Hannover and Hamburg

Yesterday we went to Hamburg to visit Ellen which was lots of fun. And last week we went to Hannover to see the sights. Before I start I'm gonna let Tom have his very own paragraph, and then I'll fill in the gaps.

5am is a hideous hour to be awake at, but the train trip allowed us to catch up on the missing hours of precious sleep. I also managed to catch up a bit in front of the lake, and later while being pulled around the harbour and canals by the girls. Other than sleeping, we walked around both the altstadt and neustadt Hamburg, visiting lots of old chuches, the rathaus (town hall) and Germanys largest harbour, which had as many fat old men shouting at you to take their tour boat around the harbour as big tanker ships. Checked out the Reeperbahn, famous for its..... ummm... nightlife and cinemas...
And finally headed back to Ellens place. For about 5 mins, then we where on the road again and inito the canals. It seems every Tom, Dick and his dog was on the water, either paddling and drinking round the large lakes, floating amd drinking in the small lakes, or buying beer from the canal cafe... and drinking.
Hamburg was great, we're going back soon to visit Ellen again!


I'm impressed with how well written that was for Tom. Well done. He got most of the important bits. I really loved Hamburg - the architecture was all beautiful and the canals make it unlike other cities we've seen. (Plus there were ducks and geese and swans everywhere!) We also made sure to eat hamburgers (in Hamburg). The best of the new photos are up and there are even more on Facebook.

Our day in Hannover the other day was pretty similar - looking at the pretty buildings and churches, visiting the ducks, having a look at the shops. Our next travel plan is to visit Blaise in Switzerland and then drive back up to Germany via Italy - pretty exciting!

Love always from Germany
Amanda xox

Paris and German food

Sorry again for the lack of updates. To be honest, I just got lazy. And I kinda wanted to see whether Tom would ever get around to writing something. Apparently not.

First of all, we're off to PARIS on June 17th :) To visit Mikaela and Lucy. Booked the flights this afternoon and I'm all excited now. Gotta love European flights... cost €0.01 each (plus tax takes you to 20€).

And about the German food (I thought this might amuse Oma and Opa) - everything that I thought was particular to my grandparents, I have discovered, is typically German: putting everything out on the table for lunch (deli meats, cheese), red cabbage, cakes with fruit on top... so I am reminded of them on a daily basis here.

Other odd German moments: nobody thought it was wierd to drive at 200km/h on the autobahn on the way home from Hannover (to see a friend play basketball). We play beach volleyball in a big sandbox. School is really, really lax (Mona's year had a barbecue at school and everyone was hanging out drinking beer). People are really into sorting rubbish (that one was for Sarah!) They always drink bubbly mineral water instead of tap, which I am slowly getting used to. Even the apple juice is carbonated. We drove 50km to swim in 'blue lagoon'... a really deep ex-chalk-mine hole full of beautiful looking bright blue water. The water may have been blue because it was so clear. Mind you, the three big factories next to it hinted otherwise. Either way it was a nice relaxing day in the sun. At least there were no fish to bother swimmers.

Anyway, we havn't been up to anything hugely exciting. Lots of 'beach' volleyball, seeing friends, playing cards... the usual. My adopted duckies in the park in town are growing up and losing their baby fluff.

Lots of love always
Amanda

Phone!

Hey, sorry for the long pause between posts. I just honesstly could not have been bothered lately, but there will be a big post sometime soon!

Just letting you know Tom and I now have a German phone number. (We're sharing for the moment since there is no need for one each.)

The number is 01577 7793623 and the international code for Germany is +49.
Not sure if you have to omit the 0 or not, sorry.

Love always
Amanda

Tanz in den Mai and DUCKS

Last night we went out to a giant party in a tent in a field. It was really really strange for me - it's like a big festival and literally the whole town was there - from 16 to 60 year olds all on a big night out. The band was great and we ran into lots of Tom's old friends who were really nice. The guy in the picture is Nino (Mona's boyfriend) who looks scarily like Tom. Especially when they swap clothes just to mess with me and Mona. The dancing was amazing...they all properly ballroom dance and it was so cool to watch.


Today is Fathers' day in Germany so we're having a big barbecue tonight. Tom and Mona and I made a pavlova (without a magic egg - eep!) that actually tasted alright :) This afternoon we went into the town on bikes and had some ice cream...they make spaghetti out of ice cream and the 'sauce' is strawberry....looks awesome and tastes as good. And then on the way back on our bikes we went past a park with a big pond and...you guessed it :D It was full of duckie families...males, females, and little ducklings in tow...it was so so adorable! Will go back tomorrow pronto with some bread to feed them and a camera.

We're off to Hannover tomorrow to get Tom and Nino haircuts (about bloody time) and then to Hamburg on the weekend to visit Ellen :) So we're basically very busy having lots of fun.


And finally, for those family members of a certain lazy boy, here is his current update (to let you know he's still kickin'):

'Barbecues are my favourite smell...it's like a combination of food and burning shit' - Thomas Bennett, 1/5/08

He's currently asleep on Mona's couch.



Much love as always,
Amanda xox