But there was more to April than Rainnie & Kat's visit (although that was fantastic enough as it was!)...

The last week of April (the week after Easter) consisted mainly of seeing friends I hadn't seen for a long while. During the week I had a drink with Frank, I had lunch with Felix, and I had a couple of drinks with Fritz.

Then at the weekend I had dinner with a whole bunch of guys: out of the madness that was the Starkbierfest, a new Stammtisch has been born! In the end there were 18 of us dining together in the Ennstaler Stubn, an Austrian restaurant in Munich's Slaughterhouse district.

The weekend continued in an alcoholic vein, with lunch at Viktualienmarkt with Bénédicte followed by an afternoon of beer and giggles at the Chinese Tower beergarden in the English Garden, with Michaela (briefly), Tim, Tim's mum & her partner, the boys, and Veronika plus a friend of hers. It was a CLASSIC beergarden afternoon & evening: you can't remember anything much of what was said, but you know it was all a total laugh at the time!

Sunday was once again not that liver-friendly: I met up with friends at the Maibaumfest (maypole party) in the Glockenbach. The weather was threatening to be shite, but it stayed dry long enough for me to have a few beers with Felix, Peter, Bernd, Ralph, and Wolfgang from Salzburg. When it started tipping down, me & Felix went to the cinema (where I ran into Alasdair and then Petar - coincidences!) to watch a film about a gay Turkish policeman in Berlin who falls in love with his girlfriend's cousin. The acting was pretty dire, but the story was cute (as were the guys).

The rain had thankfully stopped by the time we came out from the film, so we headed back to the Fest and caught up with Ralph & Wolfgang, who had been joined by Otto, Klaus, Mikey and Declan. After another couple of beers, we ended up heading for Schnitzels at the Krablergarten, where we dined with Jame & Ralph.

I thought my liver could really do with a rest at this point, so I decided to cycle home. But then a glance at my mobile phone changed my plans: Bénédicte had invited me to dinner at hers with Marie-Laure to pre-celebrate her birthday. I couldn't resist! (Sorry, liver.)

And so it was May. The first highlight of the month was Bénédicte's birthday party weekend, festivities for which started on the Friday night at the Frühlingsfest (Spring Festival; a mini-Oktoberfest if you will). Lots of Bénédicte's friends had flown in for the occasion: Kim, Linda, Nathalie, Marcel and Véronique from Amsterdam, plus Aleks from Berlin. We were joined at the Fest by Marie-Laure, Franck, Corinne, Eric, and a few other EPO people. Oompah music, grilled chicken, litres of beer, dancing on tables. The works.

On Saturday I played tour guide for Béné's visitors. I took them on a zig-zaggy walk through the centre of town, ending up at Spöckmayr for lunch - at 4pm! I thought we might have a choice of dining options by that time, but the whole city was heaving with people. It was a gorgeous, sunny, warm day - but I haven't seen the streets thronged like that since I don't know when!

Our late lunch was followed by coffee at Vits - where else? - and a nice walk along the Isar to the Auer Dult market on my side of the river, where I introduced everyone to elderflower champagne - mmmmh! From there we headed back to Bénédicte's place and partied the night away. There are lots of incriminating photos which I SHAN'T be posting...

The weekend was rounded off by an all-afternoon choir rehearsal just for the men's voices. It was a crime to be sat indoors singing when it was so gorgeous outside! But we knocked off reasonably early and Bernd, Martin & I cycled along to the Thurn & Taxisgarten beergarden near Nymphenburg castle for a cheeky one before the sun went down. From there I cycled all the way round to Bénédicte's for a fabulous leftovers-from-the-party dinner with Corinne, Marie-Laure, Kim & Linda. I was actually struggling to drink alcohol. It was time for the weekend to end!