Just because I was back in Munich didn't mean the fun was at an end. Quite the opposite in fact! Because just one day after getting back from Paris, I was due to climb up the roof of the Olympic Stadium with Christian. We got there in the early evening, the sun already a dark yellow but still a way off from setting, and joined the group. There were ten of us intrepid climber types.

First stop was a room to watch a half-hour video of the history of the Olympic Park - with original 1970s backing music. I could barely resist the urge to jump up and disco dance. Then we got our safety harnesses and ropes and headed back outside to the roof. The sun was orange but still visible.

And so we climbed up the steep initial section and on to the slightly shallower main curve of the edge of the roof. The plastic panels are riveted to lengths of rubber and connected to spans of thick wire, such that the whole roof is suspended from essentially one metal string! Crazy. The views from up the top were delightful, especially as the sun was now turning deep ochres and reds and setting the roof ablaze with crepuscular crimsons.

After the final steep descent we could remove our safety gear and amble back through the grounds of the Olympic Park, stopping off to look in on the swimmers in the Olympic pool before heading to the Italian place just off Rosenheimer Platz called Il Cavaliere for a well-earned dinner.

A few lunch appointments later, and suddenly there it was: Oktoberfest 2009!!

I had a fair few visitors this year. First up were Jamie & Claire, over from London. They flew in on Friday lunchtime. We had a few bevvies, did a spot of dirndl shopping (Claire wanted a new one, just so she had a choice of dirndls over the weekend, while Jamie needed braces for his Lederhosen) and then had a few more bevvies, ending up at my very very favourite Vietnamese restaurant, Mama, with Lorna (who had flown in from Düsseldorf that evening). We met this crazy Russian Afghan dude in an Oktoberfest-esque talking-to-strangers-on-your-table way.

And so the opening day of Oktoberfest was upon us. We took it easy in the morning, and got down to the Wiesn just as the cannon were firing their midday salute and the Anstich took place (that's where the mayor of Munich officially taps the first keg of Oktoberfest beer). We were very lucky, because Bénédicte and her parents were already at the Wiesn and managed to secure us some places in the beer garden of the Fischer Vroni tent. We shoehorned ourselves in among the revellers and stayed the rest of the day, getting progressively more merry. Ah, Oktoberfest!

Sunday was a bit messy thanks to the previous day's excesses. We managed to crawl out of the house and grab some lunch at the Paulaner on Maistraße; we couldn't face the shrieking masses on the Wiesn itself. From there we had a few quiet ones at Moro and then had a bite to eat in the Fraunhofer, where I introduced Jamie & Claire to the joys of Federweißer, or this year's fresh white wine. And then we stumbled back to my place, sated.

On Monday morning there was just time for a farewell breakfast of Weißwurst and Weißbier at the Nockherberg beer garden before Jamie & Claire had to head to the airport. I had approximately ten minutes to be sad though, because I hot-footed it back to the Wiesn to meet up with Béné and her French crowd (her parents & their friend Isabelle, her friend Chrystèle & parents & husband Olivier) in the Hacker Festzelt. Béné had booked a lunchtime table, and we had lots of fun eating & drinking & making merry. But after the weekend I'd had, I decided to call it a day when we had to vacate our table at four o'clock. My liver will love me for it.

Barely three days later, I was back at the Oktoberfest with Béné, this time for an evening session in Café Kaiserschmarrn, organised by InterNations. 'A tent with no beer?' I thought to myself in horror, but it turned out to be good fun. The live band were excellent, the cocktails plentiful and the chat with random international strangers entertaining.

On the Friday Christian & I went to the cinema to watch the new Pixar film "Up" in 3D. I'd never seen a 3D film before, and I was very excited to see how good it was. And the answer is: excellent! I thoroughly enjoyed the 3D-ness of it all - and the film is fantastic to boot. I can highly recommend it.

The next day we made the most of the lovely autumn weather by going for a bike ride along the Isar, all the way down to the WaldWirtschaft beer garden, where we met Veronika for a drink or two. She lives close by. I hadn't seen her in ages & ages! Later that evening, Christian & I had dinner with Michaela, Lisa & Claire at Cooperativa in the Glockenbachviertel. I do like the stark décor in there. And the food is tasty too!

On Sunday I had an all-afternoon choir rehearsal. It was tragic to have to sit indoors on such a golden autumn day! But at least the hard work was rewarded in the evening when Uli & Heidrun invited me, Martin & Bernd back to theirs for onion cake and Federweißer. A very pleasant evening was had by all.

The second week of the Oktoberfest saw me back there again and again. First on Monday with Dieter & Harry for a quick litre in the Fischer Vroni, then later the same evening in the Hofbräu tent with Béné, Marie-Laure & a huge crowd of EPO people.

Midweek I had time to spend an afternoon & evening with my nephews, to have breakfast in town with Holger, to research some jobs at the unemployment office with Dieter, to accompany Béné to the vet (her cat Guimauve was gravely ill, but has made a good recovery hurra!) and to have dinner with Christian at Mama.

Then the final weekend of Oktoberfest was upon me. I had the pleasure of hosting Charlotte & Ali, who flew down from Düsseldorf. I met them on Friday morning in town and took them back to mine for a cheese feast. That was followed by some more dirndl shopping (Charlotte indulged, Ali held herself back, and I bought a new check shirt) and then we headed straight to the Wiesn.

This weekend was totally different from last, mainly because Ali was up for going on loads of rides. So it wasn't just drinking; there was also some walking about and some screaming! We did the pitch-black indoor roller-coaster, drank shots, went on the bumper cars, and then settled in the beer garden of the Hofbräu tent, before sneaking in to the Ochsenbraterei for a few cheeky ones in the warm. Then we did the crazy-glasses-makes-it-hard-to-negotiate-the-obstacles thing, and finally the huge Olympic roller-coaster with five loopings. Aaaaargh!

On Saturday we met up with Michaela, the boys & Christian in a beer garden in Perlach - just to make sure we weren't on the Wiesn the WHOLE weekend... After a lovely few hours sitting in the sun that were rounded off by some super ice creams at Pfanzeltplatz, I took the girls back to the Oktoberfest.

First off we went on the big wheel, then we headed to the beer garden of the Bräurosl and eventually found a spot to stand - around a wheelie bin! We were met later on that evening by Matthias. The four of us ended up back on the bumper cars, and then Matthias & I both did the crazy helter-skelter ride that has a mad super-high-speed rubber conveyor belt to get you up to the start of the ride.

Hitherto I'd only ever watched people try - and fail - to get up the conveyor bit, having to be grabbed ignominiously by the attendants and dragged up to the helter-skelter. I'd never even considered having a go myself! But there I was, drunk & up for it. And, shock horror, I DIDN'T fall over! Result!!

The last day of Oktoberfest saw us back there for lunch in the Käfer tent with Béné, her cousin & husband, and Aleks from Berlin (who I hadn't seen since her birthday in May). The food was delicious, the beer was flowing, and the sun was streaming down even hotter than it had been all fortnight. Truly spectacular Wiesn weather.

After lunch, we headed to the Hacker Festzelt to join Michaela, who was there with Kate and her visitors from Wales. I don't know quite how she did it, but Aleks managed to smuggle us right in to the already full and officially impregnable tent. It never ceases to amaze me what blonde hair, big tits & a self-confident smile can achieve!

Argh! Charlotte & Ali had to leave! I accompanied them back to mine and saw them onto the tram. Lorna & Tomasz met us at my place, and so I headed straight back to the Wiesn with them to carry on where I'd left off. We managed finally to get back in to the Hacker (thanks to Aleks' interventions from inside) and had a wonderful evening of it with much singing, dancing - and drinking. Oktoberfest 2009: ten out of ten!!

Friday morning was another fine day, so Martin & I decided to walk up the cliffs next to the beach at Les Petites-Dalles. Up at the top it was very windy, and we had magnificent views along the shore in both directions. There were loads of blackberries up on the top too, and they tasted uniquely salty-sweet thanks to the sea spray.

After lunch at Geneviève's our coach took us to St Martin de Boscherville, a tiny town with a huge church confusingly called St George de Boscherville. This church is the last Romanesque church to be constructed in France - in fact, the finishing touches were already Gothic with pointy arches. It's 1000 years old, built at the time of William the Conqueror, and its incredibly vivid primitive carved decoration seems otherworldly in its difficulty of interpretation for our modern eyes. A fascinating building, with beautiful gardens set around and behind it.

The parish laid on a sumptuous buffet dinner for us (and yes, I ate more than my fair share of cheese - again), and then it was sunset and time for our concert in the marvellous church. The concert went very well, but sadly someone broke in to the parish hall where all our luggage was stored and stole money from a dozen people's wallets. Argh!

The mood in the coach back to Geneviève's was dark as a result, but hearts were warmed that evening through the liberal application of wine & pommeau, the local drink that is a blend of cider & calvados, as well as by a hilarious rendition of classic German cabaret numbers by Klaus, ably accompanied by Stefan on the suitably out-of-tune old piano.

On Saturday we headed into Fécamp, where Geneviève had arranged with her favourite restaurateur for us to have a delicious set menu of fish & seafood. Yum! I popped in to the Benedictine monastery that is home to Bénédictine, the liqueur, to buy a bottle of the sweet stuff. Then a few of us wandered down to the beach. It was bracing but still sunny.

That evening, we gave our final full concert in the abbey church up on the hill. This church is actually a bit longer than Notre Dame in Paris, thanks to regular extensions that were paid for by the huge number of pilgrims who came to see its precious relics. The concert went extremely well, and everyone was in such a good mood afterwards that we partied well into the night back at Geneviève's, with the last of us finally turning in around thee o'clock.

The late night made Sunday morning hard work. Added to which, we had to pack our bags and say goodbye to Les Petites-Dalles, because straight after our appearance in the regular service of the Abbey Church of Fécamp we had to jump in our coach and head back to Paris. The service went well, despite the lung-chokingly huge clouds of incense that were wafted all over the altar and into our faces!

The bus journey back to Paris was uneventful, with a few stops to let people out at Rouen (Christoph was catching a train home from there) and Charles de Gaulle (where most people got out). Back at Kellermann - oh yes, a few hardy souls were staying another night in Paris, me included - we dropped our bags and went straight out for a coffee. There Martin bade us farewell and headed for his train.

I headed out on my own for a bite to eat. I hadn't had any mussels the whole time I was in Normandy! So I made up for that by eating a huge bucketload of moules marinières in a Belgian beer restaurant near the Gare du Nord. And then I met up with Glenn, an American chap I'd met last year when I was in Paris with Johannes from Sydney, for a couple of drinks and a chinwag. It was a very pleasant evening!

On Monday I decided to do a bit of culture, so I went into the Centre Pompidou and soaked up some lovely 19th and 20th century paintings. Plus, from the top floor of that crazy building, I could enjoy the view of Sacré Coeur up on its hill and all the way round through La Défense, the Eiffel Tower and Les Invalides to the Tour Montparnasse. Ah, Paris!

The week I had with my choir, the Markus Chor München, in Paris & Normandy was FANTASTIC! I have to say, it was so much better than I was expecting it to be. We were exceptionally lucky with the weather - not a drop of rain fell on us, in fact quite the opposite: there were a few sun-burned faces by the end of the week.

There were negative aspects: the shitty hotel in Paris, the theft of money out of people's wallets during one concert in Normandy. But even these downers pale into insignificance compared with the wonderful time we all had of it. And the concerts just got better and better! By the end of the week, we were sounding very fine indeed. Lucky inhabitants of Fécamp.

And now I'll revert to my customary chronological rendering of events. Now where were we?

Ah yes, it's Sunday afternoon, and I've just hauled my cheese-laden arse from Champagne to Paris in a train. I was met off my train at Gare de l'Est by Christoph & Martin, my two best tenor friends in the choir. They had just got in on separate trains themselves. Together we made our way out to the CISP Kellermann, a cross between a youth hostel and a gulag out at Place d'Italie in the southeast.

We were in the Kellermann because it was the only reasonably-priced establishment that could accommodate the whole choir - all 50 of us including hangers-on. I think, overall, we would've been better off scattered across several hotels. The only real benefit of being all together was that we could get on our bus to Normandy without delay. But be that as it may, we were all together. And our first group experience was the buffet dinner. Average is too kind a word.

Thankfully, we could quickly put thoughts of mediocre dining behind us, when Martin suggested to a few of us that we go to the Tour Montparnasse to enjoy the nighttime view across Paris. And golly gosh is it a stunning panorama! The Eiffel Tower sparkling, Notre Dame aglow, the Seine a dark finger drawn across the tableau, and all the imperial majesty of the city laid out before you.

We headed back to Place d'Italie for a nightcap and then turned in. I was in a three-bed room with Christoph & Martin. Dismal is too kind a word. The third bed was slung above the other two, and there wasn't a single hook anywhere in the whole room to hang a coat on! The bathing cubicle was a 1960s style bubble of plastic containing toilet, sink & shower all in one. I'm reminded of being in a Zorb in New Zealand; I had about as much room in there too.

The one highlight of the Kellermann was that they had very good croissants at breakfast. But you were only allowed one, dammit!!

On Monday I went with Martin, Anja & her boyfriend Erwin to the Père Lachaise cemetery. We quickly found Jim Morrison but struggled to locate most other graves. The exceptions were Chopin, Edith Piaf and Oscar Wilde, all three of which were very popular with dead-people-visitors. In general, the cemetery was very pleasant: it's huge, for one thing, and quite hilly, so it's a nice place to amble round. At first I was reminded of the cemetery in Buenos Aires where Evita is buried, but Père Lachaise is more restful than that one.

After the cemetery, we had a bite to eat. Anja headed back to the hotel but the three of us went on a bit of a bus adventure round northern Paris, ending up near the Opéra for another coffee. Martin & I left Erwin there and we to our first rehearsal in the church known as Les Billettes in the rue des Archives, just behind the Hôtel de Ville. It's tucked away behind high walls in an area full of bars, so the last thing you're expecting is an oasis of peace, but it is - and it boasts Paris' only original mediaeval cloisters. Plus it's got a reasonable acoustic too.

That evening, Martin & I bought some cheese & wine before heading off to join the rest of the group for a trip on a Bateaux Mouches. The views were lovely! After the boat trip a few of us headed up to the Arc de Triomphe and then back to the hotel.

On Tuesday - yet another gloriously hot day - Martin, Christoph & I found some breakfast together, and then Martin & I went to the Catacombs. There are lots & lots & LOTS of dead people there. Skulls, thigh bones, all tastefully arranged into stacks. A bit mad really.

After a late lunch we went our separate ways. I headed to the Institut du Monde Arabe, where I took in the museum and an obscenely expensive glass of tea on the rooftop terrace. The view of Notre Dame and the whole heart of the city was spectacular though.

Tuesday evening we had our first concert, in Les Billettes. It went reasonably well, so afterwards we traipsed off for a celebratory dinner down near the Seine. Everywhere was chocabloc, but I managed to negotiate a space for ten people in a pleasant brasserie with a nice terrace. I treated myself to some fois gras. Sorry, geese of the world, but your force-fed organs are SO tasty!

On Wednesday morning we left Kellermann in a big bus and headed north. Our first stop was Giverny, to visit Monet's house and his marvellous gardens, complete with water lilies. The weather threatened to turn a bit shite, and we feared the worst for our time in Normandy, but in the end it stayed dry. After Giverny, we stopped in Rouen for lunch. Christoph ordered a salad and it came with a bonus: an enormous huge wriggly caterpillar!!

After some sightseeing around Rouen - beautifully restored to its mediaeval half-timbered splendour after being pulverised by the Allies in the War - we headed off again, this time to our "home" for the rest of the week. Geneviève, a member of our choir, has a summer home in the tiny seaside resort town of Les Petites-Dalles, just up from Fécamp, and fully 28 of us were able to stay as her guests!

The others were in a few hotels in Fécamp. Unlucky for them: because Geneviève and her husband Paul were insanely good hosts. We had delicious hot meals, a sumptuous breakfast spread, wines galore, and - most importantly - we were all able to eat our own bodyweight in CHEESE!!! Yay!! Just when I was getting withdrawal symptoms after Champagne.

On Thursday our coach took us to Etretat, where we walked along the cliffs and enjoyed the stunning views of the pinnacle rocks & the beaches & the hillsides. We ate our picnics (provided by Geneviève, of course) and then the coach took us to Honfleur, just over the Seine from Le Havre. What a pretty little town!

Back at Les Petites-Dalles, we took our places for dinner (I mixed it up and sat on a table without a single other tenor!) and then tucked in to yet another delicious dinner. I don't know how she managed to prepare SO MUCH food - and serve it all up in one go. Thankfully, the kitchen was big enough for whole work teams of volunteers to clear up after the meals. And then it was time for a constitutional stroll down along the beach with Christoph & Martin. Ah, how the sea air revives!