Needless to say, a quiet night doing nothing was in order the day after Fasching. It was a hard slog at work that day, which isn't that surprising really, after being on the razzle since lunchtime the day before. In fact, it was surprising how good I felt, all things considered! So I relaxed on Wednesday evening by cleaning, tidying, ironing, doing washing, and performing other mindless tasks. Oh, and reading the Economist (well, now that I have a subscription, I feel it is a duty to actually read the thing).

Thursday evening was a lot more fun. The evening was busy busy busy, because straight after work I had to cycle to Michaela's house. There I put her two fold-out mattresses in her car, drove them to mine, unpacked them, drove back to hers, and then cycled back to mine. And THEN the evening really took off: I went to meet up with Maggi & Lorna and all the gang from our English Stammtisch group (which is largely made up of English speakers from E.On) at a Greek restaurant called Molos.

Oh my goodness gracious! It was fantastic! Maggi lives close by, so she warned us that the portions are very generous. So between ten of us we ordered mixed starters for six. The plates just kept on coming! And it was all so GOOD! I stuffed my face on the meze selection to such an extent that I decided not to have a main course. Me! Can you believe it? Well, it's a good job I didn't have one, because I would have exploded.

And then, at the end of the meal, a bottle of ouzo appeared on the table with ten glasses. On the house! And then, when that bottle was empty, another took its place. On the house AGAIN! So for a gut-burstingly huge meal with a skinful of booze I paid a grand total of €8. I'm so going back.

The weekend was fabulous too. I had my first set of UK guests of 2007, Simon & Nic and their two kids Samuel & Millie. They arrived on Friday evening (just giving me time after work to visit my mate Thomas in hospital after having his tonsils out - and that just after a hospital stay before Christmas for a hernia, the poor bastard) and seeing as it had been a long day for the kids we stayed in. I had bought a selection of breads, cheeses and meats and these we snaffled with cava followed by red wine.

Saturday was a full day - well, when your day starts before eight o'clock thanks to little kids being awake, you've got time to fit stuff in! We walked slowly into town, enjoying the bright winter sunshine while it lasted, ending up at the Viktualienmarkt, where of course we had a beer and an ox sandwich from the Ochsenbraterei - oh how I love that place! Then we wandered round the market, Simon & Nic buying cheeses and meats to take home with them in the suitcase that was now empty of the cheddar and teabags they had brought me.

Lunch was at Spöckmayr, where I took the liberty of ordering a Starkbier to accompany my roast suckling pig (the old lady with whom we shared a table also got stuck in to a Starkbier - good on her!) which then caused me to need a quick nap at our next port of call, a playground behind the hideous 70s-looking church on Sendlinger Tor (actually it was built in 1955, which makes it quite a modern structure for its time I guess, but it's still not anywhere near being on my fave churches list). This I counterbalanced with a quick coffee at KraftAkt.

Then we all headed off to the Deutsches Museum, Germany's premier science and technology museum. There's a funky kids' area, which 3-year-old Samuel was very into (the fire engine particularly caught his fancy), whilst sadly the museum was mostly lost on 1-year-old Millie (although, to be fair, it might end up being a formative experience for her; there's no way of knowing until she undergoes regression therapy later in life).

By this time, we were all pretty exhausted, especially Samuel, who didn't have the benefit of the pushchair and had to make do alternating between my (comfy) and Simon's (bony) shoulders. Back at home we cooked up a storm with some of the day's purchases from the market. I am amazed by Simon & Nic's kids, who will eat literally anything you put in front of them - and in quantities that one would not expect of beings so young!

After dinner, Nic gave Simon a late pass so the two of us walked back into town for a couple of beers. At the Fraunhofer we were joined by my mate Matthias the biologist, who later took us to Gerti's, a mad hostelry further down the Fraunhoferstraße towards the river. The owner, Gerti, is a madwoman who mixes miserliness with party atmosphere in an inimitable way. There's live music, accordeon playing, singing along, and conversation with random strangers on the end of your table; it all feels a bit like a mini Oktoberfest. At two o'clock we called it a night and ambled back over the river and up the hill to my flat.

Sunday morning was a little bit harder than Saturday morning - but not as hard as Wednesday morning after Fasching, because at least I wasn't at work! Simon & Nic's flight was at 11.30, so they had to leave mine right after breakfast. I caught the tram with them to Rosenheimer Platz and brought them to the S-Bahn to the airport, then went home and collapsed gratefully into my bed. That evening I was over at Michaela's for dinner with the boys. A quiet and pleasant end to an active weekend.