal steins that they keep at the beer hall and the waiters will only serve them out of that stein.

The place in St Goar sells a lot of limited edition steins, one for every profession under the sun. There are also country-specific steins (one for Switzerland, too). Their bestseller is a Berlin stein with a piece of the wall on top, which was super expensive. There was also a speciality Contiki stein with all the countries that we have visited on it, also very pricy.

The next activity we had planned in the sleepy town of St Goar was my favourite of the tour and a great way to start the New Year! We tasted fairly sweet wines, probably because it's the most palatable for those that aren't specifically wine lovers. They were all Riesling based, the speciality of the region.

What I loved most about the experience was the fact that the cool, underground cellar simply looked amazing. It was like tasting wine in a cave. Oddly enough, we didn't drink out of wine glasses. Rather, we were given little branded shot glasses that we were allowed to take home, possibly because they're less delicate to transport in luggage.

I was impressed by the quality of the wine overall, especially since it wasn't from a region that I'm at all familiar with. My favourite of the tasting, by far, was the very sweet ice wine, which is made from frozen grapes. Since the grapes need very specific conditions to freeze (it needs to be cold enough for long enough), they make very limited quantities of the wine and can't even produce it every year.

There was no way that I'd be able to get a bottle home in my already quite heavy luggage, so I asked if I could have some shipped home. The answer was yes, but I had to take six bottles, which turned out to be the most expensive wine that I've ever bought. What a way to start the New Year! The best part about ice wine, though, is that you can age it for 25 - 30 years, or you can drink it now. So, I'll be adding it to my expanding wine collection. #NoRegrets

It was quite late by the time we got to our quaint little family-run hotel, where we were greeted by a man sporting a mullet! The rooms were great, though, with very comfy beds and a clean bathroom. What was missing, though, was towels, we discovered as we tried washing up for dinner. Not just mine and Nicole's, but everyone's. The whole tour group was in reception asking about it. It didn't really make much sense, since surely towels are a standard necessity?

Dinner was served late, buffet-style, and we attacked it like a hungry pack of wolves. It was a simple meal of veggie soup, roast pork, boiled potatoes, and dressed lettuce, but it was filling and tasty. After dinner, Nicole headed up to the room, while I sat in the lobby with the smokers (so weird, this indoor smoking thing) and tried to upload pictures using the wifi I'd paid 3 euros for.

By the time my wifi expired an hour later, I'd only managed to upload four pictures, so I gave up and headed to bed. It was only 9pm, but Nicole was tucked into bed, still fully dressed! She'd also stolen the spare pillow in the hopes that I wouldn't notice... I didn't mind, though, because the beds were comfy, as I've said, and I was fast asleep in no time at all.