So I was actually in Munich for a change! It had been a while, so I felt the need to reconnect with people here. I met up with Michaela, the boys, Rosanne & her son Alex (who were over from the UK) for fab Chinese food in Pasing on Monday lunchtime. I met with Christian & the Kloster crew for fab German food on Monday evening. I met with Rudi for fab Italian food just round the corner from me on Tuesday evening. I met with Bénédicte for fab French food in Schwabing on Wednesday evening. I met Judith for coffee in town on Thursday.

And then it was the weekend, and suddenly it was Visitor Season! Ali flew in from Düsseldorf for a night to make the most of the Munich summer - yes, it had finally turned hot. We walked all through town, along the Isar, and out to the Flaucher beergarden, before heading back into town to visit the Hans-Sachs-Straße festival, where I ran into (among others) Rudi & Jürgen, Holger, Jens & Doris, Marko, and Petar & Fadil. Then Ali & I rushed out to Bogenhausen to meet Christian for sushi at Sushi Cent. Oh how I love that place!!

On Sunday morning it was still hot & sunny, so Ali & I went for a walk around my neighbourhood in search of a nice café. Bizarrely, they were all shut. But then we spotted a Peruvian tapas bar literally round my corner and stopped for fruit juice. It was most strange to be lying on sun loungers in the street, with fake plastic palm trees for shade!

Our juice break didn't last long, though, because Justin & Sam & their girls Grace & Maisie soon arrived in their hire car from Munich airport. We met them, brought their bags up to mine, and headed straight out to the Nockherberg beergarden for some traditional Bavarian afternoon sun. Christian joined us, then Ali had to leave to catch her flight back to Düsseldorf. I saw her onto the tram, then headed back to the others.

Later we all headed back to mine for Federweißer - this year's not-quite-ready white wine that is basically fermenting grape juice; the longer you keep it in your fridge, the more alcoholic it gets - and then had a bite to eat at an Italian round the corner to soak up the headache juice we'd just consumed at mine.

Monday saw Justin, Sam, the girls & I head into Munich for a spot of sightseeing, shopping & lunch (at the Augustiner place in the pedestrian zone). Later in the afternoon we headed to the Kloster and had dinner with our usual Kloster crew. Tuesday was similarly relaxed, with breakfast at mine followed by a trip into town, followed by a swim at Schyrenbad down by the river, followed by dinner at Wassermann. That evening Christian jump-started the hire car (bloody battery was dead!), which calmed Justin's nerves somewhat.

And then on Wednesday began a crazy week of trans-Bavarian road tripping! Justin & Sam kindly invited me along for the ride, since I had time on my hands (unemployment has benefits). We headed all over the place to loads of places that I hadn't been to before or hadn't been to for years. And I'll write about it all very soon...