Mainz

Our last stop (as you'll know if you are still refering to the map several posts back) was Mainz, for no reason other than to visit my favourite ex-flatmate in the whoooole of Germany, Andreas. Unfortunately due to all our previous adventures we only had two days to catch up on a couple of years' worth of gossip, but Andy kindly took the days off work so we had plenty of time to reminise.

One of the highlights was visiting the Rhine Valley for the day, where we saw some truly cool medieval ruins and not-so-ruins (like the house below from 1323, which is still in good form, as long as you're not into straight lines). We also walked up a NZ-style path (with rocks! And narrow!) to a castle called the Schönberg, which was indeed very beautiful.

Following this, Andreas took us bouldering at his local wall, which had loads of great easy and easy-ish routes. We found a favourite climb and played 'who can climb this the fastest' - Mark won with 4.45 seconds.

To top it all over, Andy cooked one of my favourite German dishes - Spätzle - which I fondly remember from our flatting days at 7 Lyall Place, Bryndwr. Here's him showing how much energy goes into good German cooking: