Germany

I always hate writing posts about people who read the blog (Clare, Stephen), which leads to me writing very little of importance. After all rambling on about the pleasures involved in seeing old friends may come across as sappy and sentimental, a large deviation from the cavalier adventurous tone I usually aim for.

In planning for this trip we struggled to maintain our pack light philosophy whilst taking sufficient clothing to survive in -30 degrees. Our cunning strategy involved taking an extra bag than normal that we could fill with cold weather clothing and leave at Stockholm airport whilst in Jordan, and then with Clare and Guntram whilst we travelled in Europe. This plan worked perfectly until we got to Berlin on April 1st, when the newspaper proclaimed that it had been the coldest March in 130 years. I know Germany in spring isn't as hot as Australia in spring, but -4 is a little ridiculous. So with winter jackets in tow again we headed south for a week in Kronach, a charming old town in the middle of Germany. If everyone could just ask the weather gods to warm Berlin up in time for Clare's spring wedding in 3 weeks, that would be appreciated.

There should be something in here about being pampered with train trips and accommodation organised by someone else. Long walks, conversation and home cooked meals. But that might sound sappy, so I'll skip it. Possibly I should also mention tears and bad news for memories sake, but again that detracts from the overall tone so it too shall be skipped over.