Hello everyone!

How are we all? Well as you can see i made it to Germany to visit Annalena which was really special and im glad i took the window of oppotunity to do so, she’s such a long time friend it was a so nice to see where her home town would have been if it hadn’t been Russell. I traveled by train to Kolblenz a city an hour from Montabaur and Annalena met me there to start an day of exploration. We did the sighseeing on the old city the huge river Riens flows past the city and on one hill theres a fort/castle that took the french ten years to penitrate and that wasn’t untill everyone inside had perished… We also did our fair share of shopping and window shopping and then made our way to Montabaur. Annalena is over briefly for her Oma’s 90th birthday, the houses and property have been in the family for generations and generations. It was facinating to stay with them as there relivites etc slowly began to gather together having traveled small and vast distances for the birthday celebrations. My Second day there we explored the township of Monabaur. The centre its self is very old and after listening to her Oma’s stories of the war and the bombs dropped in her lifetime i realised just how lucky it was that such a town like this was still standing 700 years later. The weather was fricken cold to say the least! the sort of cold that stings your cheeks and involentarily hunch and tense from its strength. I can imagine how stunny and beautiful this county (or any for that matter) would be in the spring and summer seasons… i’ll just have to stick round We found a cozy typical German cafe wedged between the other 16 of the town serving cakes, flans, slices freshly baked German delights and most importantly COFFEE! The third day we went Annalena her Dad and i went tiki-touring exploring the surounding villages and castles of the reigion. It was the first day of Carnivale in Germany there was alot to be seen on the streets of some towns. It was enjoyable to do a large portion of the sightseeing from the warmth of the car and cozy cafes! Germany is littered with Castles perched on hill tops of nestled in valleys. They were home to kings and queens of the township dukes or weathly families. Due to being royal dewelings this made them targets for bombing in the war so many are ruins but alot are perfectly intact also. That evening we ventured out into the night. Marcus a friend of Annalenas cousin joined us in going to Kolblenz, The first night of Carnivale in Germany is traditionally the night the women own the streets! We went to a bar/club called ‘Dream’ Which was ammusing because it was owned and run by a bikey gang. This made for interesting listening whilst we were there. Due tot he mass amounts of crazy carnivale people in costumes and the regulars i guess, the music selection ranged from ‘Mika’ to death metal and everything in between But i must say watching 5 long hair Germans mosh and head bang to Ramstien was an amusing sight i wont forget in a hurry. Our night didnt end there we returned to Montabaur and decided to have a laugh and go to the ’social outcast’ bar. I had my first typical german beverage there of wheat beer and banana liquor which was delicious. not long after we sat ourselves down a pair of tequila shots with cinnamon orange segments were sent to us compliments of a mysterious man across the room in a lush red flouncy blouse. He turned out to be a Greek- German who also spoke italian and english however he didnt seem to put it to use and spoke mainly in german to Annalena. We recieved a second tequila shot before he got the message and abruptly disembarked to pursue his other ‘projects’… we had some laughs on that one. we stayed and even made a few moves on the dance floor before migrating to a small after hours bar down a side street and got home at 6am.

My last day in gemany started at 13.30pm and it was mainly the journey to the trainstation and the 6hours trip home to the Netherlands via a 45min delay and double train miss. Annalena has the photos of our nihgt out and a few additional humourous ones which i’ll post when i recieve them

Carnivale is on ant the moment … so a report on that later a hint about my first days outfit…. . she has stripey long socks……